During the golden autumn season, Qiaoshan Town in Yiliang County has entered its busy harvest period. Unlike previous years when farmers had to trek all over the mountains, this year a group of "iron dragonflies" — drones — are shuttling through the mountain fields and terraces. This marks the first time that drones have fully participated in assisting the autumn harvest after local rural labor force vocational skills training, injecting new vitality into traditional agriculture in the Wumeng mountain region.

In the past, Qiaoshan pepper farmers had to carry spray tanks on their backs and climb steep slopes in the pepper orchards on hillside terraces. Not only was the labor intensity high, but the area covered in a single day was limited, and there was also the problem that the pesticide solution could hardly reach the back of the leaves evenly, making it difficult to guarantee the effectiveness of pest and disease control. Today, drones automatically plan flight routes for low-altitude operations, with fine pesticide mist evenly covering all parts of the branches and leaves. Operational efficiency has been greatly improved, and while ensuring control effectiveness, the amount of pesticide used is reduced. This promotes the transition of pepper cultivation toward a green and efficient model, making the "numbing aroma" flavor more pure and further consolidating the market reputation and industrial competitiveness of Qiaoshan pepper.

After flue-cured tobacco entered the critical period of picking and curing, drones became the "field inspectors" in the tobacco fields. In the past, tobacco farmers had to cross mountains and ridges to inspect the fields, and could not cover even a few plots in a day. Now, a single drone flight can quickly assess the maturity of tobacco leaves, accurately determine the harvest timing, and simultaneously inspect curing barns and check for surrounding safety hazards, making tobacco management and protection more worry-free and efficient.

In response to the pain points of the 28,000 mu of bamboo shoot harvest season — high mountains, steep slopes, and shoot farmers often returning empty-handed after entering the forest — drones carry out aerial surveys of the bamboo forest in advance, marking concentrated bamboo shoot areas and access routes and synchronizing them to village group chats. Shoot farmers can head directly to target plots, and a single person's daily bamboo shoot harvesting volume increases by dozens of jin. At the same time, drones handle the lifting and transport of fresh shoots, greatly reducing losses caused by manual carrying and ensuring the freshness of fresh shoots on the market.

Now, the gastrodia elata under the forest has also entered its digging period, and drones have become the "aerial caretakers" for gastrodia farmers. Gastrodia elata is a type of under-forest imitation wild cultivation with high requirements for shade density and soil moisture. In the past, it relied on manual inspection plot by plot, which was inefficient. To address this need, drone training has specially opened relevant courses. Pilots control drones to patrol along the mountain terrain, transmitting real-time images of damaged shade nets, waterlogged plots, and the growth of fungal materials. In addition, drones can carry out full-area patrols, quickly discovering signs of illegal digging and areas intruded by wild animals, allowing gastrodia farmers to bid farewell to the traditional management model of "relying on old experience and guesswork."

At present, the first batch of graduated drone trainees in Qiaoshan Town has formed an agricultural assistance service team to provide various agricultural technical services on a regular basis. The popularization of drones has effectively solved the long-term pain points of mountain agriculture such as high mountains and long distances, scattered plots, and insufficient labor. It not only greatly reduces the intensity of agricultural labor and improves production efficiency across the entire industrial chain, but also enables participating farmers to master new skills and broaden income channels, shifting traditional autumn harvest from "carrying on backs and hauling by horses" to "intelligent management and protection." This truly allows mountain communities to taste the benefits of technology-driven farming and adds strong momentum for improving the quality of rural industries and sustaining increases in farmers' incomes.