Black Sea Summit 3 – AgroDrone

BY MWDABBS

Following on the Black Sea SummIT, today’s post introduces Agrodrone, a Ukrainian producer of UAV drones for Precision Agricultural use. Mikhailo Gorlovksyi represented AgroDrone at the conference and was kind enough to follow-up with a PDF presentation in English. Technology and Agriculture are two major factors driving international interest in Ukraine, so it is interesting in many regards to cover a company that is at the intersection of both.

But, before we get into the company, let’s take a quick look at how much of a role agriculture plays for Ukraine’s economy. Ukraine’s territory spans 60.4 million hectares. Of this, nearly 42 million hectares (69%) is agricultural land, ranking 8th globally. Overall, Ukraine’s average cereal yield is 4,400 kg per hectare – ranking 47th, where Kuwait’s yields are first at 21,845 kg, UAE coming second at 16,461 kg, and Oman third with 11,538 kg, followed by Belgium at 9,539 kg, have the highest .

I’m no expert on agriculture, but I do know that Ukraine is widely known for its rich soil; that these oil rich countries invest heavily in optimizing their production; and that Ukraine fundamentally has not had the economic basis to do so. There are quite a few countries interested in Ukraine because of its potential. There might be some devils in the details as for specific crops, but it is not unrealistic to think that Ukraine could double its yields – likely even triple yields with sufficient effort. Agriculture represents 8 – 12% of Ukraine’s GDP, suffice that there is clear opportunity for growth in this segment of its economy.

So, this gives us a very good reason to look closer at AgroDrone offering new tools in Precision Agriculture for field monitoring, crop assessments, pest control and security. Precision Agriculture is a strategy that uses IT to get data from multiple sources to help optimize farm production management. The use of drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, offers multiple advantages of satellite imaging for not being weather dependent and its ability to provide a resolution of 2 cm per pixel.

The science and data behind AgroDrone is multi-disciplinary and specific in wide-ranging details. One example draws upon Orthophotomaps and NDVI maps which enable:

§  Accurate outlines of agricultural areas

§  Precise calculations of utility areas

§  Forecasts of fuel consumption

§  Forecasts and evaluations of crop capacity and fruitage quality

§  Detection of illnesses and pests

§  Calculation of timing and amount of and for applying fertilizers and trichogamma dessimination (natural pest control)

§  Planning of agrotechnological efforts to maximize crop capacity.

AgroDrone’s staff consists of specialists in agricultural, UAV design and development, professional operators, electrical engineers, programmers, as well as sales and business development managers. In their own words,

“Our initial aim was to create the drones for photography and cinema. But we have also received orders from agriculture companies for developing the drones that will be able to inspect their lands both day and night, disseminate the trichogramma and provide the security. What’s more, having plunged into the problematic, we have realized the importance and demand for spectral NDVI shooting.”

Ukraine’s agriculture segment is in the news now in conjunction with the IMF, Tymoshenko, and in consideration of Bayer’s recent acquisition of Monsanto. 

All of which require a much closer examination and likely better suited to Nik’s much more informed command of the issues. Nevertheless, there are many countries and companies interested in Ukraine, some for agricultural purposes, some for tech purposes, here is a company at the forefront of both – check out their web site at AgroDrone.com.ua

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