Russia can lead the global market of IT for greenhouse and horticulture purposes if it combines the efforts of large businesses and research institutions, said Anton Tikhonov, Executive Director of the RusAg Industry and Technology Expertise Unit, speaking at the Golden Autumn exhibition.
Greenhouse farming has historically been the key driver of IT implementation across all agricultural segments, according to a RusAg estimate. Greenhouses use a lot of technical facilities and devices to monitor the microclimate and need digital solutions to automate and integrate them all into one controlling system.
There has also been a growing need for IT in horticulture because it uses irrigation and plant nutrition management systems.
Both the sub-sectors need automated systems to monitor plant condition across large areas and to produce accurate yield forecasts.
RusAg believes that the right solution lies in AI-powered robotic platforms.
‘Greenhouse farming and horticulture have now reached a stage where they need robotic systems with machine vision. With artificial intelligence, yields can grow 20-30% and crop forecasting accuracy rates can be raised to 90%. Systems of that kind will be the key factor in deciding how competitive you are in the near future. Solutions in hand today are not enough, and that is why Russia has every chance of securing a worthy place for itself on the AI market in agriculture. For this we have to consolidate the efforts of science and of the market, including in big-data-driven neural learning, and Russia has the potential for this,’ said Anton Tikhonov.
As at September 2021, RuAg supported the implementation of 153 investment projects for greenhouse construction and upgrade with a total funding of RUB 225 billion and a total designed capacity of 855,000 tonnes of vegetables a year.