In May this year AgriLab presented a training project AgriStart, created jointly with the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine. And the first workshop on the innovative soil testing technology for students of agricultural specialties took place yesterday according the project program.
Students of different courses and from different regions came to the event. The speakers of the theoretical part of the seminar, which took place in NUBiP, were Iaroslav Boiko, PhD, CEO of AgriLab, representative of the ISPA in Ukraine, and Volodymyr Mahota, head of the scientific and technical department, chief agrochemical of AgriLab. They told about the implementation of precision agriculture, the zoning and mapping of soil properties and innovative testing technologies.
Iaroslav Boiko drew students’ attention to the fact that 80% of the new equipment has separate elements of precision farming. He also spoke about the effectiveness of precision farming technologies: veriable rate of fertilizer application can save up to 40% of fertilizers and increase yields to 3-20%, variable seed rates save 3-9% of seeds, and soil analysis increases the efficiency of resource using up to 30% or more.
After discussion of theoretical questions, students went to Borispol district to LLC “Biotech LTD” for the workshop. Here they found out more about the principles of work and algorithms for the use of automated soil samplers with GPS, sensor equipment for measuring the hardness of the soil and – drones. In the end of event was a quiz with presents.
Oleg Zagorodniy, student of the third course of the Agrobiological Faculty of NUBiP, shared his impressions of such an outdoor activity: “During this event, we were not only listeners of the theory, but also active participants in all the production processes, that took place on the field. We have heard a lot of practical “cases” from experts, tried to work with modern technologies. Today’s seminar gave us not only practical experience in the basics of precision agriculture, but also inspiration and confidence in the fact, that we chose the right specialty – modern, interesting, innovative.”
Today’s lesson was the first of a series of workshops according the AgriStart program. Alexander Gaidai, curator of the project, said: “We have planned many interesting, cognitive, and motivational activities, aimed not only at combining theory and practice in the educational process, but also stimulating students to innovate, develop their innovative initiatives, find new agronomic solutions. These are not only seminars, workshops, participation in research, but also internships at the best production companies, hackathons, grants for studying abroad, etc. AgriLab has created the AgriStart project to provide students with access to up-to-date technologies and best world agronomic practices. The agrarian sector in Ukraine feels a sharp shortage of personnel and requires highly skilled professionals, who will implement innovative solutions. Indeed, innovation is the driving force of economic development.”
