“At an investment promotion conference for Hunan merchants, Hunan Zuiyang Alpine Ecological Agriculture and Hunan Fuzhu Agriculture and Forestry Technology in our county signed orders worth 30 million yuan and 80 million yuan of alpine vegetables respectively, and an online order of 110 million yuan for one agricultural product hit a record,” said an official of the county bureau of agriculture and rural affairs in Guidong County, who was full of confidence in the future development of the agricultural industry.

At the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), the agricultural industry in Guidong County achieved a significant breakthrough, confirming the effectiveness of the “cloud agriculture” development path of Guidong County over the past five years.

This small town in southern Hunan, with an average altitude of 900 meters, has promoted its characteristic industries such as high-altitude vegetables, traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, and tea to the national market through five years of development. It has also helped more than 30,000 farmers to increase their income through natural resources.Based on its favorable terrain and ecology, Guidong County has built an agricultural system with multiple supporting industries.

The planting area of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs has expanded from 180,000 mu (12,000 hectares) at the end of the “13th Five-Year Plan” to 260,000 mu (17,333.33 hectares), and 26 bases with an area of more than 1,000 mu (66.67 hectares) each have been built.

“Guidong Huang Jing” and monk fruit have won the certification trademark of national geographical indications, and have been included in “Xiangjiuwei” and “Xiangganhong” public brands, which has brought employment and income to 58,400 people.

The vegetable planting area has remained stable at 52,000 mu (3,466.67 hectares), and 14 “vegetable basket” bases for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have been built, with direct sales exceeding 300 million yuan.

The county has planted 150,000 mu (10,000 hectares) of tea trees, created a tea corridor, and achieved a comprehensive output value of 731 million yuan.

The high-altitude Lengshui rice (rice planted in cold areas) industry is also rising. There are planting bases of more than 30,000 mu (2,000 hectares) with an annual output of 16,500 tons of high-quality rice. 7 rice categories have obtained green certification, and have been included in the list of Protected Eco-origin Product by China”.

In 2024, the total output value of characteristic agriculture in the county increased by 68% compared to 2020. The county was awarded the national titles of “China's  Capital of Ecological Alpine Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs” and “China's  Famous County of Ecological Alpine Vegetables”.

In the past five years, Guidong has established cooperation with 12 institutions including Xiangnan University, promoting a model involving sic-tech experts and bases. It has provided over 30 technical services annually, conducted training for more than 6,500 farmers, and promoted the use of more than 20 technologies such as vegetable rotation and soil testing formula.

In the intelligent seedling greenhouse of Longping High-tech Cooperative, the constant temperature and humidity system has increased the survival rate of seedlings to 98%, with an annual seedling supply capacity covering 17,000 mu (1,133.33 hectares) of farmland and a threefold increase in order volume in five years.

The weaknesses in cold chain and processing have also been addressed. 60 high and low temperature cold storage facilities with a capacity of 23,000 cubic meters have been built, along with 8 production lines for the initial processing of Chinese medicinal materials, reducing the loss rate of agricultural products from 25% to 8%.

Preferential policies have also been provided, with a cumulative amount of 50 million yuan as rewards, and the introduction of special rewards and subsidies for vegetables and tea, reducing the burden of 13 leading enterprises at or above the provincial level by over 44 million yuan.

“Agricultural product orders worth 170 million yuan were signed at the village kitchen competition, and the annual sales via livestreaming reached 13 million yuan,” which serves as a vivid illustration of the integration of agriculture, tourism and e-commerce in Guidong County.

Relying on its reputation as “China’s Best Summer Resort”, the county has built 20 agricultural tourism sites such as vegetable research and learning base and tea sightseeing park, which connect 1,025 homestay inns to form 6 characteristic clusters.

In the first three quarters of 2025, the county received 2,359,700 domestic and foreign tourists, generating 2.729 billion yuan in revenue, with year-on-year growth rates of 8.66% and 10.5% respectively.

It has driven the local appreciation in agricultural products by 30%. The online sales continued to rise.

A system involving cooperative, e-commerce and cold chains has been established, 47 livestreaming teams have been cultivated, and online sales of agricultural products have jumped from less than 20 million yuan in 2020 to 120 million yuan in 2024. Alpine vegetables and Lilo Tea are directly supplied to supermarkets in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area through cold chains. The coverage of contract agriculture has reached 85%, and this year the vegetable industry alone has won orders exceeding 300 million yuan, an increase of 200% compared to 2020.

The core of agricultural upgrading lies in the improvement of people's livelihoods.

In the past five years, the average annual growth rate of per capita disposable income of rural residents in Guidong county has been 7.2%, and the total amount of resident deposits has exceeded 8.985 billion yuan, an increase of 53.07% compared to 2020.

Featured industries have driven employment for over 30,000 households, with an average annual income increase of 12,000 yuan per household in the traditional Chinese medicinal herb industry and over 3,000 yuan per household in vegetable cultivation.

The county's air quality has ranked first in the province for seven consecutive years, and it has successfully been selected as a national ecological civilization construction demonstration zone. The ecological brand of “China's Oxygen Capital” is becoming the strongest competitive advantage in agriculture.

Guidong County will continue to deepen the strategy of ecology, technology and brand, promote the construction of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs and wellness industrial park and tea digital processing center, making “cloud agriculture” thrive on the path of rural revitalization.

Chinese source: hunantoday