Precision agriculture in the regional system of strategic development of grain production

Abstract

Subject. The article investigates strategic development of grain production, which, in the future, will increasingly rely on elements of precision agriculture. Their use enables to significantly increase the yield of grain crops due to systematic implementation of specialized digital technologies. The latter, under scarce resources, is a determinant in the long-term development of the grain industry. Objectives. The study aims to describe precision agriculture in the regional system of strategic development of grain production. Methods. I performed a comprehensive assessment of effectiveness of precision farming elements introduction by such indicators as the specific weight of the area of grain fields, the specific weight of synchronized agricultural machinery and other precision farming elements in a single digital space, and the share of covering the need for agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles and crop sensing systems. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Resources of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast data on the number of used precision farming elements served as the analytical base of the study. Results. In the Buturlinsky and Dalnekonstantinovsky municipal districts, the introduction of precision farming elements is at an average systemic level, in Arzamas urban district and Bolshemurashkinsky municipal district – at a low systemic level, and in the rest, it is unsystematical. I offered and tested indicators of comprehensive assessment of effectiveness of precision farming elements introduction. Their analysis helped form a rating of the introduction of precision farming elements in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Conclusions. Each farm should determine its own level of use of precision farming elements to generate a strategy for introduction of other elements of technology to maximize economic efficiency, including synergistic effect.