Drones are working alongside farmers in the fields of Xindu District, Chengdu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, racing against time to pick fresh spring vegetables and deliver them directly from farm to table.
Unlike in the past, these vegetables no longer wait for people or vehicles. They are delivered straight to small 'airports' set up in the fields. Waiting drones have become the first leg of this fresh produce relay.
"'Pick and deliver' is especially suitable for small-batch orders that require timeliness and freshness. It enables rapid transfer," said Gou Senlin, head of the low-altitude economy team at Sichuan Liuhang Agriculture Co., Ltd.
Loaded with spring vegetables, the drones fly a direct route of four kilometers and land precisely at the sorting center just five minutes later. Workers immediately begin sorting and packing, and by noon, these spring vegetable packages are loaded onto express trucks bound for destinations across China, arriving the same day within Sichuan and the next day outside the province.
"This 'air express line' captures the most valuable freshness window for agricultural products and makes for our modern order-based agriculture, characterized by small batches, multiple shipments, and high efficiency," said Mao Zaiyou, deputy section chief of logistics development and integrated transport at the Xindu District Transport Bureau.
According to the company, a four-kilometer drone flight costs about 15 to 20 yuan (two to three U.S. dollars), and each drone can carry up to 30 kilograms.
"This spring vegetable season, we have already completed 90,000 orders," said Gou.
Since forming its drone team last year, the company has expanded its business from Xindu to several surrounding counties and cities, with 80 percent of its services now supporting agriculture. From crop protection and seeding to transportation, drones are becoming integral to every stage of farming.
So far, Chengdu has attracted over 500 companies in the low-altitude economy sector, with its low-altitude aircraft products achieving full coverage from the 10-kilogram class to the ton class.
"To advance agricultural modernization, we are promoting the integration of technology by combining drones with the Internet of Things and big data, achieving full traceability from field to table and ensuring greater freshness. These 'flying new farm tools' will be key to developing new quality productive forces in agriculture during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030)," said Li Yunfei, director of the Agricultural Mechanization Division at Chengdu's Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau.
Drones deliver fresh vegetables from farm to table in Chengdu
China is expected to add around 300 gigawatts of new wind and solar power capacity in 2026, with renewables continuing to drive the country’s green and low-carbon energy transition, according to the China Renewable Energy Development Report released on Friday.
The report shows that China’s newly installed renewable power generation capacity reached another record high in 2025, accounting for more than 60 percent of global additions.
The country’s total installed renewable energy capacity surpassed 2,337 gigawatts in 2025, while renewables accounted for 82.7 percent of newly installed power capacity, according to the report.
Newly installed distributed solar photovoltaic capacity exceeded 100 gigawatts for the second straight year, accompanied by marked improvements in regional power grid absorption and clean energy utilization.
China's electricity generation from renewable sources reached about 4,000 terawatt-hours. Both wind and photovoltaic power generation crossed the 1,000 terawatt-hours threshold, each contributing more than 10 percent to the country's total power output.
"In 2025, wind and solar power installations achieved leapfrog growth, with the cumulative installed capacity of wind and solar power historically surpassing that of thermal power, further accelerating the pace of power structure transformation. New business forms such as zero-carbon industrial parks, green power direct supply, wind-solar hydrogen production, and photovoltaic-based desert control accelerated their popularization, as clean energy gradually permeated various sectors of the economy and society," said Yi Yuechun, general manager of the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute.
This year, China's new energy sector will continue following the core path that combines onshore and offshore development, centralized and distributed projects, multiple energy sources working together, and integrated growth. The country will accelerate the construction of renewable energy bases in deserts, the Gobi and other arid areas, while coordinating ecological governance. Offshore wind power projects will also be pushed forward in an orderly manner.
In addition to the expected growth in wind and solar power, China is planning to add more than 50 gigawatts of new grid-connected energy storage capacity in 2026.
"During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), China will prioritize the commencement of a series of deep-sea offshore wind power projects, steadily advance major hydropower projects, actively and orderly develop pumped storage hydropower, and accelerate the planning and construction of integrated wind-solar-hydro power bases along major river basins. The green electricity market will continue to be cultivated and expanded. By 2035, the share of non-fossil energy in China's total primary energy consumption is targeted to reach more than 30 percent, with the combined installed capacity of wind and solar power striving to reach 3,600 gigawatts," said Liu Deshun, chief engineer of the National Energy Administration.
China to add 300 GW of wind, solar power capacity in 2026: report
