"It’s Still the Wild West Here": Mykola Cherniak of AGRONIX on the Future of the Agri-Drone Market in Ukraine, Prices, the Pilot Shortage, and Business Profitability
Photo by: Latifundist.com
Today, drone-based crop spraying in Ukraine costs around $10 per hectare, depending on the technical task. For comparison, in Europe, the price ranges from $10 to $30 per hectare. In Ukraine, the agri-drone market already covers about 1 million hectares, though its real potential is at least ten times greater.
Where is this market headed? How much does a drone cost? What challenges are there with staffing, especially finding pilots? How does a drone compare to a traditional sprayer in terms of efficiency? And how does one build a business from scratch after parting ways with a partner? These are the questions we discuss with Mykola Cherniak, CEO of AGRONIX.
On a former partner, reputation, and persistence
Latifundist.com: You left Cropter after splitting with your partner and started a new business from scratch. How did you look for investors?
Mykola Cherniak: Honestly, it’s kind of a funny story. I spent a month just processing everything that had happened. I thought: okay, no illusions, I’ve lost everything. What now? I’m going to work with agri-drones. What do I need for that? Drones and orders. And since I generated 23,000 out of 40,000 orders in the past — that shouldn’t be a problem.
I’ve been in ag for 10 years, I have a reputation. I reached out to my farming contacts, raised a bit of money, and bought the first drones. Then I contacted an agroholding I had previously sold drones to: “You’ve got drones sitting idle — rent them to me.” They agreed. I went to [Oleksandr] Povorozniuk (founder of AF Pyatykhatska – ed.) — he said, “Nope, not happening.” So I moved on. That’s how I got my first drones. I also rented a couple of vehicles.
At some point I realized — I can handle sales. I had zero financing, no license either. Then I remembered our former competitors, DRONE CENTER. We talked, and I said, “I’m open to sharing, just bring me the drones.” They had the license, so they brought them. Within a year, I had sold everything. Then I started looking for funding. The highest interest rate I was offered was 53% annually in hard currency. But my desire to build a business and a company was stronger. Now I have several investors — at under 20% annual interest.
Latifundist.com: How did you explain to people outside the ag industry that you wouldn’t fail? Did you have a business plan?
Mykola Cherniak: Of course. But in my experience — people invest in people, not companies or ideas. It’s about trust. Can the person handle the workload? Do they have the skills? Do they keep their word? Honestly, it was a surprise that anyone gave me money. I thought: agri-drones, a war, some guy named Mykola — if I were them, I wouldn’t invest. So I take my hat off to everyone who believed in me.
Latifundist.com: You also brought some of the team from Cropter with you, right?
Mykola Cherniak: Actually, no. They came on their own. I didn’t try to pull anyone in.
Latifundist.com: But Cropter is still on the market?
Mykola Cherniak: In a completely different capacity. In fact, as we’re speaking, they’re holding a clearance sale. I think it eventually became clear that this is a very tough operational business. So many details. Want me to show you what persistence looks like?
Latifundist.com: Sure.
We head upstairs to the office.
Mykola Cherniak: (points to a board with medals – ed.) Here it is. These medals had been sitting in a backpack at my parents’ place since 2021. When I moved into the office, I decided to hang them up — so everyone would know who they’re dealing with. In 2021, I ran a 100 km ultramarathon. That’s running all night and half the next morning. And look at me — I’m no runner, not an athlete. But I set the goal and reached it.
When it comes to agri-drones, it’s the same — the whole system is against us. Electronic warfare, permits, registrations that take up to 10 months, licenses — all of it slows down the market. It’s really tough. But I believe that once the war ends, the industry will finally start developing properly. And that board of medals — it reminds me that every path is made up of a million steps.
Latifundist.com: You’ve been CEO of AGRONIX for over a year now, but many still associate you with Cropter. I think by now you can talk calmly about why you and your partner parted ways.
