Speakers and industry experts from Acron Group, a Russian vertically integrated mineral fertiliser producer, participated in the national conference for young scientists ‘Soil Science: Horizons of the Future. 2025’ on 22–26 September 2025, which was also attended by foreign specialists.
Viktor Voronchikhin, a leading domestic market specialist from Acron’s Marketing Department, spoke about the Group’s business and the key advantages of its mineral fertilisers, and hosted a business game for young scientists.
The Group’s Marketing Department and the conference’s organising committee held a joint Agrohack game for more than 50 participants. The players were divided into five teams, each of which was assigned a specific case to solve. This format enabled each player to express their ideas, develop their concept collectively and deliver a final presentation to the jury and other teams for evaluation.
The players had to perform the following tasks:
- Develop a concept for a new fertiliser, taking into account environmental issues and the carbon footprint agenda
- Propose solutions for the precision fertiliser application, depending on the type of soil and crop
- Invision the future of agriculture in the context of global climate change
- Develop a concept of an IoT device for mobile agrochemical soil analysis
- Develop a cost-effective concept for express method(s) to measure field nitrogen volatilisation (loss)
The presentations were assessed based on relevance, originality and implementability criteria. The winning team proposed a concept that today remains in the realm of science fiction: monitoring soil compaction and its nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content with the help of sensor-fitted invertebrates.
The annual conference ‘Soil Science: Horizons of the Future’ was held for the ninth time in 2025. Young scientists from the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute organise this event to showcase advanced research projects focusing on soil and related environments, establish interdisciplinary links, and strengthen ties that already exist. Over 200 representatives from leading Russian research and educational institutions attended the conference, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Federal State Budgetary Institution Agrochemical Service of Russia, Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Southern Federal University, Kazan Federal University and Kamchatka State Technical University. Guests from Belarus, China and Chile also participated in the conference.