Guangzhou Pilot Food Co., Ltd. was found on the list of “National Key Leading Enterprises in Agricultural Industrialization” recently announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It became the first enterprise in Huadu District to be so honored, realizing a “from zero to one breakthrough” in this field for the District.

The selection of “National Key Leading Enterprises in Agricultural Industrialization” is in strict compliance with the “Management Measures for the Recognition and Operation Monitoring of National Key Leading Enterprises in Agricultural Industrialization”, Measured against business performance, number of farmer households influenced and other key indexes, excellent enterprises with strong momentum of development, great influence in the industry, high brand awareness and close ties to agricultural communities stood out after a selection of the best from the best. Guangzhou Pilot Food Co., Ltd. is a homegrown enterprise in Huadu that integrates R&D, manufacturing, sales and service to produce and supply raw materials for freshly made and pre-made beverage. In July 2020, the headquarters of Pilot Food was officially settled in Huadu District, Guangzhou. The company, adhering to the spirit of “sincerity, rigor, improvement, and innovation”, and upholding the business philosophy of “integrity and quality first”, has relied on food science and technology and biotechnology to pursue its commitment to building a supply chain running through the upstream and downstream of the tea industry, and focusing on the development of high-quality tea raw materials that are safe, stable and tasty.

Since its establishment, the company has achieved remarkable development results in as short as 5 years; it has successively obtained a number of qualifications, including ISO22000, HACCP, FDA, BRC, and intellectual property management system certification; it is the preferred partner of more than 80% of China's new tea drink brands, and it is the leading raw material supplier of the freshly made beverage industry. The company now has a group of teams long engaged in the research of milk tea raw materials with rich R&D experience, 50 fully automated production lines, a perfect quality control system and import and export qualifications. As a homegrown agricultural product processing enterprise, the company actively explores the development of contract agriculture to help promote the sales of local special agricultural products. The company has now established three R&D bases in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Guangxi, and a R&D team of over 100 members led by senior experts is working with South China University of Technology, South China Agricultural University and other universities to establish joint laboratories, and food industry research institute, etc., aspiring to build a leading tea beverage enterprise.

Scientific Layout

Emerging modernized agricultural industrial system

In recent years, in earnest carrying out and implementation of the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee on the work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, Huadu District always takes rural revitalization as the general lever for the work agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in the new era, and push forward “High-quality Development Project of 100 Counties, 1000 Towns and 10000 Villages” as the pace maker, taking the initiative to promote the development of a modern agricultural industrial system, seek solid progress in the construction of demonstration zone for integrated development of air-port related agriculture, and scientifically formulate long-term planning for the high-quality development of modern agriculture in urban areas, and striving to build a modern agricultural science and technology innovation highland and a model area of urban-rural integration and development in the Greater Bay Area. The District has successfully created three provincial modern agricultural industrial parks of flowers, fisheries, and “Internet + agriculture”, in its pursuit of building efficient, intelligent, green and ecological modern agricultural development platforms.

Focusing on building stronger and more complete industry chain, the District relies on four major advantageous industries, namely, green fruits and vegetables, high-quality flowers, ecological livestock and poultry, and modern fisheries, to build in accordance with local conditions five billion-yuan industry clusters, including “bonsai, green plants, fisheries, fruits and vegetables, livestock and poultry”, and to pursue the“1 + 4” urban modern agricultural industry chain. The District's total agricultural output value exceeded 10 billion for two consecutive years, and led in growth rate among the city's major agricultural districts.

Quality service

Protection to the development of enterprises

Practicing the concept of “help entrepreneurs, befriend investors, and serve taxpayers”, Huadu District has been focused on the needs of enterprises in the whole life cycle, and the construction of whole-chain service ecology. The District had in place a leader-enterprise contact mechanism, in which District leaders will lead working teams to visit enterprises with the intention to help, to have dynamic knowledge of the production and operation situation of the enterprises, to timely coordinate and solve relevant problems for the enterprises. From January to May, 2025, a total of 50 visits were paid to agricultural entities. The District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has always treated it an important lever for promoting rural revitalization to cultivate new agricultural production and management entities that are “strong in strength, good at management, capable of leading, and willing to take responsibility”; the Bureau guides agricultural enterprises to apply for such titles as leading enterprises, GHM Greater Bay Area “food basket” production bases, and continues to stimulate the vitality of agricultural market entities by implementation of pro-agriculture policies, and optimization of services and guarantees.

