A meeting on the use of agrodrones was held at the Altai State Agrarian University

Altai State Agrarian University will coordinate the interaction of the regional Ministry of Agriculture with companies providing field processing services using agrodrones. This was discussed at a working meeting at the university with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Altai Territory, headed by Deputy Minister Nikolai Khalin, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation Work of Altai State Agrarian University Andrey Smyshlyaev, HEAD of the Flight School of Altai State Agrarian University Vladimir Chernyshkov, as well as representatives of 6 leading companies that provide field processing services in the region using specialized agrodrones. Each of these organizations has its own fleet of 2-4 agrodrones with all the necessary equipment, and some are also engaged in the sale of drones. The meeting summed up the results of the 2024
field season , discussed the organizational, legal and technical problems faced by agrodrone operators. The issue of holding the second agrodrone air show "AltaiAgroBUS" in 2025 was separately considered. Let us recall that it was first held on April 24, 2024, at the Altai State Agrarian University experimental field with the support of the regional government and the Altai Cluster Development Center. Eight resident companies from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tomsk, and Barnaul, providing services on the market for the production and use of agrodrones, their maintenance, and the development of digital services for unmanned aircraft systems, displayed their exhibits. The event received a great media response and was awarded the gold medal of the XXVI Russian Agro-Industrial Exhibition "Golden Autumn - 2024". The meeting participants unanimously spoke in favor of holding the air show in 2025 and set its date - April 23. Representatives of companies providing field processing services using drones shared pressing problems in a roundtable format. Nikolai Khalin summed up the discussion. "I admit that for a long time I was skeptical about the use of drones in agriculture. The situation has changed. I have no doubt that services for the use of agrodrones will be in demand in 2025. This is a niche business , but it is already in demand on the market today," Nikolai Khalin emphasized. He confirmed that, first of all, agricultural producers with small areas of land, especially with inconvenient fields, need UAS services . Another area is prompt insecticide treatment of pest outbreaks. Nikolai Khalin, in particular, outlined a problem that he hopes to solve together: the fight against the expected locust invasion in the arid regions of the Altai Territory bordering Kazakhstan in the spring of 2025. The Deputy Minister suggested that the companies participating in the round table, together with the Russian Agricultural Center, develop an algorithm for using agrodrones in measures to combat the dangerous pest in the near future.





"We have serious plans for joint work. However, the most important issue in this work is the consolidation of efforts. We need a center that would coordinate the interaction of the Ministry of Agriculture with companies providing field processing services in a one-stop shop format. In addition to dispatching tasks, such a center would allow for a dialogue with agricultural producers so that they better understand the advantages of UAS. It would be rational to create such a center on the basis of the Altai State Agrarian University, which has already accumulated a lot of experience," said Nikolai Khalin.
In addition, the deputy minister promised to prepare an appeal to the federal regulator to simplify the procedure for registering agrodrones and their use in the conditions of the experimental legal regime for the use of drones, which is in effect in the Altai Territory.