On 3 February 2026 the 2026 No. 1 Central Document was released, titled the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Anchoring Agricultural and Rural Modernisation and Solidly Advancing Comprehensive Rural Revitalisation. It is the fourteenth No. 1 Central Document focused on agriculture, rural areas and farmers in the new era, and the first after the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan.
AI written in through the phrase “combine”
In the section on “improving the effectiveness of agricultural science and technology innovation”, the document calls for developing new agricultural productive forces suited to local conditions, combining artificial intelligence with agricultural development, expanding application scenarios such as drones, the internet of things and robotics, and accelerating innovation in key agricultural bio-manufacturing technologies.
According to interpretation by officials of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Office and the Central Rural Work Office, China has become the largest holder of agricultural drones, and AI is being applied in agricultural breeding and modern cultivation, driving a shift “from farming by experience to operating by data and improving efficiency by algorithm”.
What makes agricultural AI distinctive
The differences between agricultural scenarios and industrial or consumer scenarios determine a different compliance logic.
First, distinctive data forms. Agricultural data includes environmental data such as remote sensing, weather and soil, as well as data on farmers, plots and operations that may involve personal information and business information. Data ownership and authorisation chains are often less clear than in industrial settings.
Second, hardware and algorithms are deeply coupled. Drones and agricultural robots are typical physical-AI scenarios; once a product involves personal or property safety, product-liability and safety-standard issues follow. See our note on the compliance perspective on physical AI at CES 2026.
Third, highly dispersed scenarios. Clients are mostly small and medium-sized farmers and cooperatives, making standardised delivery and compliance management difficult.
Implications for agricultural AI companies
First, data compliance must move upstream. When collecting farmer information, plot data and operation records, the purpose and scope of authorisation should be clearly disclosed. See our data compliance service and the PI outbound certification measures for scenarios involving cross-border research cooperation.
Second, participating in dataset building is both a policy dividend and a compliance topic. The National Data Administration continues to advance high-quality industry dataset building, and agriculture is a key direction; see the action plan for high-quality industry datasets.
Third, cooperation with government projects requires attention to data-sharing boundaries. Agricultural digitalisation projects often involve government platforms, and data aggregation and sharing should be clarified in agreements. See our commercial contracts service.
Fourth, agricultural equipment going global needs dual-track assessment. Agricultural robots for overseas markets may touch the target country’s product-safety and data rules; see our multi-jurisdiction service.
Recommendations
Agricultural AI companies can treat a “data ledger” and a “product-safety file” as two foundational tasks: the former records data sources, authorisation and use boundaries; the latter records compliance with safety standards for hardware products and the allocation of responsibility.
The No. 1 Central Document’s language provides clear policy expectations for agricultural AI. But the compliance difficulty in agricultural scenarios lies in “dispersion” — whether compliance capability can be productised and made replicable will determine whether the policy dividend can be converted into sustainable commercial results.
This article is based on the 2026 No. 1 Central Document and related interpretation by the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Office and the Central Rural Work Office. It is for general reference only and does not constitute legal advice.