Digitalization is an inevitability. What digital solutions does the agricultural sector use?

The agro-industrial complex is one of the industries subject to digital transformation, but so far it lags behind other areas of the economy in terms of the level of implementation of IT solutions. Among the reasons are the unavailability of the infrastructure and the lack of qualified personnel. In addition, not all farmers have money for new technologies. However, those who remain on the sidelines of the business digitalization process face a loss of competitiveness.



The cost of wrong decisions in agriculture is very high, often it can threaten with serious damage up to the loss of the entire crop or herd of livestock. To reduce the risk of errors, farmers are increasingly using digitalization tools at different stages of work. Since 2019, Russia has been implementing the Digital Agriculture project developed by the Ministry of Agriculture. It assumes that by 2024 a platform of the same name will start operating in the country, which will include data on agricultural resources (for example, agricultural land, livestock, availability of agricultural machinery) - this is necessary for planning and forecasting risks. The AgroSolution module is designed to increase labor productivity and reduce the cost of fuels and lubricants, fertilizers, and electricity by at least 20%. Also, according to the project,



Russia is an outsider



According to the report "Indicators of the Digital Economy 2021", in 2019 the index of digitalization and the intensity of the use of digital technologies in agriculture was only 23 conventional units (24 - in livestock, 21 - in crop production) - this is the minimum value for the entire economy, where the average indicator is 32. In the country as a whole, the level of innovation activity, according to the Institute for Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) of the Higher School of Economics, is only 10.8%. This is higher than last year (9.1%), but catastrophically lower than in developed countries, where the value varies from 30% to 50%, compares Alexander Chulok, director of the Center for Scientific and Technological Forecasting of the ISSEK.

Although the pace of development of AgTech (Agricultural Technologies) in Russia inspires optimism, the domestic market remains in a catching up position: our country ranks 15th in the world in terms of the digitalization of agriculture, says Sergey Koloskov, CEO of Digital Agro. “In terms of the introduction of technologies in agriculture, Russia lags three times behind Germany and France and four times behind the United States. According to the analytical center of the Ministry of Agriculture and McKinsey, about 40% of the crop is lost in crop production at various stages of work. According to the Internet Initiatives Development Fund, in the crop production segment, digitalization covers a maximum of 10% of the sown area, ”he says. Thus, in Russia, there remains a large reserve for the implementation of digital agriculture technologies,

The digitalization of the Russian agro-industrial complex is proceeding very slowly: according to various estimates, no more than 10% of farms have implemented digital technologies, while in the USA and European countries the figure is 60-80%, agrees Nadezhda Kanygina, an analyst at the Institute for Complex Strategic Studies. The lag of our agricultural sector in terms of the implementation of digital solutions from Europe and the USA is significant, many manufacturers use only certain elements of digital equipment or do not use it at all. However, since 2018, when the agro-industrial complex was included in the list of industries subject to digital transformation, a large number of high-quality domestic IT solutions have appeared that compete with foreign ones, the head of the agro-industrial complex digitalization project at the HSE Center for Technology Transfer, Sergey Kosogor, draws attention. In particular, thanks to state support through development institutions, the necessary groundwork has been created, which is able to ensure the digital transformation of the industry and allow the rearmament of the domestic agro-industrial complex, he is sure.


Despite the current lag in the level of digitalization of agriculture, in a number of technological areas our country has the potential and every chance of being in the leading group, for example, in terms of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) systems - Russia has one of the best AI schools in the world, the head of the department emphasizes. development of unmanned vehicles Cognitive Pilot Yuri Minkin. At the same time, according to him, there are no noticeable differences in terms of the active use of digital solutions in animal husbandry and crop production: everything depends on the specific enterprise. “If an enterprise invests in development, takes into account industry trends, responds to challenges in a timely manner, it certainly uses new digital solutions that make it possible to increase the efficiency of business processes,” comments Minkin.

