Zhiyun Xintian's one-stop service solves the problem of fragmented agricultural services and seeks financing.
Trillion-yuan Market Blueprint, Looking Forward to the Future of Agriculture
In March this year, a startup team led by Duan Zhicheng, a student at Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, and composed of Zhou Junlong and Wang Qingyu officially launched the Zhiyun Xintian project. Aiming at the pain point of the fragmented full - process services in domestic agricultural production, they created a one - stop service platform covering the entire chain of agricultural machinery operations, agricultural technology guidance, agricultural material supply, and smart equipment.
Currently, the scale of the domestic smart agriculture service market has exceeded 800 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of over 25%. However, there have long been four core pain points in the industry: There are over 60 million agricultural machines in the country. Difficulties in cross - regional scheduling lead to an idle driving rate of over 40%. During the busy farming season, it is hard to find a machine, while a large number of machines are idle during the slack season. Small farmers account for over 98% of the total in the country. Traditional agricultural technology guidance has limited coverage, with an error rate of over 30% in pest and disease judgment. Unscientific planting plans lead to a 10% - 20% reduction in per - mu yield. In the agricultural material circulation, multiple middlemen add prices, resulting in a 15% - 30% inflated price, and it is difficult to trace counterfeit and shoddy products. Smart agricultural equipment such as intelligent sensors and plant protection drones have high unit prices and complex operation and maintenance. The penetration rate in the northern dry - farming agricultural areas is less than 15%, and it is difficult for digital equipment to reach the fields. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs shows that over 70% of farmers have a demand for intensive agricultural services. However, the existing service models mostly focus on a single link and cannot meet the core requirements of "efficiency, precision, and inclusiveness". Therefore, the Zhiyun Xintian project came into being, hoping to reduce the planting cost and increase the production income for farmers by integrating scattered agricultural resources.
Since the project was conceived in March this year, the team has relied on the academic resources of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University. Xie Min, the director of the Smart Agriculture Department, serves as the guiding teacher, and Guo Yubo, an expert in smart agriculture in the computer field, serves as the technical consultant. The three core members are respectively responsible for overall coordination, technical development, and market operation, forming a professional complementary structure of agronomy + technology + operation. At present, the core product of the platform, a lightweight mini - program for farmers, has been developed. The APP for service providers and the management background are also in the final debugging stage, and the team is promoting the connection with service providers and the recruitment of seed users in the first batch of county - level pilot areas. During the R & D process, the team optimized the operation logic according to the usage habits of middle - aged and elderly farmers. At the same time, they overcame challenges such as initial cross - professional adaptation and limited development resources, and reduced the start - up cost with the support of the school's entrepreneurship park.
As a one - stop integrated service platform, Zhiyun Xintian has many differentiated technological innovations: It has developed an LBS intelligent matching algorithm that integrates location, machine type, and operation time for the matching of agricultural machinery supply and demand, which improves the matching efficiency by over 80% and can achieve a quick response within 30 minutes. It has built an Internet of Things data center to realize the visual monitoring and abnormal warning of soil moisture and crop growth. The mini - program for farmers adopts a lightweight model, which can be used immediately without downloading, greatly reducing the digital usage threshold for farmers. It has connected a blockchain traceability system for agricultural material quality problems, enabling full - link traceability and eliminating counterfeits from the source. Compared with competitors such as single agricultural machinery scheduling platforms, traditional agricultural material e - commerce, and smart equipment manufacturers, Zhiyun Xintian covers four core service scenarios, forming a full - process service closed - loop and filling the market gap. According to industry research data, after the project is implemented, it can help farmers reduce the per - mu comprehensive cost by 18%, improve the efficiency of agricultural machinery operations by 35%, and drive an increase of 22% in farmers' planting income.
Financing Needs and Three - year Plan
The project adopts a four - dimensional profit model. The basic profit comes from the platform transaction commissions of agricultural machinery operations, agricultural material transactions, and direct purchases of smart equipment. The high - margin profit comes from the value - added service fees for expert consultations, planting data services, and customized solutions. At the same time, it obtains a stable cash flow through the price difference of equipment sales and annual operation and maintenance service fees. The team plans to achieve the operation of a light - asset platform, aiming to reach the break - even point in 12 months and achieve large - scale profitability in 3 years. Currently, the project has not completed financing. The team plans to seek a 1 - million - yuan seed - round financing for platform development and improvement, market promotion, the establishment of an expert team, and the operation of pilot counties.
As a startup project rooted in the major grain - producing areas in the north, Zhiyun Xintian is in line with multiple national and local policy directions. The "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Construction of Smart Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (2025 - 2027)" of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region clearly proposes to promote the popularization and application of information technology in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry. Tongliao City is also promoting projects such as the digitalization of the entire corn industry chain and the construction of agricultural service centers, providing policy support for the platform's implementation. The core target users of the project are planting entities with over 50 mu in the major grain - producing areas in North China, Northeast China, and the Huanghuaihai region. In the future, it will first break through with the two high - frequency and rigid demands of agricultural machinery operations and centralized procurement of agricultural materials. It will complete one county - level pilot in 6 months and accumulate over 1,000 seed users. It will expand to 3 pilot banner - counties within 12 months, with the user scale exceeding 10,000. It will cover 15 major grain - producing provinces in the country within 3 years, gradually extend high - value - added services such as finance and production - sales docking, and finally create an industry benchmark for one - stop smart agriculture services.