In order to guarantee the smooth production startup of Pilot Food, Huadu District streamlined the approval process through the reform of “separation of operating permits with business licenses”, which facilitated the rapid launch of the company's first production base; took further steps to “streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve regulation and services”, which secured the overall settlement of its headquarters; and at the same time, set up a special task force and establish a “one-on-one” working mechanism, which promoted its layout and operation in three towns and streets; and relied on the “Operation Spring Breeze” and other platforms to introduce several professionals for the enterprise. In 2024, in order to help the enterprise's rapid development, Huadu District precisely guaranteed the provision of 8.24 acres of construction land for the company, and promoted the project to be included in Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone to enjoy national policies, thereby to form a closed loop of full-cycle services. In addition, Huadu District managed to seize the opportunity of digital economy. It built the first District-level rural e-commerce industrial park in Guangzhou; organized the Digital Agriculture Live Festival for four consecutive years, driving the online sales of agricultural products to exceed 280 million yuan in 2024; and established the first agricultural products industry association of the District, aiming to assist the enterprises in connecting with the supply and marketing system, and trade unions at all levels of the city and the District, and in further broadening the sales channels of high-quality agricultural products. This year, Huadu District successfully held the 2nd Promotion Conference for Special Agricultural Products, with sales of agricultural products reaching 800,000 RMB on the very same day. The whole-chain service ecology of “policy support + resource integration + market expansion” is taking shape.

Careful cultivation

Gradually build a gradient cultivation system of leading enterprises

Industrialized agricultural leading enterprises are at the core of building the whole agricultural industry chain and modern rural industrial system; they also play a key role in consolidating the foundation of agriculture, promoting the development of agricultural and rural economy, and increasing the income of farmers. Strictly following the criteria for application of agricultural leading enterprises title at all levels, the District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs  collaborated with towns (streets) in a comprehensive survey of agricultural enterprises within the District, thoroughly investigating their production scale, business models, product features, and market competitiveness, and established an enterprise information database covering key details such as company size and industry type, which enabled the precise identification of enterprises with growth potential that meet the basic application requirements and subsequently designated as key candidates of cultivation.

The Bureau strengthened communication with enterprises, tracked their development in real time, and dynamically adjusted the list of candidates to ensure high quality and efficiency of the cultivation work. Efforts were made to increase policy publicity; manuals were created to explain in detail the application process, eligible standards for support, and various preferential policies; and measures online and offline were taken to effectively enhance the policy awareness and the coverage of policies. The Bureau enhanced the guidance to enterprises in the application, and gave full play to the leverage of financial funds, offering a one-time award of 300,000 yuan to a Guangdong key leading enterprise recognized for the first time by the Guangdong Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The Bureau also organized annual training meetings for the development, cultivation and application guidance of agricultural leading enterprises, to promote the work of agricultural leading enterprises cultivation, and has gradually formed a gradient cultivation matrix.

Realization of breakthrough

The high-quality development of Huadu agriculture enters a new chapter

At present, Huadu has 54 agricultural leading enterprises at national, provincial and municipal levels, more than doubling the number at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan, which, in combination with the obtaining of a series of national awards, including national aquaculture and ecological aquaculture demonstration district, national key county of leisure agriculture, national key county of cold-chain logistics of agricultural products, and national demonstration county of whole-process mechanization of agricultural production, has ushered in a new chapter for Huadu's agricultural development. The District currently has built 39 “food basket” bases in the Greater Bay Area; built intelligent blueberry bases covering more than 988 acres, and fish and shrimp aquaculture area of 824 acres; the output of pig and poultry grows by more than 20%; 12 products are selected as the national famous, special, excellent or new products, and 34 “Guangdong” brands are leading the development; the District also has been awarded a total of two national “One Village, One Product “demonstration villages and towns (Tiemian Town for leisure agritourism, and Ruiling Village for bonsai), and Lovochuan was enlisted in the first batch of national recommended camps for the practice of farming culture; and the District is successful in creating one national (Rhyme Seeking Journey in the Country of Guangdong), and one provincial (Flowering Time Demonstration Belt) rural tourism choice routes, and 3 Provincial Cultural and Tourism Characteristic Villages.

In 2025, Huadu District will continue to prioritize the construction of the demonstration zone for integrated development of airport-related agriculture, further intensify efforts to cultivate leading agricultural industrialized enterprises, accelerate the construction of strong agricultural District, comprehensively promote the brand of Huadu agriculture, accelerate the implementation of the "Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand" project, and comprehensively promote the modernization of agriculture and rural areas to achieve new breakthroughs.