The level of digitalization of the agro-industrial complex in Russia is very heterogeneous - it clearly reflects the multi-structured sector, according to Chalok. There are enterprises - as a rule, these are large agricultural holdings - which, even by world standards, have a very high level of digitalization and robotization. Typically, these companies are focused on working with a demanding end consumer, for export: in order to compete in international markets, you need to be technologically modern, he explains. On the other hand, there are many small farms in the country that cannot yet afford the large-scale use of digital technologies.

So, even small farms are showing interest in digital solutions that allow them to visually and quickly reduce their costs, find and expand sales markets, says Chalok. "These are technologies related to high-speed Internet access, monitoring systems, video surveillance, and control, including using unmanned aerial vehicles, automated agricultural machinery, electronic field maps, technologies that use big data analysis and neural networks for smart fertilization." ... Although it must be understood that investments in new technologies, including digital ones, can not be afforded by everyone because of their high cost, high risks, and a lack of qualified personnel, he adds.

Kangana also believes that digital technologies can mainly be afforded by representatives of large businesses, since they are quite expensive, although in theory they quickly pay off. “Machinery and equipment for precision farming are mostly foreign, not to mention software, sensors, navigation systems. For the small and medium-sized agribusiness segment, the costs are high, and the payback period is not yet clear. In addition, not every farm can afford a retraining program for employees or hiring specialists with the required qualifications. Also, not everywhere in rural areas, there is the necessary infrastructure for digital technology to work, ”she lists. However, even with the existing difficulties, large and medium-sized businesses are making efforts for digital transformation,

At the same time, the introduction of digital technologies is relevant for any farms, regardless of the scale of the business, Koloskov emphasizes, since the use of AgTech systems allows reducing the number of fertilizers and plant protection products applied by 15-40% without losing efficiency, as well as reducing the consumption of electricity and water by 10-25 %. At the same time, precision farming technologies make it possible to simultaneously increase yields by 5-40%, depending on the initial conditions and agricultural crops, he compares.



What is popular with farmers



The transition to new technologies at all times was driven by the need to use more efficient means of production, which made it possible to solve a particular problem faster and better. In the agricultural sector, this is an increase in the return on cultivated land, an increase in the efficiency of processes, a reduction in costs, comments Minkin. “Therefore, in due time horses with plows were replaced by tractors, peasants with sickles and scythes were replaced by combines, etc. The same is happening now. The fourth industrial revolution is taking place all over the world, new technologies are replacing traditional technologies for us, which are based on artificial intelligence systems, Big Data, the Internet of things and others, '' he says. - Those enterprises that do not have time to switch to new technologies will become uncompetitive in a relatively short period of time.

Tatyana Kreator, Managing Director of the Corporate Business Development Department of Sberbank, distinguishes two types of digital solutions. The first is a separate technology, for example, in crop production, these are drones,

unmanned vehicles, fuel control sensors, etc. The second type is an ERP system that allows you to integrate all business processes and combine the financial and production parts. “Such a service enables the owner of the company to see the entire process, assess the efficiency or inefficiency of the technologies being introduced, and track whether there are problems at each stage of the business chain,” she explains.

There are ready-made SaaS solutions on the market; their use most often implies a subscription format. If a company decides to take the path of developing its own product, then it must be borne in mind that, in addition to the high cost of development, it will need to regularly incur additional costs: IT support, data storage, etc., says Kreator.

Kosovo names several of the most popular areas of digitalization in the agro-industrial complex: precision agriculture (navigation and geoinformation systems, equipment control, differentiated fertilization, etc.), the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, AIoT platforms/applications (control of data received from sensors, equipment, and other devices). In general, the digitalization of the agricultural sector neutralizes its shortcomings associated with crop losses during cultivation, collection, and storage, allows you to quickly monitor crops, update field maps for establishing navigation systems, reduce theft, and also quickly sell products or arrange state support measures, Kosogor lists.

