Prerequisites and effectiveness of the introduction of precision farming elements in the sowing of grain crops in the Leningrad region

Federal Scientific Agroengineering Center VIM, branch in Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: aperekopskii@mail.ru

Abstract

Effective farming is the basis of Russia's food security. At the present stage, the agricultural industry, and in particular crop production, is experiencing a constant shortage of qualified machine operators, highperformance equipment, there is no developed infrastructure, etc. The main direction of agricultural production in the North-Western region of the Russian Federation should be resource conservation and technological modernization, including through the use of "precision agriculture" (PA). It has been revealed that there are prerequisites for this: there are enterprises in the Leningrad Region where PA elements have been introduced. The analysis of the sowing campaign on a specific example of an enterprise for soil preparation and sowing of grain crops revealed factors affecting the productivity of aggregates and additional costs. The prerequisites for the introduction of PA elements in the sowing of grain crops were: large overlap on the aisles of the units, work on the incomplete width of the guns, curved movement of the units across the field, incorrect rotation scheme of the unit with manual control. Fuel overspending on soil preparation and sowing of grain crops in monetary terms amounts to 513632 rubles with manual control of the units, and with an automatic control system of 2.5 cm and an RTK station will amount to 20496 rubles.