As an emerging irrigation technology, variable rate irrigation (VRI) has gained increasing global research attention. The WatSave team at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research initiated VRI research in 2011 and established China's first VRI system in 2013. In its initial phase, the focus was on static zoning VRI management based on available water capacity (AWC). Through five consecutive seasons of field experiments, VRI management strategies were developed for winter wheat in semi-arid climates and summer maize in humid climates. Since 2019, research priorities have shifted towards dynamic zoning approaches for VRI and variable rate fertilization (VRF), utilizing multi-source data such as canopy temperature from infrared thermometers (IRTs) installed on the moving machine and in the field, UAV-based thermal imagery and multispectral data. Compared to conventional uniform rate irrigation (URI), the integration of VRI and VRF has demonstrated significant benefits, including a 13% increase in crop yield, a 31% reduction in irrigation water use, a 24% improvement in water productivity and an 18% reduction in fertilizer application. Over the past 15 years, studies have also addressed ammonium volatilization during fertigation and greenhouse gas emissions during crop seasons, leading to the establishment of best management practices for grain crops in the North China Plain.