Kovalevsky was one of the creators of the Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University and the Institute of Plant Industry in Leningrad.

Vladimir Kovalevsky was born to the middle-class family of a retired army major on 9 November 1848, in Novo-Serpukhov (currently Balakliia) in the Zmiyov uyezd of the Kharkov Governorate.

In that same year, he began studying at the Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University, where he was taught by Dmitry Lachinov.

In November 1869, Nechayev murdered his former follower I. I. Ivanov, and Kovalevsky gave him an opportunity to stay the night at his house.

On 1 July 1871, Kovalevsky was brought to the court of the St. Petersburg judicial chamber on the accusation that without necessarily taking part in the plot to overthrow the existing order of control in Russia,[5] he contributed in providing accommodation for Sergey Nechayev.

Graduating in 1875, Kovalevsky completed his thesis on the theme of "An historical survey on the essence of alcoholic fermentation and the nourishment of yeast" and was honored the degree of Candidate of Agricultural Sciences.

In 1879, together with I. O. Levitsky, he published "A statistical description of the milk economy in the northern and central regions of European Russia."

With the general's backing, it was possible for Kovalevsky to occupy a government position, excluding those only having to do with the teaching activity or work in the prosecution.

In a short period of time, he managed to perfect the wide communication network for obtaining such information.

However, in January 1886, at the request of the Minister of the Interior D. A. Tolstoy, Kovalevsky had to leave the post of vice-director as politically unreliable.

In April 1891, under the introduction of Sergei Witte, Kovalevsky was bestowed the civil rank of "Actual State Councilor".

In the end of 1892, Witte became Minister of Finance and offered Kovalevsky to take up the post of director of the Department of Trade and Manufactures.

By Kovalevsky's personal initiatives, 1893 saw the beginning of the publication of the "Trade and Industry Gazette" (Russian: Торгово-промышленная газет).

In 1899, along with Sergey Witte, Dmitry Mendeleev and others, Kovalevsky helped organize the Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University.

[13] In that same year, he became the chair of the administration of the Saint Petersburg Rail Car Factory Union, and in 1913, of the Ural-Caspian Petroleum Society.

In 1923, Kovalevsky was appointed chairman of the Scientific-Technical Council of the First All-Union Agriculture and Orchard Industry Exhibition in Moscow.

During the course of several years, Kovalevsky was the senior editor of the Great Agricultural Encyclopedia, which was one of the most complete worldwide publications of that type.

Ilovayskaya was the wife of a famous critic and publicist, editor of the Russkoye Slovo ("Russian Word") and Delo ("Business") magazines, Gregory Blagosvetlov.

In 1884, Kovalevsky was able to establish laws governing the shortening of the growing season of bread grains as a way of advancing agriculture to the north.

[1][16] Kovalevsky was one of the founders of agricultural ecology, whose challenges he identified as such: "Explanation of joint interaction on the harvest quality of grain, constitutions of the soils, methods of working the land, meteorological conditions, protection of plants, etc.".

By his initiative, special weather stations were set up in different regions of Russia, and Kovalevsky has been called one of the founders of agricultural meteorology.

For example, suggestions are found about growing rice and tea, cultivation of dry land, anti-desertification measures, and beekeeping.

[1] Following Kovalevsky's recommendations, pine trees were planted on the slopes of dunes in the Sestroretsk region near Saint Petersburg, which saved a row of villages and a small factory from the advancing sands.