Russia's first competition in precision farming and drone piloting will be held in the Tomsk region

At the airfield Chkalov in the village of Berezkino near Tomsk, as part of the project-educational intensive "Archipelago 2023", from July 31 to August 2, international competitions in piloting drones used in agriculture will be held.
The organizer of the event is Tomsk State University with the support of the Administration of the Tomsk Region. The participants of the competition are teams from Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan, tasks for which were prepared by the administration of the region, the Advanced Engineering School "Agrobiotek" of TSU and the Siberian Federal Scientific Center for Agrobiotechnologies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“TSU undertook to host the event, as this is a serious challenge, which is not only related to food security, but also to the training of advanced engineers in the agricultural industry. The presence in the region of an experimental legal regime in the field of UAVs provides additional opportunities,” said Igor Pamirsky, Director of the Research and Production Center of the Advanced Engineering School “Agrobiotek” of TSU.
The main events of the project-educational intensive "Archipelago 2023" will be held from July 28 to August 7 in the Novosibirsk region. Participants will work on tasks in the development of the unmanned aerial systems industry, improving the quality of life of people and social development. The organizers of the intensive are the NTI Platform, the governmentNovosibirsk Region, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, the NTI Project Support Fund and the University 2035.
In 2022, the Tomsk Region became one of the five regions of the Russian Federation, where an experiment will be held to introduce UAVs used for the delivery of goods, agricultural needs and control over important facilities. During the three-year experiment, the region has an experimental legal regime for the operation of unmanned aerial systems.
In March 2023, an agreement was signed between TSU, GLONASS JSC and the administration of the Tomsk region, on the basis of which a project will be developed to improve security, transparency of use and accessibility of airspace for UAVs. In addition, TSU biologists carry out sampling and aerial photography of soils using UAVs in the regions of Siberia.