Under the trend of agricultural mechanization, the plant protection drone market is developing rapidly with the popularization of technology and cost reduction. Since DJI launched its first MG-1 at the end of 2015, by the end of 2018, China's plant protection drone market has grown from negligible to about 30,000 units in three years, of which DJI Agriculture accounts for about 2/ 3 shares.
In the context of the increasing aging trend and the rapid decline of the demographic dividend, plant protection drones have now become the new "sweetheart" of China’s agricultural development. As the overlord of China's consumer drone market, DJI has paid more attention to plant protection drones. Since the introduction of drones into the agricultural field in 2012, it established the DJI agricultural brand in 2015. Up to now, DJI has produced many different plant protection drone products such as T series and MG series.
In 2019, in order to further build a closed loop of the industrial chain of "human, machine, technology, and agent", DJI Agriculture first proposed the concept of "flying defense ecosystem". People are talent training, machines are products with better performance, technology is the optimization and iteration of flying defense technology, and agents are joint development with well-known pharmaceutical companies such as Corteva, Syngenta, and BASF.
In this context, the development of DJI's plant protection drone in China’s market has also ushered in frequent growth. According to DJI agricultural data, as of July 12, the global single-year operating area of DJI agricultural plant protection drones has exceeded 200 million mu, and the global shipment volume has exceeded 30,000 units. Sales have fully exceeded 2019. At the same time, on May 28 this year, DJI also announced that it took 146 days to complete the cumulative operation area of 100 million acres. The application results can be described as arrogant in the world.
So, why does the plant protection drones of DJI Agriculture have repeatedly achieved good results? What impact will the rapid development of DJI plant protection drones have on the industry? Next, we might as well explore together!
Affected by multiple factors, DJI plant protection drones has repeatedly achieved good results
In fact, speaking of the milestone achievements that DJI has made in plant protection drones since 2020, the editor believes that there is no lack of the synergy of time, location, and people. Although it is also inseparable from the internal strength of DJI itself, such as technology, talents, and capital, in comparison, it is possible that external factors have a greater role in promoting DJI.
First of all, the epidemic situation and spring plowing have brought opportunities to the application of plant protection drones. Since the beginning of this year, the sudden outbreak of pneumonia has caused serious damage to agricultural production. This has caused the demand for plant protection drones in the agricultural sector to usher in a surge after the resumption of work and production in March, coupled with the successive introduction of national policies to protect spring farming , The plant protection drone has ushered in many new opportunities.
Second, the continuous development of new infrastructure technologies such as 5G has also brought heat to plant protection drones. With the continuous acceleration of 5G commercial use and the rapid development of artificial intelligence and other technologies, the supporting technical support of plant protection drones has become more and more complete, which gives it confidence and confidence in future functional upgrades and deepening applications. In this context, more people have set their sights on the field of plant protection drones.
In addition, assistance to Pakistan to control locusts and equipment for poverty alleviation have also become important factors driving the growth of DJI's plant protection drone sales and applications. In order to help Pakistan cope with locusts and help agricultural production in poor areas, DJI has successively sold its products overseas and donated its products to villages, which have provided demand and market for the sales and landing of its products.
DJI has a great reputation, but the industry is far from mature
It is for the above reasons that we have seen that DJI plant protection drones have set many new records in the industry, and their development has shown a trend of unparalleled development. Such a development is certainly gratifying for DJI, but for the entire industry, it is worrying. After all, at present, we only see a dominance in DJI, but more companies are still struggling and struggling to survive.
In fact, after years of development and many reshuffles, the pattern of China's plant protection drone market has basically taken shape. The position of the first echelon is firmly controlled by DJI and XAG. The remaining companies are struggling to survive in the cracks of the price war, and the trend of polarization has become increasingly obvious. And this situation is obviously not the ideal situation in the mature development of the industry.
The reasons for this phenomenon, on the one hand, are related to the high technical requirements and rapid innovation of plant protection drones, on the other hand, it is also related to the high barriers to industry application and slow penetration. In addition, the high investment in product research and development and the difficulty in profitability are also related to An important factor in the gap. More SMEs are limited by these three points and face survival difficulties, and the gap between them and large enterprises is widening.
So, as this situation continues to deepen, how should China respond and change it? Intelligent Manufacturing Network believes that the impact of the epidemic has given birth to a new round of reshuffle of the industry. Companies that have been baptized by the epidemic and found a way to survive will be eligible to enter the second half of the competition. In the second half, the different developments of different companies are expected to break the polarization.
Under the polarization, where is the enterprise way in the second half?
What measures should companies take to break the current situation in the specific second half?
For leading companies like DJI and XAG, it is undoubtedly considered how to consolidate their advantages. On this basis, they can further accelerate technological innovation, continue to develop and produce high-quality products, at the same time train and reserve more professionals, strengthen cooperation with industry chain companies, and continuously improve their own ecosystem and industrial layout. In short, it is to focus on new technologies and new formats.
For small and medium-sized or start-up companies, ensuring survival is their focus. Therefore, they must first seek and make good use of the government's policy support and bonus subsidies to solve their own survival problems; then they will find their own development direction after considering the good problems, find another way to deepen the field of plant protection, and strengthen cooperation with large enterprises. Exchange and grow oneself into a specialized and new enterprise.
All in all, for the development of plant protection drones in the second half, both leading companies and small and medium-sized enterprises have their own opportunities. With the continuous changes of industry technology, environment and market, only companies that have adopted the correct development strategy can ride the wind and wave or turn back against the wind. It is particularly clear who will control the ups and downs in the future, and it remains to be seen where the industry will eventually go. In this context, all companies can only move forward through hard work.
The market contains new opportunities, and new opportunities have also brought new space to the upstream and downstream of plant protection aircraft, but plant protection drone companies are accelerating their trend toward head concentration.
Under the general trend of agricultural mechanization, plant protection drones have also become a minor trend. In this small trend, DJI once again explored its own characteristic development path with its unique style. This even proves from the side that the engineer dividend in the Chinese market will continue.