Women in China are truly "holding up half the sky" in advancing agricultural and rural modernization. With their wisdom and tenacity, they have been injecting sustained momentum into rural development.
This article focuses on the story of Liu Xiaolu, head of Jisheng Family Farm, situated in Linyi, a county in Dezhou, a city in east China's Shandong Province.
"I know the farmland in my hometown is exactly where I belong," says Liu Xiaolu, head of Jisheng Family Farm, situated in Linyi, a county in Dezhou, a city in east China's Shandong Province. Around her, ears of corn, heavy with their kernels, sway in the breeze.
However, in 2017, when Liu's parents started the farm, that plot of land yielded only meager returns. As she watched her parents work from dawn to dusk, for years, with meager returns, Liu resolved one day she would bring modern agricultural technologies to the farm, to ease the burdens on her parents, and to boost their yields.
Liu moved to Australia to pursue a master's degree, in marketing, with an eye to expanding the farm's sales channels. During her time abroad, she visited several modern farms, where she learned about various business models and advanced cultivation techniques.
Liu completed her postgraduate studies in 2025. At that time, two career paths lay ahead: A lucrative job, offered by an Australian shopping mall, or a stable position back in a Chinese city. As she was considering her options, she received a video call from her parents. While talking with her parents, she noticed how her father's hair had become grayer. She also heard the weariness in his voice — the toll of years of working the land. That video chat helped her make her decision; she decided to return home, and she began running the farm.
Of course, Liu was a novice. The modern farming theories she had learned abroad were of little use on the saline-alkali land in her hometown. So, she started from scratch. By day, she worked in the fields, where she learned traditional cultivation techniques and crop-management practices from large-scale grain growers and agricultural experts. By night, she pored over agricultural manuals at her desk, where she studied soil improvement, pest and disease control and other essentials.
Liu believed gaining a thorough understanding of traditional farming techniques and local conditions, was the essential first step toward revitalizing agriculture through technology. "The artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring systems and smart irrigation and fertilization devices I learned about abroad are just tools. However advanced they might be, they are not practical if they do not fit the local land conditions or meet the needs of farmers," says Liu. She believes the essence of modern agriculture lies in the integration of traditional farming wisdom and modern technology.
Liu eventually turned her focus to accelerating the transformation of the farm into a smart farm. She introduced an integrated, drip-irrigation system that delivered water and fertilizer directly to the root zone of the crops. She also deployed three plant-protection drones, to make crop spraying more targeted and efficient.
"Technology is not a lofty concept. Instead, it is a practical tool, which helps farmers save labor, increase yields and raise incomes," Liu says. The results of the farm's smart upgrade speak for themselves. Water use, per mu, has fallen more than 40 percent and fertilizer use has dropped 30 percent, both of which have effectively improved the soil ecosystem. Meanwhile, labor costs have been slashed, from 80 yuan (US $11.76) per mu to just 22 yuan (US $3.24).
Earlier this year, Liu and her team rolled out an AI-powered, sky-ground integrated agricultural protection system, which has integrated satellite-remote sensing, field sensors, high-definition cameras and a mobile-management platform. With AI at its core, the system monitors soil moisture, weather trends and pest populations, around the clock, pinpointing pest and disease outbreaks, and sounding early warnings ahead of extreme weather. With grain quality and prices both on the rise, the farm offers a telling example of how technology can energize agriculture.
Liu has offered semi- and full-land trusteeship services to farmers in surrounding villages. The growers can choose from a variety of services — including sowing, plant protection, harvesting and drying — depending on what they need. Alternatively, they can place their entire land under the farm's management. The efficient, productive trusteeship model has gained wide recognition, and, now, nearly 8,000 mu (533.33 hectares) of surrounding farmland is under smart management.
Liu believes women have clear strengths in managing modern agriculture. "Smart farming calls for precision, patience and integrated planning — qualities women have in abundance," Liu says. "Women's eye for detail helps them track crop and soil conditions, with care. Furthermore, our empathy and patience make us communicate well with villagers." Liu, herself, patiently explains new systems, and she offers hands-on guidance to elderly farmers, winning their trust and helping establish new technologies in the countryside.
As she looks ahead, Liu plans to upgrade both the AI-powered-protection system and the integrated-drip-irrigation system. She also plans to improve field monitoring and emergency-response plans. She intends to refine green-farming practices, establish a full traceability system, for grain production, and expand sales channels — driving the farm toward higher-quality, brand-driven growth.
"Technology-driven farming is not just about higher yields on my own farm," says Liu. "More importantly, it is about scaling up good practices to benefit more farmers." She hopes to bring the fruits of modern agricultural development to more farmers, devote her youth to the countryside, and contribute to the province's food security and sustainable rural development.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly September 2026)
Video Editors: Wei Xuanyi and Cheng Yijia
Editor: Wang Shasha
