13 November, LONDON - XAG has been awarded Best Innovation in Precision Farming Technology for its smart agriculture solutions at Crop Science Awards 2019 presented in London, United Kingdom on November 12. XAG is the first Chinese agriculture technology company awarded the Crop Science Awards – the ‘Oscar’ of the crop science and technology industry. This recognises XAG as the trailblazer of precision agriculture who innovatively integrates drone, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet-of-Things (IoT) to build a sustainable agroecosystem that grow more nutritious food with minimal ecological footprint on earth.

Crop Science Awards, previously known as Agrow Awards, is a prestigious annual award launched 10 years ago by Agribusiness Intelligence to recognise technological breakthroughs and leadership initiatives in the crop protection industry. This year’s award consists of 15 categories honouring excellence in different realms of agriculture, such as digital farming, precision farming and crop protection formulation. Those being shortlisted are carefully evaluated by an international panel of esteemed judges with years of experience in crop science.

XAG was selected as the finalists in the following three categories: Best Innovation in Precision Farming Technology for accelerating developments in precision agriculture technology, Best Application Technology Innovation for improving the precision and safety of pesticide application and Best Company from an Emerging Region for making the greatest contribution to the crop protection industry.

XAG has earned Best Innovation in Precision Farming Technology with its smart agriculture solutions which are crafted to help farmers optimise the use of agricultural resources, improve crop yield and reduce environmental impacts. The smart agriculture solutions are designed into four aspects, which include building digital farming infrastructure such as Real-time Kinematic (RTK) navigation network and high-definition field maps, developing automated drones and robots for precision operation, connecting land, crop, farmers and consumers through the Agricultural IoT System and cultivating Agriculture AI for prescription map application.

For example, XAG has designed the fully autonomous agricultural drones (e.g., XPlanet® Agricultural UAS and P Series Plant Protection UAS) which can effectively navigate at centimetre-level accuracy for precision crop spraying, granule spreading and seeding even on complex terrains. Powered by RTK positioning, atomisation spraying and AI prescription, this unmanned aerial system has helped local farmers address different crop protection problems, ranging from weed control and bee pollination in Australia, defeating fall armyworm in Zambia and warding off pinewood nematode in South Korea to large-scale cotton defoliation in China.

“This honour also goes to the next generation of farmers who make smart agriculture possible,” said Justin Gong, Co-founder and Vice President of XAG, who received the award at the ceremony. Gong pointed out that the future of agriculture lies in the fast-growing smallholder economy and the scale-up of precision farming technology. With stronger production adaptability and flexibility, smallholder farmers, when empowered by nimble, intelligent technology, can produce more nutritious food while meeting consumers’ increasing demands for healthier diets.

XAG has also received the Highly Commended honours in Best Application Technology Innovation for its iRASS™ Intelligent Atomisation Rotary Spraying System and Best Company from an Emerging Region. Since tapping into the ever-evolving agriculture technology company, XAG has introduced 42,000 drones into the world’s remote rural area and served over 20 million hectares of farmlands for 6.37 million farmers.

About XAG

Founded in 2007, XAG is a leading agriculture technology company and one of the world’s largest industrial UAS manufacturers headquartered in China. Through empowering farmers with precision technologies such as drones, AI, cloud computing and IoT, XAG has been committed to improving the productivity, quality and sustainability of agricultural production. The company so far has introduced its smart agriculture solutions into 38 countries and regions, as well as established global partnerships with industry leaders and research institutions, such as Bayer, Alibaba, Huawei, Harper Adams University and Sydney University, to promote digital farming and enhance food safety.