Current Status and Future Prospects of Agricultural Drones in Multi-Scenario Application in China

With the accelerating trend of population aging and the increasing frequency of extreme climate events, China’s agricultural production system faces growing pressure to enhance resilience, improve labor efficiency, and support high-quality development. Traditional field operation modes and conventional agricultural machinery have become inadequate for meeting the demands of large-scale, efficient, and sustainable agricultural production. Consequently, the development of advanced agricultural equipment capable of overcoming the limitations of conventional practices has become an urgent priority. Within this broader transformation, the agricultural drone has rapidly emerged as a critical innovation. Characterized by its operational efficiency, flexibility, rapid deployment, and intelligent sensing and decision-making capabilities, the agricultural drone is increasingly integrated into multiple stages of agricultural production. Meanwhile, the shift toward data-driven and intelligent agricultural management has further accelerated the integration of drone technology with digital farming systems, positioning the agricultural drone as a central component of smart agriculture and precision agriculture aviation. This paper reviews the development pathways and application practices of agricultural drones in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. These regions represent diverse agricultural structures, technological capacities, and policy environments, which have shaped distinct developmental trajectories. Japan and South Korea, characterized by small-scale farming systems and advanced automation technologies, adopted drone-based spraying relatively early. The United States, supported by large-scale mechanization and advanced remote sensing, has emphasized high-resolution monitoring and precision input management. European countries have prioritized environmental sustainability and strict regulatory frameworks, resulting in broader applications such as ecological monitoring, variable-rate operations, and compliance-oriented agricultural practices. These international experiences provide an important comparative foundation for understanding China’s agricultural drone development. Within this global context, the paper analyzes the evolution of China’s agricultural drone industry. China’s rapid progress has been driven by the coordinated influence of expanding market demand, breakthroughs in intelligent manufacturing, and strong policy support. Government subsidies, standardization initiatives, and training programs have collectively accelerated technology adoption and improved regulatory oversight. As a result, China has become a global leader in both the number of agricultural drones in operation and the scale of their applications. More importantly, China has built a comprehensive industrial ecosystem encompassing research and development, mass manufacturing, specialized service providers, professional pilot training and certification, maintenance systems, and data-driven agricultural decision-support platforms. This integrated ecosystem has facilitated continuous innovation and the widespread application of agricultural drones across different crop types and production regions. Furthermore, this paper provides a systematic overview of the practical applications of agricultural drones across key agricultural scenarios. Low-altitude remote sensing is employed for monitoring crop growth dynamics, detecting pest and disease outbreaks, assessing soil moisture and nutrient variability, and generating high-resolution maps. Precision spraying is used for pest, disease, and weed control as well as crop growth regulation, improving input efficiency, and reducing environmental impact. Multi-sensor fusion technologies enable intelligent obstacle avoidance, autonomous navigation, and adaptive route planning. Drift-control mechanisms enhance spraying accuracy and reduce off-target deposition. Agricultural drones also support quantitative and variable-rate broadcasting of seeds and fertilizers, contributing to more precise crop establishment and resource management. Additional applications include low-altitude logistics delivery across challenging terrains, fruit harvesting in orchards with complex canopies, and aerial-assisted pollination for crops requiring supplemental pollination support. The analysis indicates that agricultural drones are rapidly evolving under the influence of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine vision, digital twins, onboard edge computing, and swarm intelligence. These advances are driving a fundamental shift in agricultural production systems-from reliance on manually operated, single-function machinery to multifunctional autonomous platforms capable of executing complex tasks with minimal human intervention. As application scenarios continue to expand and the technological ecosystem matures, the agricultural drone is expected to play an increasingly significant role in enhancing productivity, reducing resource consumption, supporting ecological sustainability, and accelerating the digital and intelligent transformation of modern agriculture.