Looking ahead: cooperation and exchange

Ekotechnika representatives also spoke as experts at the conference.

“We are experiencing a clash of two worlds nowadays," says Bjoerne Drechsler, Board member of Ekotechnika AG. "On the one hand, we have the historically very conservative world of agriculture. The industry is dominated by middle-aged and older professionals. On the other hand, we have the very dynamic, future-oriented world of technologies dominated by young developers. As a dealer of modern agricultural machinery and a long-standing partner of leading agricultural producers in Russia, we can clearly see the challenges, tasks and problems that both sectors are facing today. One of the most important tasks is to develop agriculture using advanced technologies, increase the productivity of agricultural enterprises and reduce production costs."

According to Bjoerne Drechsler, a farmer risks falling far behind his competitors if he does not pay the necessary attention to the possibilities of modern technologies and starts implementing them too late.

In order to know the most effective technological solutions in the industry, it is important to share experiences with successful market players and get the latest information on their methods and results. To this end, the Smart Farming Club was recently founded, an association that includes both leading agricultural companies and independent experts.

Meanwhile, the Smart Farming Club has 60 members, who together own more than 2.7 million hectares of agricultural land. The total annual turnover of the club members amounts to more than 550 billion rubles.

"The mission of the Smart Farming Club is the dynamic development of the agricultural sector, taking into account and applying the achievements of global technological progress," continues Bjoerne Drechsler, Chair of the Smart Farming Club. "The association is only a few months old, but interest is growing. A mobile app has been developed for members. There are regular radio shows with experts on the Mediametrics media platform. Discussions of key processes, sharing of experiences and development of new effective solutions are gaining momentum."

The conference also addressed the topic of agricultural machinery automation and the use of universal technologies that can improve machinery efficiency.

"Recently, an extremely interesting solution for combines called Cognitive Agro Pilot has been introduced in Russian fields," says Artem Novikov, Head of Smart Farming Department at Ekotechnika. "Unlike the classic system of automatic driving, which guides the machine through a predetermined route, the movement is adjusted along the edge of the crop using computer vision and elements of artificial intelligence, which fully utilizes the combine header. Furthermore, the application is independent of the GPS signal. The system is easy to operate. Only a few simple inputs on the touch screen monitor are required and the machine is ready to work with any crop and in any field. The equipment required for the Cognitive Agro Pilot application can be installed on combines from all manufacturers and used in mixed fleets with different combine header sizes. Versions for other self-propelled machines will be developed in the near future."

The participants of the conference showed great interest in Ekotechnika's experience. And the conference was another big step towards fruitful cooperation between agricultural producers and developers of modern technologies.