The application of unmanned aircraft systems to plant protection in China

Agricultural use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in China has risen recently with the increased demand for precision agriculture. The focus of UAS use in China is on improving the efficiency of crop production and reducing environmental harm from runoff related to current crop management activities. This use will keep increasing with the support of new policies on land transfer and appropriately scaled operations for farming in the near future. A major agricultural application of UAS in China is plant protection, toward increasing pest and disease management efficiency. The advantages of UAS are apparent in the country, which has the largest number of small-sized farms in the world. UAS in China have advantages for farms in mountainous regions and orchard production, where it is difficult for ground-based machines to manoeuvre. Advances of UAS use in the country have created new challenges to the agricultural aviation industry in crop monitoring, pest sampling, pest detection, pest diagnosis and spraying technology. This article reviews the agricultural use of UAS in China, with a focus on plant protection. The challenges and prospects of UAS use in the country are also summarised.