Digital Bridges Connect Farmers and Machinery: Hunan’s "Online Agricultural Machinery" Boosts Farming Efficiency

Early in the morning, Lu Yalong, a plant protection drone operator in Anren County, Hunan Province, opened the "Nongji Yijian Da" (Agricultural Machinery One-Click Reach) app on his mobile phone – "Xu Bolin, a large grain grower in Lingguan Town, books fertilization for 100 mu of newly transplanted rice seedlings." Following the booking prompt, Lu set off for Lingguan Town, his schedule for the next half month clearly laid out on the app.

At Xu’s fields, Lu verified the information and started the drone. With a roar of rotors, pesticide mist sprayed evenly. One hundred mu of fields were treated in half a day, efficient and precise. "It saves me a lot of trouble," Xu said. In the past, to manage his 400 mu of transferred land, he spent 700,000 to 800,000 yuan on tractors, transplanters and harvesters, but the machines were idle most of the year, used only two to three months annually.

Without owning machines, finding operators meant "blindly making phone calls," Xu recalled. Once during the busy double-harvest season, delayed transplanting due to insufficient machinery led to late rice harvest, which suffered heavy losses from cold dew wind. For Lu, "it was never so easy before" – busy days brought non-stop calls, while idle days meant no work at all. "Machines are expensive; without orders, efficiency drops, and the whole year’s effort is in vain," he said.

The change came with the launch of "Nongji Yijian Da" in Anren County in 2021, a digital bridge connecting farmers and machinery operators. On one end, farmers place orders based on needs; on the other, operators accept nearby orders. After two years of trial, Xu chose a "light operation" – keeping only necessary harvesters, tractors and labor, while ordering all other agricultural services via the app. "The app pops up reminders for farming schedules in advance, remembering better than us when each field needs work," he said.

Developed by He Qilong, a post-80s new farmer in Anren, the app emerged from his observation of agricultural pain points – asymmetric supply-demand information, high equipment depreciation costs and opaque service fees – after returning to his hometown to engage in agriculture from a foreign-funded enterprise’s financial position in coastal areas. To promote it, He recommended the app to large grain growers and cooperatives during grain collection, adjusting the default font to a larger size for elderly users with low literacy, enabling one-click ordering and accepting after initial information input.

The app integrates agricultural data from Hunan Provincial Meteorological Bureau to form a "meteorology-agricultural machinery operation suggestion form," reminding farmers to postpone work in case of rain or strong winds. It also uses the Beidou system to accurately calculate operation area via trajectory and generate fees automatically. People’s Daily reported that the app has won popularity, connecting 80% of Anren’s machinery operators and over half of its large grain growers, with a maximum of 300 daily orders during peak seasons.

It benefits both farmers and operators. Lu and seven local young people formed a plant protection team. "Last year, I undertook nearly 20,000 mu of work alone," he said, adding that the team’s per capita net income exceeded 110,000 yuan. Similar models like "Didi-style Machinery Booking" and "Order by Acre" have been rolled out across Hunan, significantly improving machinery utilization and cutting costs.

In Taojiang County, Hunan Dadaozhang Agricultural Co., Ltd. has put over 300 idle machines online, with nearly 400 operators available. "Renting a harvester used to cost 180 yuan per mu; now shared machinery reduces it by 80 yuan per mu," said Gao Gui, the company’s general manager. In Jingzhou County, intelligent scheduling on the "Jingnongtong" platform cut rotary tillage costs from 160 to 130 yuan per mu, lowering per-mu grain costs by 20%.

To address high purchase costs and rapid updates, He, relying on Hunan Shengping Modern Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative Union – a national model farmer cooperative, launched a machinery leasing and entrustment management model. The union purchased 270 machines in advance, allowing operators to rent them with zero down payment. People’s Network noted that such digital innovations are reshaping Hunan’s agriculture, bringing efficiency and benefits to rural areas.