However, the implementation of such solutions requires, among other things, the constant attention of specialists to their use. You need qualified staff or support from development specialists, he emphasizes. “Specialists are needed in order to eliminate failures or ensure the safety of information, therefore most Russian companies often use elements of digital solutions to control a specific task, and, for example, ERP systems that allow controlling most of the production processes are more often used by large players who can provide human resources and create the necessary infrastructure for the full use of existing digital solutions, ”he notes.

In addition to ERP systems, e-com is in great demand: building online marketing, targeted advertising, “smart office” or “smart warehouse” - this has become very important in a pandemic, Kreitor continues. “A separate area that, in our opinion, will gain momentum is big data analytics and the use of artificial intelligence. We see a high interest of customers in these solutions and a willingness to go into independent development, ”she adds.

Chalok says that there are successful examples of the use of digitalization in all subsectors of the agro-industrial complex - these are precision farming, robotic farms, and greenhouses, blockchain technologies that ensure complete transparency of agro-industrial complex products, sensors, including nano- and biosensors, integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) and allowing for advanced monitoring of plant and animal diseases, intelligent analysis of big data, including spatial data.

Nowadays, precision farming technologies are actively spreading in Russia, they include the analysis of satellite images, the planning of agricultural work, the use of sensors for analyzing the land, weather, and the operation of equipment. According to Koloskov, such technologies are relatively inexpensive to implement and quickly provide noticeable economic efficiency. Also popular are technologies for controlling equipment and monitoring its operation. However, only about 5% of farmers are using satellite field analysis technologies, as well as drone-assisted field surveys, he says. “We can also note the popularity of farm management systems, automated weather stations, and agricultural equipment control modules,” adds Koloskov. At the same time, he notes that farmers, in general, are weakly inclined to test new technologies: firstly,

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Business experience in crop production



Agroholding "Step" this year he created the so-called "digital twin" of the economy, that is, the chain of agricultural cultivation was completely automated, starting from planning the structure of sown areas and ending with harvesting and accounting for the harvest. “We have implemented this experience on one of our farms, and now we are going to scale it to the whole company,” explains Andrey Neduzhko, CEO of Steppe. The company also has several flagship developments introduced into production across the entire agricultural holding. For example, the "Field History" cloud service, which stores digitized field maps. With its help, you can collect and analyze all information for each field: from the work of equipment on the ground to the characteristics of the soil. Another service - "Production forecasting and analysis system" - with the use of artificial intelligence, forms the structure of crop rotation,

“Many technological operations in Steppe are performed by quadcopters, which this year have proven their effectiveness in sunflower processing when traditional sprayers cannot be used. We are also working on equipping harvesters and tractors with unmanned systems, which allows us to get rid of the human factor when performing technological operations, ”says Neduzhko. According to him, the ongoing automation of processes in crop production excludes the likelihood of human errors, which can reduce yields by up to 5%. Artificial intelligence helped the company to calculate the optimal crop structure for this year, which will make it possible to earn an additional 300 million rubles. LINDA. Another example, an IT procurement platform created by an agricultural holding programmer, saves at least 40 million rubles. in year,

Digital technologies directly affect the quality of work, the timing of operations, cost reduction, and ultimately - on the company's profit, therefore, "August-Agro" implements them from the very beginning of the project, says the general director of the company Aydar Galyautdinov. Naturally, there is a need for centralized asset management and operational monitoring of situations both in the fields and on farms, he says. - There are enough digital solutions for this on the modern market. We use online field monitoring and farm management systems, agricultural production management programs, driving instrument solutions for agricultural machinery, weather stations, and accounting software. On new farms, robotic milking is accompanied by comprehensive software, related to herd management programs, distribution of rations and breeding records ”. Elements of most programs integrate with each other, which provides a holistic picture for making operational and management decisions, he adds.

