In 2007, based out of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, Bin Peng, Justin Gong, and Dylan Jeng founded XAG and soon changed the landscape of China’s agriculture. In 2010, XAG released its first drone, the X650 Quad-copter. The drone became so popular among farmers that it quickly grew to represent 70% of the global drone market at the time. Realizing that they had successfully cornered a niche market in the drone industry, XAG began developing a wide range of unmanned aerial and ground machines for agriculture. By 2019, XAG had control over more than half of China’s agricultural drone market and was steadily gaining representation around the world. To support the continued growth of an automated agricultural future, XAG presents an annual conference highlighting the advancements in drone technology.

On December 27, 2021, the XAG Annual Conference was held in Guangzhou, China. The theme of the conference was “Step Into Agrifuture”. XAG introduced 5 new products at the conference that they claim will make farming streamlined, more profitable, and fun. The new lineup includes the XAG P50 and P100 Agricultural Drone, XAG M500 and M2000 Remote Sensing Drone, and the updated XAG R150 Unmanned Ground Vehicle. XAG took a close look at all of the products they currently offer and spoke with consumers as to what they felt was missing. The results are aerial and ground drones that are designed to be human-centered, not just robots.

The whole point of XAG’s agricultural drones is to help people become better farmers and to do that they need technology geared towards human use. In other words, the technology needs to be seamlessly integrated into how humans have farmed for centuries. XAG’s drones can remotely or autonomously manage multiple agriculture tasks. They can monitor the overall health of crops by checking hydration and soil nutrient levels. The drones can monitor for invasive pests such as insects and small mammals. The drones can apply pesticides, fertilizers, and even water crops. Other drones can be used to mark and dig crop trenches or haul equipment. There are even drones that can plant seeds with complete accuracy.

At first, there were concerns that the growing agricultural drone market would cause job losses, but in fact, it has been the opposite. XAG alone employs more than 1,400 individuals. Throughout much of China, farmers have been aging out with the younger generations looking for work in cities. This is a trend being seen around the world as farmers struggle to find employees. For every farm that adopts a XAG program, they need to hire someone to maintain and operate each drone, a position that is bringing younger generations back to the agricultural industry.

The products XAG revealed at the conference are already available for use in China. They will be available to the global market within the coming year. A few days before the conference, one of America’s leading agricultural drone providers, Homeland Surveillance & Electronics (HSE), announced that they had entered a partnership with XAG. Based out of Casselberry, FL, HSE is set to become the first distributor of XAG products in America. The world cannot survive without agriculture. With drones, farmers have the technology needed to meet the future needs of the agricultural industry.

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