Innovations 2019 at the forum from “ProAgro”

On December 9, the group of companies “ProAgro Group” held the Forum “Agrarian Innovations 2019”, which gathered experts on innovation introduction of agro-companies, developers of innovative solutions for the agro-sector, as well as representatives of the agrarian sector who are interested in the introduction of innovative technologies and processes at their enterprises, as well as those who already have to experience innovation application. The official partners of the event were Global GIS and Geosys.

Traditionally, the meeting rooms of the ProAgro group of companies are not only able to attend the event, but also online viewers, who can participate in the event due to modern technologies.

The participants of the conference had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with innovative management and control technologies the modern enterprise, innovative crop cultivation control technologies, and information tools for the agro-industrial sector.

Moderator And panel of the Forum “innovative solutions for agricultural companies. Practical cases” Irina Kravets, managing partner of CLEVERAGRI and moderator of the II panel “AIC Digitalization”. Problems and prospects” Valeriy Yakovenko, co-founder of DRONE.UA, emphasized the main points of the discussion and asked inconvenient questions to Forum participants and experts.

Vitaliy Belyenkov, Technical Director of GLOBAL GIS Company, started the Forum. Vitaliy presented the telemetry system and spoke about the advantages of GIS as an analytical tool for decision making, including analysis of technological losses, maps of field inhomogeneity, and monitoring of the condition of crops and fields in general. The convenience of using the globe GIS system is that the system sends the user notification about changes, indicating problem places, and areas that need attention. The system also can identify and investigate factors that affect yield. An interesting innovative solution, taking into account the fact that agro-companies have large land banks, which should be constantly under real-time control, is possible in modern conditions with the use of drones and satellite equipment.

Serhiy Salnikov, Head of UKRAVIT Service and Technology Department, shared the achievements of UKRAVIT Plant Health Institute, located in Cherkasy, in particular, invited the visitors to visit the city to learn more about innovative solutions for growing and burning plants. It was interesting to learn that the Institute is also engaged in the cultivation of cultures on the aeronite. Thus, in one-year green cultures pass 10-12 cycles, and field 4-5. Serhiy also told that different types of pesticides are tested in the Institute’s laboratories and permanent control of pesticide residues in plants is being carried out, as well as research on the influence of fertilizers on plants, which speaks about the responsible attitude of the producer to the products produced.

It was impossible to imagine the Forum of Agrarian Innovations without the company of the manufacturer of machinery, which at the agricultural exhibition in Hannover had a furor, presenting innovative grain crops Tempo and Rapid, becoming the owner of not one award. Vitaliy Filatov, Director General of the Swiss company VADERSTAD Ukraine, told about the advantages and exactly how seeds are calibrated, the accuracy of fertilizers introduction and at the same time reduce the time spent using the VADERSTAD technique.

Deputy Head of ASTARTA-KYIV it Company, Mykola Tkachenko shared with participants of it-solutions that ASTARTA implements and actively use: AGRICHAIN FARM (operational accounting and planning), AGRICHAIN LAND (land bank management), AGRICHAIN SCOUT (monitoring of the condition of crops), AGRICHAIN REPORT (AGRICAIN). It was interesting to learn, for example, that AGRICHAIN LAND helps the company to identify a risky land banks and identify problematic land plots, which is a very topical issue at present.

Volodymyr Musiyenko, co-founder and technical director of AGROCONTRONTHROL Company demonstrated to Forum participants the possibilities of the IoT platform AGROCONTRONTHROL, namely, how using the innovative and complex solution to increase the efficiency and profitability of land farming, because the system provides the control, planning and forecasting capabilities and is, in fact, mobile agronomist.

General Manager of FARMERZ EDZH Ukraine, Alexander Rudenko told the participants about their practical experience of implementing innovative services in the APK, noting that the main effects of innovative solutions implementation are: Increase in profitability, increase in yield, development of crops, a decrease of negative impact on the environment, optimization of fertilizer use, seeds and ZSR.

Sometimes the agribusiness is conducted with the attraction of credit funds. Creditors need to consider and research risks that may arise. Andriy Zaripov, the expert on agro insurance and financing in Ukraine and Central Asia of IFC (International Finance Corporation) told about the DJs monitoring of crops, and about the advantages and disadvantages of using such a method.

Participants of the Round-table of the 2nd panel of the Forum “AIC Digitalization. Problems and prospects”, apart from innovations, had an opportunity to express their opinion on land reform.

Panel discussion gathered experts’ opinions, such as Olga Trofimtseva (ex. acting Minister of Agrarian Policy), Mykola Gorbachev (President of Ukrainian Grain Association), Leonid Kozachenko (President of Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation), Vitaliy Ilchenko (founder of UKRAVIT company), Valeriy Yakovenko, Iryna Kravets, Yuriy Petruk (Head of AGTECH Association).

All experts in their opinion say that innovation is necessary, that innovation is a factor that promotes the development of production, increases efficiency, and increases productivity, which is a necessary factor in conditions of rapid increase of the population and thus growing demand for food products.

At the end of the Forum, Yuriy Petruk allowed the participants to get acquainted with the innovative solutions of the leading companies, which were presented at AGRITECHNIKA 2019 and told about the main trends. Thus, among the main innovative trends presented are Electric equipment for agricultural machinery, the coming of autonomy and robotics, and the coming new strong players in the market of agricultural equipment, such as Bosch and Rolls-Royce.

It is difficult to imagine that unmanned tractors will treat fields in the future, and work on solar cells will destroy the pests. As far as Ukraine is ready to introduce such innovations, the time will tell, namely today Ukrainian manufacturers of equipment and innovative it-solutions successfully demonstrate the efficiency of application and reliability.