Since the beginning of November, the first two expert webinars have been held on the possibilities of using unmanned solutions in agribusiness in order to deepen the knowledge of representatives of agricultural enterprises. More than 100 agricultural producers have already participated. The DroneUA group of companies ("DIGI FLY" LLC) and the USAID Program for Agrarian and Rural Development - AGRO continue the implementation of the joint Project "Providing services to MSMEs using robotic and unmanned technologies."
After the completion of the active stage of the Project implementation, the next stage was the holding of a series of expert webinars, where the technical and economic advantages and possibilities of using agricultural drones are considered.
GC DroneUA has already held two specialized webinars "Drones in agriculture: experience and opportunities". During the online events, agribusiness experts demonstrated to the participants the results of the effectiveness of the use of agricultural drones and the resource-saving technology of application of pesticides by spraying drones using the example of real farms.
As part of the first webinar, Valery Yakovenko, co-founder of the DroneUA Group, and Ivan Grechkivskyi, owner of the Family Garden organic blueberry farm, told the participants about the economic efficiency and advantages of using drone sprayers.
In particular, Ivan Grechkivskyi shared his own success story of using agricultural drones, when thanks to the timely application of fungicides, the entire blueberry crop was saved this spring. In 2022, the first application of fungicides by agro-drones took place on 130 hectares of Family Garden organic blueberry plantations. The fungicidal treatment had to be carried out in extremely limited time. Timely protection by agro-drones made it possible to preserve the blueberry plantations and collect about 500 tons of berries at the end of the season. In addition, thanks to agricultural drones, the company managed to achieve a number of positive results, in particular:
- Reduce fuel consumption by 90%. The fuel was used only for recharging the batteries with the help of gasoline generators;
- Agrodrones made it possible to reduce the processing time from 7 to 3 days, thanks to which the protection of plantations took place in the required phase;
- Thanks to the timely treatment of berry plantations with drone sprayers, the enterprise managed to save more than 500 jobs this season, and formed plans for 750 jobs by 2023.
The second webinar was held on November 8, attended by more than 45 participants. The speakers of the event, Valery Yakovenko and Yaroslav Fedoryshyn, co-founder of Dron Agronom, revealed the topic of benefits and caveats regarding the technology of ultra-small-volume introduction of PPE using drone sprayers. The participants were interested in the effectiveness of UMO and significant savings of resources, which primarily affects the expenditure component of farms.
UMO technology provides for a 95% reduction in the amount of water resources required for application. In addition, using ultra-low-volume application, pesticide savings can reach up to 30%. It is worth noting that the effectiveness of drugs for UMO is maintained due to the size of the drop, which can be reduced to 60 microns during the operation of spraying drones. So the treatment actually takes place with an aerosol spray, which evenly envelops the green mass of the plant, being absorbed as quickly as possible.
During the webinars, agricultural producers took an active part in the discussion of the topic and asked their own questions to the speakers. This shows the high interest of the participants in the direction of agricultural drones and the relevance of agribusiness issues in general.
In the particularly extreme conditions of the 2022 season, DroneUA, as an integrator of innovative and robotic technologies in agribusiness, is proud of the opportunity to carry out a global mission with the support of the USAID Program and make modern technologies more accessible to representatives of the agricultural sector of Ukraine.
Another webinar awaits the participants, which will take place on November 15. Register for the event via the link: https://forms.gle/taBeBzRM1HGNipBC7.
It will be recalled that during the season, within the framework of the Project, 92 agricultural producers received new/improved services for the introduction of pesticides by spraying drones. The project was made possible thanks to the support of the American people, provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of the USAID Program for Agrarian and Rural Development (AGRO), which is implemented by Chemonics International.
