On August 20th, farmer Luo Rongfu was drying freshly harvested rice in the sun at the threshing ground in Maling Town, Xuyong County, Luzhou City. This autumn harvest, his son Luo Run returned to the village with a team of drone pilot friends, using unmanned aerial vehicles to airlift bags of rice directly from the paddy fields to their home. It was the first time Luo Rongfu had witnessed his son piloting a drone. Standing on the ridge, he watched the buzzing "iron dragonfly" in the sky with amazement, as it effortlessly lifted a 50-kilogram bag of rice and completed in just five or six minutes what previously took the father and son over half an hour of carrying on their shoulders. "In the past, we would head to the fields at dawn to thresh rice, soaked and muddy until noon, so exhausted we could fall asleep sitting on a stool," recalled the post-2000s Luo Run, who vividly remembers the grueling harvests of his childhood. After graduating from high school, he devoted himself to the local drone industry and is now an experienced pilot. "I believe life should be spent doing meaningful things, and young people should have the courage to strive," he said, noting that he now uses new technology to free his parents' generation from heavy physical labor.

Located at the transitional zone between the southern edge of the Sichuan Basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Xuyong County faces challenging terrain with fragmented arable land and scattered fields, making mechanized farming difficult. Many agricultural tasks still rely on manual labor, and the outflow of young workers combined with high transport costs have long constrained local agricultural development. The northern mountainous areas of Xuyong are rich in bamboo forests, and the county is one of the province's major bamboo planting regions. "In the past, bamboo in the deep mountains couldn't be transported out and simply rotted in the forest," Luo Run explained. The emergence of drone transport has completely changed this situation. This transformation began with a market insight from local young entrepreneur Shen Lian. "I also grew up among the bamboo forests, and I know how difficult it was to get our bamboo down the mountain," she said. In early 2024, while scrolling through short videos, Shen Lian discovered that drones originally designed for agricultural spraying and seeding could be modified for transporting timber and bamboo. "At that time, there were almost no large-scale drone transport applications in the Sichuan-Chongqing region." Recognizing this opportunity, she made multiple efforts to secure the regional agency qualification for DJI drones. Market demand far exceeded expectations. "When we first obtained the agency rights, the brand set an annual sales target of 50 units, which we completed in less than two months," Shen Lian noted. Since training programs began in January 2025, they have run continuously, training over 1,000 drone pilots. To address after-sales concerns, she overcame difficulties to establish a local maintenance station. "After the project launched, the county gave strong support, and many young people chose to stay," she said gratefully.

A transport drone costs between 40,000 and 50,000 yuan, and if operated independently, it can generate net profits of around 300,000 yuan per year after expenses. Even when hiring pilots to operate, one can recoup the investment within a year and still earn over 100,000 yuan in profit. For farmers, the benefits are even more tangible. A job that previously required 10 workers over 3 days at a cost of 6,000 to 7,000 yuan can now be completed by drones in half a day for just over 1,000 yuan. "The key point is that most of the bamboo transported by drones previously couldn't be brought down from the mountains at all, and now we can ship more products when prices are at their highest, significantly boosting income," Shen Lian added. Drones have not only transformed production methods but also reshaped the rural occupational landscape. "When I first started learning, it was for transporting bamboo and spraying pesticides," Luo Run said. After obtaining his license, he flew for others for over six months, saved enough money, and then bought drones with his friends. "Previously, I earned two to three thousand yuan a month; now I can earn that in a single day."

Using drones as a foundation, young people in Xuyong are finding balance between their hometown and livelihood, with more and more youths like Luo Run becoming drone pilots. "Some people think drones look high-tech and difficult, but if you never try, how would you know?" Luo Run remarked, adding that some of his peers have already bought cars and houses through this work. "Drones have truly changed many people's destinies." Zhou Yuanchao, Deputy Director of the Xuyong County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, stated that agricultural drones, as core tools of modern farming technology, play an important role in precision agriculture, smart agriculture, and rural revitalization. The county is currently actively exploring innovative drone application models in agricultural scenarios. "Next, the county will continue to explore areas including plant protection, livestock management, farmland protection, disaster response, and the low-altitude economy," Zhou said. Xuyong's efforts benefit from the development of Luzhou's low-altitude economy. In 2025, Luzhou was selected for the province's second batch of low-altitude operation management reform pilots, obtaining approval for 1,202 square kilometers of low-altitude airspace below 300 meters, ranking third in the province. "In recent years, drones have been increasingly widely applied in Luzhou for urban patrol, forest fire prevention, power line inspection, and agricultural and forestry plant protection," explained Chen Xintao, Deputy Director of the Luzhou Civil Aviation Development Service Center. To date, the city's low-altitude drones have safely operated for approximately 2,500 hours across 15,000 sorties, completed over 2,000 government flight missions totaling more than 400 flight hours and 5,000 kilometers, and collected over 10,000 inspection images.

For Xuyong County, the current focus of low-altitude economy development is on scenario applications. Ye Dingxin, Deputy Director of the Xuyong County Development and Reform Bureau, outlined three priorities: first, to continue developing bamboo and timber transport applications while improving supporting infrastructure such as forest charging stations and takeoff and landing points; second, to actively explore integrated applications of "low-altitude economy plus agriculture, tourism, and industrial development" along the Chishui River basin; and third, to plan "low-altitude economy plus health tourism" applications around key health and wellness tourism towns. Luo Run, who has chosen to stay in his hometown, has his own plans for the future. He has already obtained multiple drone operation and instructor certificates and is now preparing to earn a vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing license to expand into more logistics operations. "Looking further ahead, I want to organize returning entrepreneurial youth in the area to build our village's own industry and contribute to the development of the low-altitude economy," Luo Run said, expressing his belief that drones can support the growth of his hometown's industries.