Mykola Cherniak: I was basically thrown off the train while it was still moving. They told me we were no longer partners. That’s it. I got nothing — no assets, no dividends. Honestly, I built a company worth several million dollars. And I think the biggest mistake was that we earned too much that year. We flew over 40,000 hectares and sold around 80 drones. You can calculate the revenue and margins — and you’ll understand what kind of money we’re talking about.
Latifundist.com: But there’s no smoke without fire. Maybe the money was the real test?
Mykola Cherniak: I know I’m not the easiest person: stubborn, bold, maybe even a bit of a jerk sometimes. But this is who I am. If I like someone — it’s genuine. If I don’t — I don’t hide it. And yeah, I can tell someone off if something’s wrong.
Maybe I sparked some conflict, was too blunt. But now I speak without emotion, with experience: however someone behaves — that’s one story, more about personal relationships. But there’s another layer — business, money, capital. And no matter the circumstances, that doesn’t give you the right to take what isn’t yours.
Latifundist.com: Just to clarify — you were a co-owner of the company?
Mykola Cherniak: Yes, we had a 50/50 split. He was the director and the authorized signatory. At one point, he simply withdrew all drone-related assets and said, “If anything — just reach out, I’m around.”
"Our pilots aren’t public figures"
Latifundist.com: Okay, let’s get back to AGRONIX. What does the company look like today?
Mykola Cherniak: We’ve got a core team of about 15 people in-house, and another 10–15 on outsourcing: target marketers, managers, and so on. I’m not counting the pilots here — that’s a separate story. We don’t even show them publicly. It’s like with top-notch nail technicians — once people know about them, it’s impossible to get an appointment. Same here: if you showcase a pilot, first, they start thinking they’re hot stuff, and second — everyone tries to poach them.
Latifundist.com: Did you ever headhunt pilots yourself?
Mykola Cherniak: Never. Here’s an analogy: why didn’t 3D printers take off? Because you can buy the hardware anywhere, but finding specialists who actually know how to use it — that’s the hard part. Same with drones. At the start, we just asked around: “Wanna be a pilot?” — “No way, that’s driving through fields and pulling all-nighters.” — “How about you?” — “Yeah, I’m in.” — “Congrats, you’re a pilot.” But now, after five years on the market, my selection criteria are completely different. Before hiring, I’ll always ask 3–5 very specific questions.
Latifundist.com: Like what?
Mykola Cherniak: How many hectares have you flown over? They might say: 10,000 — okay, but where exactly? We’ve already worked with almost all of the TOP-30 agroholdings. I think the only ones we haven’t worked with are NIBULON, Yuriy Drobyazko, and maybe a couple more. But with the rest — we’ve either flown for them, sold them drones, or done repairs.
Latifundist.com: We’re now in the part of your office where pilot training takes place. So for you, it’s both a market service and a way to build your internal talent pool?
Mykola Cherniak: Exactly. Training is primarily about team building. What we provide is a large body of knowledge and intellectual property — not something we want to just give away. Honestly, I’d prefer not to train anyone. But with scaling comes the need to do it. For example, three pilots who joined our training — one last year, two this year — ended up staying with us because they were genuinely sharp. Their eyes lit up — they were really into it. So this is the perfect recruitment funnel — not through HR, but through real-world practice, watching how someone flies and how passionate they are about what they do.
How AGRONIX builds a service ecosystem around agrodrones
Latifundist.com: One of AGRONIX's services is drone maintenance. How did that come about?
Mykola Cherniak: Agrodrones are a complex business — both operationally and in terms of expertise. Mixing two products is only half the challenge. Applying them correctly in ultra-low-volume mode — where you need just 10 liters per hectare — that’s a whole other level. And the truth is, there are no real experts — not in Ukraine, not globally — who have deeply studied this. Simply because no one ever set that task. I personally had to figure out a lot of it from scratch, breaking down walls with my head, so to speak.
Without expertise, you have no place in this market. And when I saw the vacuum forming, I realized — this knowledge can be sold as a service. Just yesterday, for example, I spoke with three people who’ve been interviewed by Latifundist.com in the past six months — and I talked all three out of buying agrodrones. I asked, “Who’s going to fly them? What are you going to do with them? Where?” I listened and told them honestly — you’re not ready. Your infrastructure can’t support this. People have overly optimistic expectations.
