China's BeiDou navigation system champions smart agriculture

China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), is increasingly playing a leading role in the country's agricultural sector, providing innovative solutions to traditional farming methods.

As the autumn harvest season approaches, farmers nationwide are leveraging the system to optimize every harvesting step, from reaping crops to post-harvest processing.

In northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, one of the country's major grain producers, the Beidahuang Group Corporation has reached full BDS coverage across its managed lands. At the group's 290 Farm, BDS-equipped harvesters have been introduced to enhance efficiency. The system allows farmers to access real-time geological and topographic data, while adjusting the paths of harvesters based on precise positioning and navigation.

"The harvester is equipped with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. All we need to do is to set the route within the designated area, and the machine can harvest automatically, with an error margin of zero to two centimeters. The accuracy is at the centimeter level. It is very precise and boosts efficiency," said Cao Qianyu, a farmer at the 290 Farm.

Meanwhile, at a grain processing center in Zhongxiang City of central China's Hubei Province, the BDS was introduced to monitor grain drying and manage daily grain input and output.

"In Zhongxiang City, 80 percent of dryers are equipped with BDS terminals. We can monitor the grain drying process of the whole city and access the overall data. Under extreme weather conditions, we can adjust grain drying in accordance with the capacities of processing centers, ensuring that no grain is wasted and ensure food security," said Liu Dandan, a technician of Zhongxiang Cloud Intelligence Agricultural Development Corporation, which provides BDS monitoring service for the city.

Currently, around 2.2 million sets of agricultural machinery in China are equipped with BDS terminals, vastly improving efficiency and promoting agricultural modernization.

China's BeiDou navigation system champions smart agriculture

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region recorded a record cotton output of over 6 million tonnes in 2025, official data showed on Tuesday.

The region produced 6.165 million tonnes of cotton in 2025, accounting for 92.8 percent of the national total, according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Xinjiang.

Xinjiang's cotton planting area expanded to nearly 38.88 million mu (about 2.59 million hectares) in 2025, which was up 5.9 percent year on year, and its average yield came in at 158.6 kilograms per mu, up 2.4 percent year on year.

Favorable weather conditions throughout the growing season helped boost output, with strengthened policy support, advances in agricultural technology, and improved talent development also contributing to higher productivity, experts say.

Xinjiang remains China's largest cotton-producing region. The country's cotton output rose by 7.7 percent from 2024, totaling 6.641 million tonnes in 2025.

China's Xinjiang sees record cotton output in 2025