The Era of Robots Begins in Poultry Farming
Digitalization, robotics, and artificial intelligence are reshaping the efficiency of Russia’s industrial egg and poultry meat production.
In 2026, Russia’s poultry industry is entering a new phase of competition. Automation and robotics are becoming the core tools, helping producers cut costs, meet strict sanitary standards, and adapt production quickly as market conditions shift. That is why new projects are being designed from the outset with maximum automation in mind.
New Projects – Maximum Robotization
In 2026, Belyanka, part of the Leto Group, is launching a poultry farm in Kashira, near Moscow, focused on egg production with a capacity of 525 million eggs per year. The project involves investment of 6 billion rubles (about $65 million). Its defining feature is a fully robotized production setup.
Alexey Zelenkov, shareholder of the Leto Group, said the project will use new approaches to poultry housing: “For example, automated egg collection and sorting, machine vision, and fully automated feeding lines.”
In the Kirov region, a high-tech poultry house designed for 100,000 birds has been commissioned in Vyatskiye Polyany. Production processes are automated, with key operations integrated into a digital chain. Feeding is handled by robotic systems that ensure precise dosing and uniform distribution. Egg packaging is also automated, improving productivity and reducing losses.
Solving Core Industry Challenges
Today, poultry farming faces several structural challenges – rising feed costs, labor shortages, and tighter sanitary and food safety requirements. Large-scale automation and robotics are emerging as the primary response.
Robots handle feeding, cleaning, and health monitoring, significantly reducing labor demands while improving farm efficiency. Meanwhile, automation minimizes human contact with products, which directly extends shelf life. “When processes are fully automated, we can offer longer shelf life to consumers,” said Viktor Shalyupa, director of a poultry farm in Tomsk, part of the Sibagro holding.
Sanitary standards across the industry continue to tighten, for good reason. Disease outbreaks remain one of the biggest risks for poultry operations. Here, too, digital technologies are playing a growing role.
Natalya Stolyarova, head of the Turkey division at Damate Group in the Penza region, described one of the company’s key projects – AI-enabled sanitary checkpoints that enforce strict hygiene compliance. “Computer vision is used here. Cameras recognize employees’ faces, monitor how thoroughly they wash their hands, and analyze the results. Access to clean zones is only granted after hand drying, disinfection, and a second facial identification,” she said.
Logistics and retail operations are another area of focus. “Ten robots can perform tasks three to four times faster than a human – moving goods, picking orders, conducting inventory, and consolidating pallets for shipment,” Stolyarova added.
A New Stage of Modernization
Today, poultry farming is one of the fastest-growing and most efficient segments of Russia’s agricultural sector. Over the past decade, egg production has increased from 42.5 billion to 48.6 billion units. In 2017, Russia produced 4.9 million tons of poultry meat (33.5 kg per capita). By 2025, this rose to 5.55 million tons (38 kg per capita). A standout case is turkey production: from 52,200 tons in 2010 to 435,000 tons in 2024. Russia now ranks second globally in turkey meat production.
This growth is largely driven by the fact that new facilities were built from the start with digital technologies in place. By the end of 2025, exports of chicken meat and by-products alone increased by 14% year over year, exceeding $845 million. The largest markets include China, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan.
The industry is now entering a new modernization cycle. IoT, neural networks, big data, AI, and both mobile and humanoid robotics are set to reshape production. “Innovation is gaining momentum as robots become commercially available – from AI-powered systems that separate meat from bone in two to three seconds to ‘nanny robots’ that detect sick birds in a flock,” said Albina Koryagina, partner at NEO Center.
Russia is moving toward “smart” poultry farms, where efficiency and the depth of digitalization will define competitive success. For consumers, this translates into better product quality and availability.
For the Russian IT industry, this opens a new market segment that will require the development of specialized technologies and solutions. Over time, “smart” poultry farms may evolve into standardized platforms that can be exported to friendly markets.