Latifundist.com: Is drone spraying and related services more than 50% of your portfolio?
Mykola Cherniak: About 30% is actual spraying, and another 20% is everything around it: the pilot academy, a workbook, etc. We’ve created something like a monograph on how to work with agrodrones — how to train people, what components are needed. We’ve included trailers, mixing units, tanks, generators. Plus spare parts, maintenance, and warranties. So we’ve built this full “product daisy” around agrodrones.
Honestly, I’d prefer to just focus on spraying and maybe a bit of sales. Everything else runs at a loss — it only exists to support the core. If you buy spare parts and everyone crashes, you make money. If nobody crashes, you end up decorating a Christmas tree with rotors and motors, or giving your kid a gift box with a DJI Hero 130 pump in it.
Latifundist.com: The pink color in the AGRONIX logo — pretty bold for agri-business, no?
Mykola Cherniak: I’ve always liked purple — it was the most expensive color for thousands of years. Know why? The dye was made from special shells found only in the Red Sea after low tide. So purple was the color of royalty, premium status.
But when we gave the technical brief to the designer, he said purple didn’t work: couldn’t pair it with black or white, too dark here, too light there. Then someone said, “Why not pink? No one in agri uses that.” Bingo! It’s bright and unforgettable. We wanted people to associate pink with us — something that really sticks in your memory like a vivid stain.
Latifundist.com: The logo looks a bit like the X-Factor one :)
Mykola Cherniak: It was originally supposed to say AGRONIX. I was totally against the logo at first, to be honest. But then the designer showed a version — it looked like a drone propeller, and later he sketched out a quadcopter with four blades. I looked at the X — and it felt like proper branding. So we went with it.
Latifundist.com: I saw your video about moving to a new location — you joked about “moving into a garage.” Like Jobs.
Mykola Cherniak: Yep, last year we had a few garages. Now it’s just one big one. My favorite (laughs). We’re based in Boyarka, and it’s the perfect place for agrodrones. A 12 out of 10. We’ve got a warehouse, service center, and training hub here. And room to fly the drones. There are almost no suitable locations like this within Kyiv city limits.
Agrodrones: prices and payback
Latifundist.com: Let’s talk pricing. How much does an agdrone cost today?
Mykola Cherniak: A DJI Agras T50 kit — with batteries, charger, etc. — costs €23,000 excluding VAT. But for full functionality, you also need a generator and additional equipment. All in, it comes to around €30,000. That’s a serious investment. The most advanced kits can go up to €40,000.
It’s like with seeders: the T50 is basically the Horsch Pronto of agrodrones. But there are more affordable models too — DJI Agras T16/T20 or XAG XP 2020. If you break it down, it’s about $5/ha per kit. But again, like with seeders: those who sow understand the difference between a basic SZD model and something like a Horsch or Precision Planting.
With a seeder, you can walk up and see the result. With drone application, there are way more nuances: droplet size, evaporation rate, speed of effect. Previously, no one paid much attention. But last year, when humidity dropped to 10–20%, desiccation showed that low application rates became ineffective. And that’s now a crucial factor both for customers and for service providers.
There have been cases where one contractor does a great job, and another delivers poor results. I’m talking about desiccation. And with insecticides or fungicides, it gets even more complicated — that requires a truly high level of expertise. Only top-tier agronomists like Tyutyunik, Bohomaz, Akulov, Voitko, or Myhlovets can really handle it. These are the heavyweights of agronomy. A regular agronomist simply doesn’t have the physical capacity to properly evaluate the quality — they need to eat, rest, take phone calls, and still manage to run over to the combine.
Latifundist.com: Am I right in thinking that for many, the main deciding factor was price — and that’s what eventually tripped them up?
