IC 2020 – Industry Council 2020 focusing on Smart Farming and technological challenges in Russian agriculture took place at Skoltech on November 25. Like before, the event was organized by the Skoltech-based National Technology Initiative (NTI) Center of Excellence (CoE) in Wireless Technology (WT) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
According to Maria Pukalchik, a Ph.D. and a CoE research team lead, agriculture ranks among the sectors where once integrated, new technologies, such as 5G, IoT, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision, produce an immediate and tangible effect. The government strongly supports agriculture by paying targeted subsidies to market players. Large agricultural groups show the greatest interest in digitalization, whereas small private farms can be more efficient in integrating new technology solutions.
Maria Pukalchik also raised the issue of personnel training for agriculture. Many universities still stick with old training programs that cannot keep pace with the latest technology trends. However, the government is taking steps to upgrade agricultural universities by bringing in top-class experts and updating the educational system. NTI is a major contributor to this initiative. Skoltech ranks among TOP-5 universities that train data scientists representing one of the most sought-after specialties in agriculture.
Professor Laurent Gentzbittel, head of Skoltech’s Digital Agriculture Laboratory, pointed out that most farmers are reluctant to deal with data on their own. A data scientist is exactly what they need in order to figure out what goes wrong, why it happens and how to fix the problem. Professor Gentzbittel noted that farmers around the world extensively use new technologies. 5G and IoT coupling opens up a plethora of new opportunities for farming. Real-time soil monitoring, plant disease detection and livestock health monitoring are just a few solutions that have become a reality thanks to 5G and IoT.
Dr. Vitaly Shub, head of the Skoltech-based 5G Leading Research Center, said that support of multiple IoT devices – the salient feature of 5G technology – makes it highly useful for agriculture which needs a lot of sensors for effective process monitoring. High-speed low-latency 5G networks set the stage for new services, such as remote control of agricultural vehicles or drones.
Anna Kudinova, CEO of ExactFarming, said that many Russian regions lack data for predictive analytics, weather information being one of the missing elements. The participants believe that the issue could be solved by launching a national program to create an integrated meteorological network with weather sensors installed on cellular towers.
The Industry Council held a dedicated session to review presentations of CoE’s agriculture-oriented projects:
- An agro-industrial intelligent data platform.
- An open wireless standard for low-power IoT devices.
- M-Shark. A modular multi-purpose autonomous mobile robotic platform.
- AI-aided crop yield prediction and fertilization optimization.
- ML- and AI-based plant growth predictive analytics.
- STRIX VISION. AI technology for UAV-assisted weed detection.
Petr Prokofiev, CoE deputy head for business development: “It was a great event! Agriculture is generally perceived as something archaic and very conservative. This meeting gives me yet another proof that agriculture is a thriving sector which is quick to embrace change and harness advanced digital technology. Considering Russia’s impressive technological background and ample potential for efficiency growth in agriculture, we are confident about the future of our projects!”
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