August-Agro plans to develop a wide range of digital solutions. The main vector, according to Galyautdinov, will be aimed at technologies of precision farming, differentiated processing of fields: such services allow you to minimize costs and increase the yield of fields. “As for livestock breeding, we have acquired the entire set of solutions required today at the new mega-farms. Now the challenge is to link them into a single system, ”he notes. At the same time, before actively introducing certain solutions, the company necessarily tests them, conducts a “run-in” at point sections, analyzes the disadvantages and advantages, the economy believes. “We scale only understandable and useful technologies to the entire structure. This allows you to avoid disappointment, loss of time, and unnecessary costs, ”adds Galyautdinov.

"Steppe" Before investing in a particular digital solution, he looks at the practice of their application and analyzes the experience of fellow agrarians. “However, the good practice also needs to be strictly differentiated. For example, we look at international experience and see that technologies that are effective for foreign farmers on 100-200 hectares do not give results for Russian producers on a scale of hundreds of thousands of hectares, ”Neduzhko draws attention. "This approach and high-quality expertise allow us to make the right choice and invest only in super-profitable projects that do not fail."

Digital solutions, to one degree or another, are continuously being implemented in all business segments managed by AFG National". The main goals are to develop timely effective solutions, optimize processes, save resources, reduce risks, transparency and control at all stages of production, says Andrei Belyankin, First Deputy General Director of the holding. Battery meteorological stations that transmit data from the fields online, sensors on agricultural machinery that measure a number of parameters - from a location on the field to fuel consumption, climate control systems in vegetable and fruit storage facilities that track the number of indicators of the internal environment, remote control of irrigation installations, digital accounting systems for work, consumption of plant protection products and fertilizers, devices,

The market offers a lot of digital solutions for agriculture and food production, but so far there is no single comprehensive solution that would meet the tasks of an agricultural producer from field to counter, combining agronomic, technical, production, warehouse, logistics, economic and other aspects of activities into a single system. draws Belyankin. Now AFG National» Leads the development of a platform that would combine software modules of applications for managers and employees of various directions in the company's farms. According to him, ideally, such a system should take into account a lot of factors, quickly rebuilding the planning model of processes and tasks, depending on changing data.

The companies of the group "EkoNiva-APK Holding »Since 2019, he has been conducting experiments on differentiated sowing using fertility maps for each specific field. “We get these satellite maps from the contractor. The update takes place once a year. The experiments continue, last year the differentiated sowing of wheat gave good results, - says the Deputy Director for Precision Farming “EkoNiva-APK Holding »Andrey Beryulyaev. The group's enterprises also work with corporate GIS - this is an online cartographic service in which the boundaries of fields are fixed, as well as the time of sowing and harvesting in each field.

Since 2020, a proprietary EkoCrop application for growers has been introduced. With its help, agronomists quickly receive objective data about each specific field, about the work carried out on it, the resources expended, and the results. Management and analysts use the application to receive detailed reports, says Beryulyaev. The company plans to develop existing solutions, in particular, the integration of EkoCrop and EkoFeed applications with 1C, the transition of EkoCrop to a single data warehouse from corporate GIS, the development of a web version of EkoCrop, and a version for Android.



Digital solutions for livestock breeders



As for digital solutions in animal husbandry, EkoNiva» Since 2016 RFID-identification of animals, as well as herd management programs DairyComp 305 and Pocket CowCard have been used. These tools make it possible to effectively manage thousands of heads of livestock, says EkoNiva- APK Holding "Konstantin Kapiturov. Since 2018, the subdivisions of the group have been using the proprietary hardware and software complex EkoFeed. Thanks to him, the feeding of animals has been debugged, the process of interaction between the feeding department of the holding, zootechnicians for feeding, and operators have been optimized. The management promptly receives in the form of reports all the data on animal feeding, which makes it possible to more accurately analyze the production processes, to better understand the cost of feed.

“Digital solutions allow us to objectively, in precise figures, assess the quality of work and make, based on such analysis, weighed timely, most effective management decisions,” says Kapiturov. “Thanks to the complex of digital solutions, the cost structure becomes more transparent, control over each business process is more efficient, and the work of field employees is simplified.” At the same time, it is important to understand that no digital solution is integrated into the production process at the click of a finger: it takes time to set up, adapt to a specific enterprise, and train specialists, he adds. Each tool goes through a testing phase, during which the dialogue between developers and users continues.

