Entomological agricultural drones and plant bioprotection

Eco-Engineering 2026: Aero-Bio-Control — How entomological drones replaced chemical insecticides

The European Union’s global Farm to Fork strategy and strict requirements for organic certification require farmers to completely abandon synthetic insecticides. The alternative is a biological method of plant protection (biomethod) using beneficial entomophagous insects (trichogramma, ladybugs, predatory mites) that destroy pests.

The main problem with the biomethod has always been the difficulty of evenly and quickly distributing insects over large areas. In 2026, this problem was finally solved by the Aero-Bio-Control technology – the introduction of bioagents using specialized drones.

Intelligent insect settlement based on NDVI maps

Entomological drones don’t just randomly fly over a field. The process is integrated into a precision farming system:

1. First, multispectral drones or satellites scan the field and create a map of vegetation indices (e.g. NDVI).
2. Artificial intelligence analyzes plant development anomalies and localizes primary breeding sites of pests (for example, corn borer or aphids).
3. An autonomous drone-distributor, equipped with a special climatic container (where the larvae or insect eggs are in a state of light suspended animation at a reduced temperature), flies out on a mission. It drops the required dose of biomaterial precisely, according to GPS coordinates, directly into the epicenter of the infection.

Real case: Aero-Bio-Control effectiveness in numbers

The results of the widespread commercial use of agricultural drones for bioprotection demonstrate the following indicators:

• Processing speed: One modern entomological drone is capable of qualitatively populating 100 to 150 hectares with beneficial insects in one shift. This is 8–10 times faster than any manual or mechanized ground-based settlement methods.
• Protection effectiveness: Point aerial application ensures uniform distribution of entomophages, which allows reducing the level of crop damage by pests by 80–85%. This is fully comparable to the results of the best chemical insecticides.
• Energy and carbon savings: Replacing heavy wheeled sprayers with lightweight electric drones reduces CO2 emissions from crop protection by 90% and completely eliminates the problem of soil compaction by heavy machinery. In addition, this method is completely safe for bees and other natural pollinators.