Agricultural Drones Could Help Grow Livestock Feed in Russia’s Far North
Heavy-duty agricultural drones are now being used in Yakutia to apply fertilizers precisely when growing forage crops.
In Russia’s climate, growing forage crops for livestock is a critical task for farms that produce meat and milk. The challenge is especially acute in the north, where winters are long. Digital technologies can help farmers boost yields and lower production costs by optimizing field operations and ensuring that fertilizers are applied precisely and on time.
Unmanned Aircraft for a Short Growing Season
In Yakutia, a pilot project using agricultural drones was launched in the village of Myryla, in the Churapcha District, at the Ergis cooperative, led by farmer Viktor Petrov. The project is being carried out under the national Unmanned Aircraft Systems project and the departmental Digital Agricultural Map project.
Viktor Petrov’s farm has about 300 head of cattle and grows seven types of forage crops across 170 hectares. As part of the pilot, heavy-duty agricultural drones applied fertilizer to 72 hectares. Eight drones were used in total, performing three different types of work.
Two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) owned by the Technopark State Autonomous Institution conducted geodetic surveys. Using their data, specialists from the Bureau of Technical Inventory created a unified orthomosaic map. A preliminary analysis of the farmland was carried out by researchers from the M.G. Safronov Yakut Research Institute of Agriculture, the Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Natural Sciences at North-Eastern Federal University. The scientists processed aerial imagery to identify problem areas in the fields. Students and faculty members from the Institute of Natural Sciences then verified the findings on the ground and collected soil samples.
Experts from the Arctic State Agrotechnological University used two drones to conduct multispectral imaging and monitor crop conditions. Finally, four agricultural drones applied the fertilizer directly. Some of the aircraft are already being manufactured in the republic itself.
Boosting Labor Productivity
Crop production has always been challenging in Yakutia because of its short summers, permafrost, and remote locations. Agricultural drones make it possible to carry out targeted operations in these difficult conditions: applying fertilizer, tracking plant growth stages, identifying problem areas in time, and adjusting crop management accordingly.
Because most farmland in Yakutia is remote and difficult to access, drones improve the chances of securing stable harvests on plots where conventional machinery cannot operate effectively.
“Next year, we plan to expand the planted area to 300 hectares and begin using three types of crop protection products in addition to liquid fertilizers. To do that, we plan to deploy five agricultural drones and five drones for multispectral monitoring. I’m confident these technologies represent the future of our agriculture, especially in conditions like those in Yakutia,” said Viktor Petrov, head of the Ergis cooperative.
According to agricultural producers, adopting digital technologies will increase the share of succulent, highly nutritious feed in cattle diets from the current 7% to 60%. As a result, annual milk production per cow is expected to rise from 2 to 3.5 metric tons, while total milk production will nearly double, from 12,000 to 22,000 metric tons. The next stage will be to establish a dedicated cattle-feed production center in the area, covering a total of 1,000 hectares. Agricultural drones will enable precision-farming practices, allow farmers to monitor every stage of plant development, and help them carry out fieldwork as efficiently as possible. The center is expected to produce about 10,000 metric tons of succulent feed.
Precision Crop Production in the North
Yakutia is effectively developing its own precision-agriculture system tailored to forage production. The system combines field surveys and digital mapping with remote crop assessment using multispectral monitoring, identification of problem areas, and targeted field operations.
This is one of the most promising areas of agricultural technology, or AgTech, and it is developing rapidly in Russia. Digital tools not only make fieldwork more efficient but also reduce costs. Andrey Neduzhko, CEO of the Steppe agricultural holding, previously noted that treating fields with agricultural drones can reduce crop protection product use by 30% and cut the amount of water needed to prepare crop protection solutions by a factor of 25 compared with conventional application methods. That is helping agricultural drone technology gain ground rapidly across Russia.
As early as 2023, UAVs treated more than 5,000 hectares of land in the Chuvash Republic. In 2024, the Federal Air Transport Agency issued a type certificate for the S-80 agricultural drone developed by Transport of the Future. Designed for precision application of fertilizers and crop protection products, the drone has a 40-kilogram payload capacity. The T1 Group also announced the production of its own agricultural drone, the Rubin A50, with a payload capacity of up to 50 kilograms.
Together, these developments are rapidly expanding the area of farmland treated by UAVs. According to estimates from Rosselkhozbank, the area reached 781,000 hectares in 2025 and will exceed 1 million hectares in 2026. The impact goes beyond increased agricultural production: it is also creating a new IT sector focused on developing, upgrading, and maintaining agricultural drones. Because Russian technologies are built on open-source software, they could find demand in friendly countries that are developing their own agricultural industries.