Mykola Cherniak: Exactly. For example, in 2022 or 2023, Kernel submitted a request for 140,000 hectares. At the time, their equipment didn’t arrive on schedule, aviation was no longer an option — so the entire area was handed over to drones. They started looking for contractors across the market — and ran into a simple truth: these are people. People need to eat, sleep, some are responsible, some are not. To monitor all the contractors properly, you'd need to set up a separate department — something like NASA.
Latifundist.com: Sounds a bit strange — someone wants to sleep or eat… But if you’ve taken on a job, you’re supposed to deliver.
Mykola Cherniak: That’s absolutely right — but reality is a bit different. Even in my own operations, sometimes a “character” slips through and messes something up — and then we have to redo the work. It’s just how people are. To maintain quality control, you need to be physically present, in the field. And the biggest problem isn’t a scorched field or poorly done work — that can still be fixed, reapplied. The worst is when people don’t keep their word.
Latifundist.com: In your conversation with Stanislav Shum, you mentioned that the agri-drone market is going through tough times: margins are shrinking, and the “golden days” when drones paid off in five weeks are over. I assume that’s why many of the “fly-by-nighters” will leave the market.
Mykola Cherniak: That’s already happening. People who entered this business just for the money are now walking away. Because unless you’re fully committed and in it for the long haul — you won’t make a profit. What you will get is a lot of stress and a bad mood. I’ll say it again: this is a tough operational business. You need to understand countless nuances and know how to work with people.
Drone Application — How Expensive Is It?
Latifundist.com: There are currently restrictions on drone imports. How do you deal with that?
Mykola Cherniak: Drones with a tank capacity of over 20 liters are classified as dual-use goods. To import them from Europe to Ukraine, you need to go through the state export control procedure. It can take up to six months — they check your biography, your relatives, whether you have ties to the aggressor state or a criminal background. If everything’s fine, you get the permit. Then you need to obtain a Ukrainian license to import this kind of equipment. Only after that can you start looking for a European seller who agrees to export the drone — and that’s a separate challenge, because they also need a special export license. So this is no longer a “toy” you can just buy in a store and fly right away. That’s why very few people actually import them.
Latifundist.com: How much does drone application cost nowadays?
Mykola Cherniak: It’s easy to calculate. A drone kit costs around $40,000. Factoring in depreciation — that’s roughly $12,000–15,000 per year. Add salaries, fuel, maintenance — and you get a cost price of about $10/ha. That’s the lowest price in Europe, and maybe even globally. Overall, $10/ha for drones is peanuts. Some operators are even willing to work for less — and that’s perfectly fine.
Latifundist.com: And what does AGRONIX charge?
Mykola Cherniak: On average — $10/ha, depending on the technical task. Sometimes less. It’s one thing when you have ten fields of 100 ha each, flat as a table, with perfect boundaries. It’s quite another when you deal with complex terrain, former wetlands, power lines crossing the field and twisting all over the place.
Latifundist.com: What about neighbouring countries? What’s the pricing like there?
Mykola Cherniak: Poland — $25/ha, Slovakia — $15–20/ha, Romania — $10–30/ha, Bulgaria — $15/ha, Greece — $30/ha. A colleague of mine often sends me updates on their drone applications — they’re very professional and work with high rates. For example, we apply 100 kg/ha of ammonium sulfate with drones — they apply 300 kg/ha. We spray 5–10 L/ha — they do 20 L/ha. It’s a different cost level, but they calculate it better.
Latifundist.com: So comparing drones to traditional sprayers is inevitable?
Mykola Cherniak: For now, sprayers outperform drones in terms of productivity. But if you calculate the economics correctly — it’s not so straightforward. A self-propelled sprayer costs $250,000–300,000. For that money, you could buy ten drones — and get more work done than with a single sprayer. But people usually compare one drone to one sprayer — and that’s the wrong comparison. A drone can cover 100–200 ha, while a Berthoud sprayer can handle 300–500 ha — if pushed to the limit.
Latifundist.com: So are agri-drones still a niche or already an industry?
