Efficiency of using drones in agricultural production

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of economic efficiency of the use of drones in agricultural production. There is an opinion about their inefficiency, which is refuted by the study. The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the use of agricultural drones (using the example of U-30L-6 (BROUAV) in comparison with other technological options. The use of agricultural drones allows not only to reduce the cost of manufactured products, but also to increase crop yields by reducing losses during cultivation, as the number of passes of wheeled vehicles across the field during the growing season is reduced. Among the options considered (trailed sprayer, self-propelled sprayer, agrodrone), the use of copters took the second place in terms of production costs. But due to a decrease in the spraying rate and losses from trampling, the economic effect of using agricultural drones is the highest (3417.34 rubles/ha), which is more than twice as high as when using a self-propelled sprayer.