Closer to the Land: Rostelecom Pushes Digital Transformation in Russian Agriculture

Russia’s largest digital services provider, Rostelecom, has unveiled a new ecosystem of IT solutions for agriculture, covering everything from crop production and livestock monitoring to smart beekeeping and precision farming.

Digital Tools Across the Value Chain

Rostelecom introduced its agritech ecosystem at an industry event in Mineralnye Vody, highlighting how digital tools can raise efficiency and cut losses across Russia’s agriculture sector.

Solutions span nearly all farming segments: crop production, orchards, livestock, poultry, and pig farming. For grain production, a platform monitors the entire supply chain, preventing losses at every stage with a 'friend-or-foe' identification system and equipment monitoring tools.

For poultry and pig enterprises, Rostelecom offers automated process monitoring integrated with microclimate control systems. The technology translates sensor data into real time and archives information. 'Distance between facilities does not affect monitoring quality,' explained developer representative Andrey Chaikovsky.

Another system targets livestock farmers, enabling remote monitoring of feed stocks in silos and water levels in tanks. Operating over long distances via radio channels, the solution works with storage units as small as 1.2 meters in diameter.

Precision Farming and Analytics

Precision farming tools include autonomous satellite navigation systems for tractors and harvesters, providing accuracy within 1.5 centimeters. The modules are universal and compatible with almost any equipment.

The 'Agroanalytics' platform integrates with other agrotech systems to manage every stage of crop production, while the 'RusGIS' solution collects, stores, and analyzes spatial data to generate analytics and maps.

Digitalizing agriculture as part of strengthening national food security is one of Rostelecom’s priorities. We have accumulated significant experience in developing new technologies for agriculture and see that domestically created tools are driving digital projects. Their adoption enables farmers to manage resources effectively, increase productivity, and achieve import substitution

Vladimir Volkov

Vice President for Large Corporate Clients at Rostelecom

Artificial intelligence is central to Rostelecom’s strategy. Examples include remote livestock weighing, herd management, product quality control, and monitoring farm workers’ compliance with hygiene standards. Additional services include a smart agronomist assistant and a system to ensure compliance with production regulations.

Beekeeping, Data Centers, and Cloud Infrastructure

Rostelecom has even created a 'Digital Hive'—a system that lets beekeepers monitor hive conditions remotely in real time. The company believes this tool could make Russia’s honey market more transparent and reduce counterfeit products.

Farmers also gain access to Rostelecom’s data centers and cloud infrastructure, allowing virtually unlimited storage of agricultural data.

Scaling the Market and Export Potential

Rostelecom’s agritech solutions align with Russia’s national strategy to boost food production and strengthen food security. By simplifying business operations, lowering costs, and increasing efficiency, the company positions itself as both a domestic driver and a potential international player.

The company is also opening its platform to third-party developers, encouraging a wider agritech ecosystem. Over time, Rostelecom expects to scale these solutions across all Russian agricultural regions and integrate them into the Unified Digital Agriculture Platform, which consolidates 18 national information systems.

With Russia’s significant food exports, optimized digital solutions could enhance the competitiveness of domestic agribusiness on global markets. After adapting to international requirements, Rostelecom’s technologies themselves could become export products alongside Russian food.