Harvest on Autopilot
Russian farmers are rapidly expanding their use of autonomous machinery and agricultural drones. New technologies embedded in both ground equipment and UAVs are helping boost food production while lowering operating costs.
Modernizing the Agro-Industrial Complex
In 2025, Russia launched the national project Tekhnologicheskoe Obespechenie Prodovolstvennoi Bezopasnosti (Technological Support for Food Security). Its goal is to modernize the country’s agro-industrial complex through innovation. By 2030, the program targets a 125% increase in agricultural output index compared to 2021 levels in comparable prices, a 29% rise in average crop yield index, and 66.7% technological independence in the agro-industrial sector.
One of the project’s priorities is the development and production of new agricultural machinery and equipment. Growth in farm output is increasingly tied to the deployment of advanced digital technologies.
Work on these systems began even before the national project officially launched. As early as 2018, Russia intensified development of autonomous driving systems for agriculture. In 2019, Cognitive Technologies, working with Sber, deployed the first autonomous combine harvester control system in farms in the Tomsk region. Today, thanks to artificial intelligence and computer vision, ground equipment can operate even under weak satellite signals, at night, or in low-visibility conditions. AI-driven machine vision enables fully autonomous navigation of agricultural machinery.
Preliminary results indicate strong potential for improving crop production efficiency. After AI-based data processing, operational accuracy reaches approximately 5 centimeters. Autonomous driving systems are now being deployed on large agricultural tractors as well.
Importantly, the hardware, components, and software behind these autonomous systems are domestically produced, eliminating reliance on foreign suppliers. Developers are also working on a Russian autonomous combine equipped with a high-precision positioning system capable of automatically generating yield maps.
UAVs as a Growth Engine for Smart Farming
Another promising direction in smart agriculture is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. UAVs are already widely deployed for visual crop monitoring and situational analysis. Agricultural drones are particularly effective in detecting pests and enabling rapid response. Drones are also being used to apply crop treatments.
“You do not need to be a PhD to calculate the cost of traditional ground-based treatment and the investments required for sprayers, tractors, service vehicles, and water tanks,” said Vladimir Orlov, General Director of OOO Evrotekhnika MPS. “Compared to drone-based application, the savings are substantial. A standard 30 to 40 liter drone can deliver performance comparable to a towed sprayer. In the northeastern zone of the Samara region, such a drone can treat 100 to 120 hectares.”
Another advantage of UAVs is the ability to operate shortly after rainfall, when conventional machinery must wait several days for fields to dry.
According to government plans, the number of Russian-made unmanned systems is expected to increase more than fivefold by the end of the decade. Developers will receive grants for engineering documentation and subsidies for research and production centers.
The next phase in UAV development for agriculture involves introducing heavier, higher-capacity drones. For example, a UAV with a takeoff weight of around 70 kilograms can carry a 30 liter tank, allowing it to treat roughly 100 hectares per shift.
Higher Yields Without Heavy Labor
According to Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture, approximately 24,000 units of agricultural machinery equipped with autopilot elements are currently in operation, along with around 700 agricultural drones weighing more than 10 kilograms.
The adoption of autonomous equipment not only increases production efficiency, directly supporting food security goals, but also reduces reliance on manual labor across the sector.
Companies including Geoscan, Bespilotnye Sistemy (Supercam), Aeromax, and Transport Budushchego (Transport of the Future) have announced plans to manufacture agricultural drones. Domestic components are expected to account for up to 90% of production.
According to Anton Blik, General Director of the company Letayushchie Gruzoviki (Flying Trucks), Russian UAVs offer a strong price-to-performance ratio and significant export potential. Friendly markets are seen as the primary export targets. Within the CIS, cooperation is expanding with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Demand has emerged in Africa, including Sudan, Nigeria, and Kenya. Russian UAVs are also undergoing testing in Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay.
