Close cooperation between businesses and educational institutions ensures the most thorough and high-quality development of the country's agricultural sector. The fruitful collaboration between both sides to cultivate highly skilled professionals in demand in the market creates a strong foundation for promoting innovative technologies and their rapid integration into production processes, thereby contributing to the country's economic recovery and global leadership.
The official partnership between DroneUA and the leading university, NUBiP Ukraine, began in 2021 when a Memorandum was signed, and a joint educational program called "Agrochemical Service in Precision Agriculture" was launched. In 2022, another significant step was taken with the opening of the "XAG Academy of Innovation" laboratory at the university—a modern laboratory for unmanned solutions equipped with drone sprayers and innovative solutions from the XAG brand. The goal was to provide a practical training base for qualified specialists.
In 2023, the international group of companies, DroneUA, has strengthened its collaboration with Ukrainian educational institutions, taking it to a new level with a systemic approach and the initiation of joint projects. Currently, a large-scale research project with NUBiP is in the process of launching. This project aims to popularize unmanned technologies in agriculture by conducting specialized lectures, monitoring field conditions, and establishing experimental plots for sunflowers, corn, and rapeseed in university farms for the 2024 season.
At the end of November, as part of this initiative, DroneUA experts installed an agro-monitoring system with an IoT digital platform at a farm owned by NUBiP in Kyiv region.
The system includes:
- A Farm Camera that provides real-time images, allowing for crop monitoring and control of all agricultural operations. It can be managed using a PC or smartphone.
- A Soil Monitor that monitors soil conditions, including temperature, humidity, and fertility, at depths of up to 50 cm.
- A Weather Station designed for climate measurement at field level and precision farming management. It tracks 7 meteorological factors: air temperature, precipitation, air humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and light levels.
- A Solar Panel with a built-in battery that provides autonomous power for the system and can operate in rainy weather for up to 15 consecutive days.
The software is installed on a PC or smartphone and collects data, visualizes it, and automates agricultural operations, offering solutions for smart agriculture to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Currently, the system is already collecting data on field conditions based on the parameters mentioned above, which will be analyzed to make decisions regarding wintering of winter crops and plan for the upcoming season.
After the system installation, representatives of DroneUA met with the Vice-Rector for Research and Educational Work, International Activities, and Development of NUBiP, Dr. Vadim Tkachuk, and the Head of the Department of Entomology, Integrated Plant Protection, and Quarantine of Plants, Dr. of Agricultural Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine Mykola Dolya. They discussed and agreed upon the key vectors of the joint project and further steps.
The NUBiP leadership has a highly progressive vision for the development of the country's agricultural sector and is committed to the application of the most modern technologies in Ukrainian farms. They aim to popularize these technologies, actively research and scientifically justify them for further integration into the educational sphere, reforming educational programs, and improving the production processes of domestic farms.
