An event combining artificial intelligence with agricultural advancement, along with the debut of the first batch of 2026 "Zhan Products" brands, took place recently in Zhanjiang. The conference, themed around intelligent empowerment and rural digitalization, was directed by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the provincial AI Innovation and Development Leading Group Office, and the Zhanjiang municipal government, with the Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau organizing it and CPIC Property and Casualty's Zhanjiang branch undertaking its execution.
Aligned with the national "AI+" initiative, the gathering supports Zhanjiang's dual-city strategy of becoming an AI-permeated city and an edge-AI application hub. It aimed to bridge AI technology, financial insurance, agricultural branding, and industrial supply-demand connections, using digital innovation to invigorate rural revitalization and offering a collaborative platform for transforming coastal specialty agriculture.
In recent years, Zhanjiang has prioritized AI-empowered agriculture as a key driver for fostering new productive forces in farming, advancing the "Hundreds, Thousands, and Tens of Thousands" project, and promoting comprehensive rural revitalization. The city has been enhancing its computing infrastructure and expanding edge-AI scenarios, pushing technology directly into farmlands and fishing ports to address persistent challenges such as inconsistent standardization, weak brand marketing, and imbalanced production-sales information flows.
"Modernizing agriculture requires both robust financial protection and technological empowerment," said Wen Renhui, deputy general manager of CPIC Property and Casualty's Guangdong branch. "We will leverage our financial resources, using digital insurance, AI-driven risk control, and digital agri-persona services to deliver tailored risk coverage and credit support across the entire chain of cultivation, processing, and distribution. We will increase resource allocation toward 'Zhan Products' brand enterprises and smart-agriculture projects, channeling financial support precisely into the digital rural sector and helping realize the city's dual AI-city ambitions."
As Zhanjiang's flagship regional public agricultural brand, "Zhan Products" serves as the primary vehicle for the city's brand-strengthening strategy and market competitiveness enhancement. Mo Zhigui, director of the Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, unveiled the 2026 first-batch brand list on-site. A subsequent ceremony formally recognized the newly added regional public and product brands, spanning aquatic goods, fruits and vegetables, livestock and poultry, and specialty processed items, thereby expanding the "Zhan Products" portfolio and underscoring progress in standardization and brand development for premium local agriculture.
During the event, Huang Qianqian, general manager of CPIC's rural revitalization office in Guangdong, detailed through real-world digital agri-persona deployments how brand IP operations can reduce promotional costs for agricultural enterprises and boost market recognition of "Zhan Products," injecting sustained digital vitality into regional branding.
To systematically capture the city's digital transformation efforts, the event also released the 2026 top-ten typical cases of edge-AI applications in agriculture. A special video highlighted benchmark projects such as smart aquaculture, AI-based pest monitoring, intelligent produce sorting, digital traceability, and production-sales big-data platforms, presenting cost-effective, highly adaptable AI solutions that offer replicable models for local agricultural operators.
A strategic cooperation signing ceremony was held to advance AI-driven agricultural development, with CPIC's Zhanjiang branch and multiple enterprises formalizing agreements with partners to collaborate on AI scenario development, shared brand-channel building, agricultural finance digitalization, and supply-chain services. Additionally, the "Zhan Products Agricultural AI OPC Innovation Talent Incubation Center," led by CPIC with technology partners including China Mobile Zhanjiang, was officially inaugurated. The center focuses on cultivating interdisciplinary AI-agriculture talent, addressing industry skill gaps and continuously supplying professional expertise for Zhanjiang's AI dual-city construction and digital upgrading of agricultural insurance.
This initiative integrates policy, technology, finance, branding, and talent resources, establishing a new framework for Zhanjiang's AI-driven agriculture characterized by "technology empowerment, financial underpinning, brand leadership, and industrial synergy." Moving forward, Zhanjiang will deepen its dual-city strategy, using this event as a springboard to enrich agricultural AI applications and broaden the "Zhan Products" brand matrix. By leveraging digital technology, the city aims to convert its abundant specialty local products into industrial and economic advantages, positioning itself as a provincial model for AI-empowered modern agricultural advancement.
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