In China, rural land circulation has been a common practice for decades, it means farmers lease their land operation rights to cooperatives so that dispersed farmland can be centralized for intensive mass agricultural production. But some farmers are looking for a change, and Heilongjiang Province in the northeast China has rolled out a new trusteeship model.

A new year, a new beginning... 53-year-old Gao Zhongcheng from Jixian county of eastern Heilongjiang Province is about to sign a trusteeship agreement with the local farming cooperative. Unlike in the past when he leased his lands, this time he has to act as a trustor and pay an upfront service charge to the cooperative, regardless of the results from the harvest.

"My main concern was that what if natural disasters occur during the contract period and lead to losses. The agreement states that those risks are covered by insurance, so I decided to give it a go," said Gao.

Under the agreement, Gao pays 5,000 yuan ($789.5) in service fee per hectare to the cooperative for managing ploughing and harvesting, all he needs to do once the contract is concluded is to sell the crops, and he expects a better deal compared to the common land lease.

"After one year of trial, the results boosted confidence among the farmers. Such a model brings us more liquidity so that we can invest in digital technologies designed to propel farming into visualized and information-based production, at the same time farmers can monitor how their crop fields are doing under the trusteeship," Liu Mingkun, the director of Yongsheng Agricultural Cooperative in Jixian County told CGTN.

The digital platform invested by the cooperative employs technologies like temperature and moisture sensing, aerial imaging, global positioning systems and many more, making farming as efficient, productive and profitable as possible. 

Experts say that technology is becoming an indispensable part of farming since the industry is facing huge challenges, from rising costs of supplies, a shortage of labor, to changes in consumer preferences.

The digital platform designer under the trusteeship explains how yields can be maximized. "By monitoring every variable in crop farming such as moisture levels, pest stress, soil conditions, and micro-climates, the system provides more accurate information for planting and growing crops. For instance, the system can suggest the best possible time to plant seeds by analyzing the data collected, so they can reach their full potential", said Deng Xin, the CEO of Yimi Agricultural Technology.

"We encourage farmers with little arable land to participate in the trusteeship, we think by applying digital technology and switching to precision farming, the problems of labor shortages and a lack of efficiency can be solved in the long run," Tan Jinlong, the head of the local agricultural and rural bureau added.