Selected digital solutions in the Agro-Belogorye group of companies» Were implemented from the very beginning, however, the systematic approach began to be implemented in 2015. A few years ago,” says Stanislav Dmitrov, director for innovative development and digitalization of the holding. - Now all purchases of the holding are carried out at a specialized site for the agro-industrial complex with the help of third-party experts. This approach allows not only to optimize costs but also to make the right management decisions since the process of each purchase can be thoroughly analyzed and relationships identified. "

The next step was the digitalization of sales: first, Agro-Belogorye» Launched an online meat store, then switched to an electronic format of interaction with B2B-sector clients, creating an electronic platform for wholesale of meat products. “Now this site is a key sales channel for us: within the framework of electronic procedures, more than 50% of the total sales of the Agro-Belogorye trading house“And 100% of export volumes,” emphasizes Dmitrov. Talking about the implementation of digitalization in other segments of the holding business, Dmitrov singles out three of the most important and effective ones. Since this year, all 20 pig farms of the company have been using digital water metering. This should reduce water consumption by more than 10%, which will also allow optimizing the amount of wastewater, so this project for the group is not so much digital as ecological. Also, from this year, electronic registration of compound feeds at pig farms has been carried out. The flagship project is the development and implementation of a video surveillance system for animals based on machine vision and artificial intelligence. “This is R&D, there are no analogs of development in the world yet. We are implementing a project with the grant support of the Belgorod REC “Innovative Solutions in Agroindustrial Complex” with our scientific partners - leading experts from the Institute of Control Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, - comments Dmitrov.

Cherkizovo group» Uses the Internet of Things in the poultry segment. Over the past 1.5 years, the company has deployed a system of operational control and analysis of climatic parameters (temperature and humidity) in several hundred poultry houses, in which more than 600 sensors are installed. To collect information from them, new technology was used, which allows deploying a radio data transmission network at minimal cost, says Vladislav Belyaev, IT Director of the company. The software for this system was developed in-house by the company using Big Data approaches. The system monitors climatic indicators and compares them with the required ones. In case of rejection, immediate notification by e-mail and SMS occurs, while the system displays an incident that requires further mandatory closure with an explanation of the reasons. The system generates analytics that allows you to compare indicators for individual batches of poultry, poultry houses, and regions. The system allows you to increase the safety of the bird and reduce the amount of energy consumed.

“She works in one of the poultry processing plants, recognizes employees, and takes into account all the operations performed by a person during the shift. In fact, this is a "virtual master" who evaluates the efficiency of work and allocates human resources, - explains Belyaev. - To this functionality, we have recently added the ability to 100% control input raw materials and finished products. Special cameras are installed on conveyors, and the system automatically detects and classifies all defects and violations. In addition, there is a possibility of automatic deletion of the detected defect ”. According to him, the use of this technology allows ensuring the 100% quality of finished products and increases labor productivity by 10-15%.

In 2020, the group completed the development of a complete control and monitoring system for the feed mill. Special controllers installed at all stages of the technological process collect online all indicators and operating parameters, including deviations from the feed recipe. Further, a digital copy is created from this data, which allows you to quickly assess and monitor the operation of the entire plant, identifying bottlenecks and predicting problem areas. “Since the digital twin stores all the information about the operation of the plant, by turning the timeline back, you can analyze any moment of the plant's operation in the past and understand the causes of failures or downtime. The system can improve energy efficiency and reduce downtime, ”comments Belyaev.

Another example of the use of digital technologies in the group is a robot plant for the production of raw smoked sausages in Kashira near Moscow, continues Belyaev. It is built in accordance with the Industry 4.0 approach: all processes - from the acceptance of raw materials to the dispatch of finished products - are fully automated and standardized, all operations using the SAP system are performed on automatic lines, and the contact of people with the product is either completely absent or reduced to a minimum. “We plan to continue implementing solutions based on artificial intelligence: we see great potential in this technology,” adds Belyaev.