Mykola Cherniak: Still a niche, but it's growing fast. I entered the market back when we had 20-liter drones — those ST-20s. Then the T30s appeared — they now hold about a third of the market. Then came 40-liter and 50-liter models. Now we have the latest ones — the ST-100s — with 75-liter tanks and 100 kg payloads. That’s serious: either 10 ha at 7 L/ha or 3 ha at 25 L/ha. And 25 L/ha is definitely not worse than a ground sprayer. One guy I spoke to yesterday has already switched to 25–32 L/ha — applying the full range of crop protection products.
Latifundist.com: What’s the area covered by drones in hectares? I heard it was over 2 million ha last year.
Mykola Cherniak: I can't give an exact figure — the market is still opaque. But I can confidently say it’s at least 1 million ha. For instance, Ukrlandfarming has 60–70 of its own drones. They treat around 200,000 ha annually. That’s just one holding. Last year, IMC tendered for 80,000 ha. TAS Agro did around 25,000 ha. Continental Farmers Group — about 20,000 ha, though it used to be up to 50,000 ha two or three years ago. Epicentr Agro — 30,000 to 35,000 ha. So if you add it all up — at least a million ha.
But compared to the total arable land of 25–30 million ha — that’s still a rounding error. If someone decided to shut this down legislatively — they could, and no one would really notice. Maybe we’d lose 1% in yields for grains and oilseeds.
Drones really help — but it’s still not a fully developed market. It’s the Wild West out here.
Latifundist.com: When it comes to drone applications, what market share is AGRONIX aiming for?
Mykola Cherniak: I’m aiming for 10% — that’s a modest but very realistic target in the next 2–3 years. If we take the three key crops — sunflower, corn and rapeseed — that’s about 11 million ha in Ukraine. These are the crops where drones have already proven their efficiency — especially for insecticide applications in corn and sunflower.
I’m targeting 10% of that area — so around 1 million ha. This year’s goal is to reach 10% of that target — 100,000 ha. Last year we covered 25,000 ha, and at the peak of our previous operations — 40,000 ha.
What’s driving expansion into Europe
Latifundist.com: I spoke with your sales managers, and they mentioned you’re planning to enter the European market.
Mykola Cherniak: That’s right. This year we plan to expand into several neighbouring countries.
Latifundist.com: How strict is drone legislation there?
Mykola Cherniak: Europe is very diverse in that regard. The strictest country is Germany — you need permission for nearly everything, even to stand here or there. In France and Italy, things are slowly moving. The most progressive is Switzerland. They do a lot of research because drones work well in mountainous areas. And their government is flexible and gets it.
Latifundist.com: If you compare this with Ukraine, what’s our current legislative landscape?
Mykola Cherniak: We're only just starting. For instance, draft law No. 8043 on state regulation of plant protection includes a clause that crop protection manufacturers must indicate on labels and instructions how to use products with UAVs. No specifics yet, but the fact it’s in the legislation is already a win. This is a global trend, not some short-lived fashion. It’s the future — not just for Ukraine. The U.S. and Europe are moving in the same direction.
Latifundist.com: So, since there’s essentially no strict regulation here yet, does that mean you have a kind of freedom to operate?
Mykola Cherniak: Exactly. And because of that, we’re currently the most advanced in Europe. There, everything is tightly regulated, while here — everything not explicitly forbidden is allowed. That’s a huge advantage. I was at Agritechnica in Hanover and visited the Schmitt Solutions booth — they’re a top German drone company. I asked, “What’s your annual coverage?” They said, “5,000 hectares.” I asked, “Per drone? Per crew?” They said, “No — total company output for the year.” Meanwhile, one of our T30 crews alone covered 5,000 hectares.
Latifundist.com: But Europe has higher input costs and bans many active substances, right?
Mykola Cherniak: Yes, that’s true. And it really complicates things. But I’m mostly driven by the chance to prove myself professionally. They’re way behind. I’ve been working on a PhD on agrodrones for three years now, and in Europe, they only started showcasing them at exhibitions last year. They’re repeating the same cycle — fields getting set on fire, drones being damaged, equipment being broken — all the same mistakes we already went through.
Kostiantyn Tkachenko, Natalia Rodak,Latifundist.com
