From vast plains to specialty orchards, drones are becoming new tools transforming traditional agriculture. In Zigui, Hubei, located in the Three Gorges Reservoir area of the Yangtze River, "Zigui pilots" who grew up alongside the navel orange industry are now flying out of the mountains to serve mountain agriculture across the country.

At the Zigui County Low-Altitude Economy Industry Comprehensive Service Center, a new batch of trainee pilots is manipulating drones to lift simulated fruit baskets, repeatedly honing precision operations for mountain lifting and transport. Tuo Dehong, head of the training center at Zigui Honglai Agricultural Services Co., Ltd., explained: "The aircraft flies forward, I stop, it swings, I follow forward again, and the inertia is offset."

Local navel oranges have not yet entered the harvest season, so the most discussed topic in training classes is the honey pomelo harvest site in Zhangzhou, Fujian, over a thousand kilometers away. Pinghe County in Zhangzhou, Fujian, is in peak honey pomelo harvest season, where Tan Longfei's team has been working continuously for over 30 days, with 5 drones lifting tens of thousands of kilograms of honey pomelos every day.

Tan Longfei, spokesperson for the "Zigui Pilots" labor brand, said: "Before, we faced the yellow earth with our backs to the sky; now we face screens while the aircraft faces the sky." Chen Yiqiang, head of Pinghe County Huaxia Feichi Agricultural Services Company, commented: "The 'Zigui Pilots' team has high overall efficiency and strong safety awareness. Our company prioritizes assigning work to them."

Unlike scattered individual contracting, "Zigui Pilots" operate as organized service teams when working away from home. A team is a complete aerial operation chain—wherever they fly, standardized service follows. With Zigui, Hubei as the origin, pilot teams depart from the Three Gorges Reservoir area, covering services in 15 provinces and cities nationwide.

From navel orange lifting to honey pomelos, pomegranates, bamboo, and photovoltaic panels, "Zigui Pilots" deliver mountain low-altitude operation capabilities to more places in need across the country. In July this year, Hengzhou, Guangxi, suffered flood disasters. Song Younian, a "Zigui Pilot," saw the support information and rushed to the disaster area with companions, delivering 8 tons of daily supplies to trapped residents over 4 days.

Song Younian, a "Zigui Pilot," said: "When disasters strike, this low-altitude lifting skill can also be put to use. Being able to help others makes me feel this profession is very valuable." Currently, Zigui County has over 200 low-altitude economy service teams and more than 2,700 certified pilots. More and more post-90s and post-00s young people who had left home are returning to join pilot teams.

Hu Bin, lead person for the labor brand at Zigui County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, stated: "Zigui used to be a traditional major labor export county. Now, 'Zigui Pilots' growing from orange orchards are carving out a new path of technology-based labor export amid the nationwide demand for mountain agricultural modernization."

New Wings Rise from Canyon Steep Slopes

China has numerous mountainous counties, so why did Zigui cultivate a nationally recognized agricultural pilot labor brand? In fact, it was the local reality of mountain production challenges that gave rise to this entirely new rural profession.

CCTV reporter Bian Xiaoyan reported: Before drone lifting became widespread, all oranges in a navel orange orchard in Xietan Township, Zigui, had to be carried down the mountain basket by basket using manpower. The slope gradient reaches 70 to 80 degrees, and navel oranges grow layer by layer clinging to such mountain terrain. It is precisely such steep mountain conditions that made Xietan Township the most concentrated area for drone lifting in Zigui.

In the past, a strong laborer could carry at most 50 kilograms per trip, and on steep slopes had to use hands and feet together, gasping for breath after just a few trips. Wu Chenghong, a villager from Chenjiawan Village, Xietan Township, Zigui County, recalled: "The slopes are steep and the distance is long. Carrying a load of oranges down almost takes an hour."

Traditional shoulder-pole and back-carrying labor methods, combined with the reality of an aging workforce and young people flowing out, constrained the long-term development of the citrus industry. The turning point came in 2022. Guo Xingcheng, a fruit farmer from Guojiaba Township, was the first to try removing the pesticide tank from a plant protection drone and using ropes to lift navel oranges.

Guo Xingcheng, a villager from Wangjialing Village, Guojiaba Township, Zigui County, said: "I thought the T40 drone can carry 80 jin of water, so I could use it to lift 80 jin of oranges. Using drones to replace manual labor would be so much better." Initially, a single trip could only lift 40 kilograms, and operations were unstable, but efficiency already far exceeded manual labor—3,000 kilograms lifted in half a day.

Guo Xingcheng posted operation videos on WeChat Moments, and this "local method" quickly spread. More and more fruit farmers began trying to use drones to transport fruit. Zigui is one of the rare production areas in China with "fresh oranges in all four seasons," and the high-frequency management and harvest demands provided fertile ground for pilot teams to grow. The unique canyon terrain serves as a natural training ground. Pilots repeatedly explored steep slopes and canyons, developing hard skills for operating in complex terrain.

Tan Weide, a villager from Wangjialing Village, Guojiaba Township, Zigui County, said: "Hiring drones now saves labor, effort, and time. For ten mu of land, you can save one to two thousand yuan." In the past, it was carried on shoulders; now, it flies in the sky. Today, over 80% of Zigui's 400,000 mu of orange orchards use drone lifting, bringing 42,000 orange farming households into the smart agriculture system. Combined with drone plant protection and lifting social services, this saves orange farmers over 200 million yuan in comprehensive production costs annually.

Industry Cultivates Talent, Talent Revitalizes Orange Countryside

The arduous labor of former "orange carriers" is gradually being replaced by efficient operations. How can pilot skills be upgraded into a standardized labor brand to achieve mutual empowerment of industry and talent? Currently, Zigui has built over 100 takeoff and landing platforms and charging stations in core navel orange production areas, allowing drones to scan codes for charging and flexibly take off and land in the mountains.

Yang Rui, a staff member of State Grid Zigui County Power Supply Company, explained: "A navel orange lifting drone charged by diesel generator costs over 300 yuan per day in energy. Using charging stations, daily energy costs can be controlled within 100 yuan." With full electricity substitution, the county's pilot community is expected to save over 10 million yuan in energy costs annually.

Infrastructure is improving, and institutional support is keeping pace. Zigui issued Hubei Province's first county-level interim measures for agricultural drone management, establishing a full-process standardized system from planting and management to harvest and transport. In June this year, the Zigui County Agricultural Drone Technology Association was established. The locality also took the lead in including pilots in farmer professional title evaluations, opening up advancement channels for rural technical talent.

Zhang Hao, Deputy County Head of Zigui County, stated: "Our purpose in cultivating this labor brand is to make our services more standardized and normalized. The building of this brand has brought tremendous benefits to our pilots, directly driving 20,000 people into employment and entrepreneurship, with practitioners earning an average annual income exceeding 200,000 yuan."

Moreover, as the core production area of Hubei's citrus industry, Zigui is using pilot teams as a leverage point to promote the navel orange industry's transformation from scattered planting to digitalized and refined development. Relying on the Three Gorges Citrus Industry Digital Platform, 400,000 mu of navel oranges have established digital archives, and 24 IoT smart orchards achieve real-time monitoring of soil moisture, pest conditions, and growth. Drone plant protection and aerial lifting are deeply embedded in the industry chain, forming a virtuous cycle of "industry cultivates talent, talent revitalizes industry."

Jiang Hua, Director of Zigui County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said: "From solving industry transportation challenges to cultivating new professional groups, and then empowering the modernization transformation of the entire industry chain, Zigui's exploration has injected sustained endogenous momentum into rural revitalization."