What hinders development


The Russian agro-industrial complex is moving towards digital transformation, although a number of factors determine the lag in this matter from other countries. So, for example, the lack of infrastructure allowing the full use of digital solutions in the fields, and the slow formation of databases and knowledge are barriers to the introduction of IT technologies, says Sergey Kosovo. Also, among the reasons for the insufficiently active digitalization of the industry, he calls the slow updating of legislation (for example, in terms of the use of drones), the lack of unification of standards and regulations for data transfer, the lack of testing grounds and pilot production facilities for testing new technologies, the lack of state support measures for the transition to digital technologies, shortage of qualified personnel.

Support for the introduction of domestic innovations in the agro-industrial complex from the state is insufficient, agrees Yuri Minkin. We are talking about the provision of subsidies, concessional loans, and other preferences to farms introducing promising products of domestic developers, he explains. “The economic effect of the introduction of digital technologies is not always obvious to farmers, while their cost is sometimes significant. However, it is important to note that the preferential programs of the Ministry of Agriculture allow companies to receive subsidized loans for such decisions, ”says Tatiana Kreator.

The main problem is the low level of willingness to try innovations, Sergei Koloskov is sure. Agribusiness representatives in most cases are forced to think about the problems of today: there are not enough qualified employees, it is difficult to control the quality of technology implementation, and obtain the necessary insurance and financial products. At the same time, it is important to understand that these problems cannot be solved without digital products, he emphasizes. In addition, when choosing whether to buy a new tractor or digital technology, a farmer will choose a tractor, he said. However, for some types of equipment, manufacturers are installing digital assistance systems and precision farming at the factory, which means that in the future, one way or another, everyone will switch to digital agriculture, Koloskov argues.

Aydar Galyautdinov believes that the active introduction of technologies is hampered by the fact that not all developers think about the fact that most consumers will integrate their solutions with other programs, which leads to inconsistencies. In addition, there are difficulties with the lack of cellular communication on remote farmlands. This interferes with the work, for example, of the field monitoring program, and, accordingly, the modules interconnected with it. “There are no ready-made specialists on the market for our management systems, we train them ourselves, raise personnel for our tasks. People are interested in understanding and applying new technologies. Experience has shown that after two years of work, employees can no longer do without these technologies, without up-to-date information online, ”he adds.

If some of the employees do not immediately master the innovations, they quickly realize that digitalization makes their work more comfortable and increases efficiency, Konstantin Kapiturov echoes him. But according to Vladislav Belyaev, unfortunately, employees are often not ready to switch to innovative solutions: both the lack of IT skills and the fear of change interfere.

The key condition for the successful implementation of innovative projects in the agro-industrial complex is the preparedness and motivation of the company's employees, their focus on eliminating imperfections, says Stanislav Dmitrov. “Alas, the majority of employees in general negatively perceive the introduction of digital solutions, often at the initial stages you have to wade through the jungle of rejection and misunderstanding,” he admits. - And it is extremely important to create an environment in which even ordinary employees would develop an understanding that they need to learn to live in a new digital paradigm, and there would be opportunities to improve their qualifications. With the help of “numbers” in the agro-industrial complex, the degree of physical activity is now decreasing, working conditions are improving, the schedule is being normalized, this is an evolutionary process that will bring human labor to a different level - intellectual ”.

