Russian Farmers Turn to Drones and AI to Fill Labor Gaps and Boost Yields

Russia’s agricultural sector is rapidly adopting smart technologies like drones and AI to increase productivity and offset workforce shortages.

Agriculture in Russia is undergoing a technological transformation. Drones, autonomous machinery, and artificial intelligence are already boosting farm efficiency by 20 to 50 percent, according to data from leading agribusinesses and statements from the Ministry of Agriculture, as reported by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Agri-drones have become essential tools. They monitor fields, detect diseased crops, and treat plantings. A drone fleet can spray up to 50 hectares per hour, slashing treatment costs by a factor of four to five compared to traditional methods. Equipment manufacturers say the result is a 30 percent reduction in production costs.

More than 15,000 autonomous farming machines are now operating across Russia, increasing productivity by 25 percent and cutting crop loss by 13 percent.

Machine vision and sensor-driven genetics have halved the time required for plant breeding cycles, while disease modeling tools are accelerating the development of targeted protection strategies.

By 2027–2028, Russia expects to launch domestically developed control systems for grain elevators, oil processing plants, and robotic soil analysis platforms.

The push for digital transformation is becoming a strategic response to labor shortages in Russian agriculture—and a springboard for the sector’s long-term growth.