Another obstacle on the way to the digitalization of the agro-industrial complex, he also calls the unpreparedness of infrastructure: a weak level of telecommunications, including the Internet, because of this, difficulties with the collection, processing, and transmission of data. “Creating the necessary conditions for setting up IoT, perhaps the emergence of a separate telecom operator for the agro-industrial complex would significantly increase the speed of digitalization implementation,” admits Dmitrov. For the implementation of digital technologies, competencies are needed, but in Russia in general, the level of digital literacy is very low: if we take European countries, then ours will be the third from the end in this indicator, says Alexander Chalok. “Of course, we have decent agricultural universities that actively teach digital technologies, but still there are not enough relevant specialists in the agro-industrial complex,” he is sure. "From this point of view, our agriculture needs a serious rebranding: many young specialists still associate the industry not even with the past, but with the century before last, although the modern Russian agro-industrial complex is a high-tech and promising direction." The university educational standards need to include those competencies that will be in demand in three to five years, so as not to teach unclaimed skills. For instance,


Will robots replace humans?


An important goal of introducing digitalization is to minimize the human factor. At the same time, it is important to note that there is no task to completely replace people in some processes, says Tatiana Kreator. This allows you to make informed decisions in a shorter period of time, ”she recalls. - It's one thing to draw conclusions based on the opinions of employees and numbers that are collected by hand. It is completely different when you have a system that stores data on a single basis. The more data, the better the output figures, forecasts, and, accordingly, the invoice for making informed decisions. "

Digital transformation will first of all completely replace unskilled labor, but it is difficult to replace many professions, says Sergey Kosovo. Both agronomists and machine operators will need to acquire the necessary competencies in IT, while there is no goal of completely replacing humans with robots. “Of course, there will be a decrease in the degree of involvement of labor resources in production to protect human health, minimize the human factor and obtain the effect of digitalization by reducing costs and making optimal use of material resources. A person will remain in agriculture, and, probably, the “operator of production processes” is the most promising profession in the agro-industrial complex of the future, ”he thinks. In addition, no one cancels the work on the repair of equipment with AI, and the need for specialists will also increase even more,

Yuri Minkin thinks that someday we will come to the conclusion that AI in the agricultural sector will replace humans, in any case, most business processes will be robotized. “For example, harvesters can become completely unmanned within the next five years. The person will remain in the position of a controller - an operator of a group of combines, - he predicts. - First, AI will replace the most routine and time-consuming operations, then it will gradually come to other areas, such as agronomy, forecasting, and general management of an agricultural enterprise. It is important that such a process, as history testifies, is only for the benefit of mankind. "

At certain operations, people will be replaced, and this will happen, perhaps faster than we expect, agrees Vladislav Belyaev. “This will definitely happen, whether we like it or not, the process is already irreversible,” Stanislav Dmitrov echoes them. - I think that crop production will be the first to come to complete digitalization and robotization. This industry has already stepped farthest and will continue to accelerate. "

In the near future, robots will not completely replace a person, but they will seriously facilitate physically hard and monotonous work, reduce the need for a large number of specialists of the same type, says Aydar Galyautdinov. At the same time, for example, in animal husbandry, there are a number of specializations that involve direct interaction with the livestock. These functions are not yet subject to artificial intelligence, at least as long as animals are as they are now, he adds. Konstantin Kapiturov also says that in animal husbandry, AI will definitely not replace humans completely.

Andrey Beryulyaev is sure that no machine will replace man in crop production either. “A lot here depends on the flair of an agronomist based on knowledge and experience. I have seen more than once how, thanks to such a purely human quality, agronomists, using only understandable and barely perceptible signs, determine the state of the field, whether difficulties can be expected, etc., '' he says. - It happens that a person noticed, while walking around the field, a couple of some insects, which, in his opinion, grew too quickly; took the earth in his hands, touched the plants - and made the most correct professional conclusions. No artificial intelligence is capable of that. Their task is to facilitate his work, emphasizes Beryulyaev.

“We do not set the task of removing a person from the field, we are developing an integrated IT system that allows you to avoid human mistakes and helps a person in making managerial decisions,” agrees Andriy Neduzhko. There is still no question of replacing human labor in a substantial volume. Digitalization today helps to create, as well as quickly and with high accuracy process huge amounts of data that are important for making optimal management decisions, which ultimately ensures the observance of technological discipline, optimization of the use of resources used at each stage of production adds Andrey Belyankin.