"We try to actually take care of people", or How the harvest began in the Kobrin district

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With all the seeming monotony and cyclicality of agricultural work, each new season is not like the previous one. Everyone in the village will tell you that. So the next harvest season in the Brest region has its own characteristics - both in terms of the structure of sown areas, the timing of their maturation and harvesting, and weather conditions. In the Kobrin region, as in most others, the harvest started with winter barley - a crop that is gaining popularity among Belarusian farmers. This is a good opportunity to run the combines, check the readiness of equipment, grain drying and weighing facilities before mass harvesting of grain. BelTA correspondents visited one of the farms of the region, learned about the prospects for the harvest and the working conditions of farmers.

How time has sped up! According to the folk calendar, on July 21, our ancestors celebrated zazhinki. Now, in many farms, it will be the height of the harvest. "Nature is changing, and man is strongly influencing it. They talk about warming. But, frankly, I'm skeptical about this. I remember my childhood: it was always like this - somewhere colder, somewhere warmer. Is there not enough moisture? I remember visiting my grandmother in the summer - watering machines were almost everywhere, in every farm. That is, the same problems. And today we don’t have watering machines in any farm, only those who are engaged in vegetables. We live today and now, therefore, bread came up - we remove them, we don’t look at the numbers. I will say this: as a rule, the one who did everything on time, and the weather helps, "

We're talking on the field of JSC "Batchy". Cleaning here began one of the first - on July 1. Other farms soon joined in. In the region of 1470 hectares of winter barley, the area has doubled compared to last year. "The prospects for the harvest so far are not bad: the average yield for today is 64 centners / ha. This farm is 10 centners higher. "Pokrovsky" finished harvesting barley with a result of 84 centners / ha. I don't remember anything like that in my lifetime. Even "Kiselevtsy" , where the score of arable land is about 20, received 58 centners per hectare, - shares the head of the district agricultural production. - The weather we had was the same as everywhere else, it didn’t spoil. Our specialists simply reacted responsibly: they met the deadlines for cultivation technology, and did everything for care work , weeded, fed - in general, they tried to get a crop, so it pleases. "

“On the whole, I think, despite the natural disasters, the year in crop production is more or less successful. In our economy, it is one of the best. So far, the forecasts are optimistic, let’s put it this way. The spring wedge will be much better . On average, more than 40 centners of grain per round should be received. Rapeseed is very good - 30 centners per round, we hope, will definitely give, "- joins the conversation director of JSC "Batchy" Sergey Denisevich.

Simultaneously with the harvesters, balers are working on the field, straw is being hauled away - the land is being cleared for stubble crops. As soon as the winter barley is harvested, millet will be sown. With 7,000 livestock, fodder is of paramount importance here. "Just yesterday we completed the second mowing of perennial grasses. Now we are harvesting 300 hectares of alfalfa from the second mowing. All of it is laid in polymer sleeves. The quality and preservation of feed are excellent. We have been working on our own raw materials for the second year without additional purchases from outside. The milk yield per cow is now 23 We sell 65 tons of milk every day, almost 100% of it is of the "extra" variety. Monthly we get Br2.2-2.3 million from its sale," the head of the company said.

This year, the farm went on an experiment: instead of piecework wages for harvesting, combine operators were offered hourly wages. With premiums for seniority, class and quality of cleaning. When assessed as "excellent", an hour of work costs Br12.5, if "good" - Br10.4. The labor of the machine operator is paid separately in case of equipment breakdown. The first days showed that the quality of cleaning immediately improved.

“There are more pluses in the new payment system,” says combine operator Ivan Tsapuk. “We come in the morning, blow the combine, clean it - we have already earned Br20 without leaving the field. Races on the field are excluded. Yesterday, the speed was 5-6 km - no one else walked ".

“Somehow, it’s even easier to work like that than to chase tons. You just look more for quality, for a combine. There is nowhere to rush. If there is no quality, the price drops to Br4. There is an incentive,” Sergey Selekh supports the young colleague. In tandem with Gennady Dudko, he has been working for more than a season. For each of them, the account of harvesting campaigns exceeded three dozen. "It's been threshed well. I don't remember such a harvest for a long time. Yesterday we went to the field for lunch, by eight in the evening we had threshed 60 tons - that's quite a lot," the combine operator adds.

We communicate with machine operators and drivers during lunch. The farm has its own dining room; hot meals are provided to harvest participants twice a day, taking a nominal fee for this. "We have a new menu every day. Today, for example, chopped cutlets with pasta, tomorrow there will be pilaf, the day after tomorrow - mashed potatoes with goulash. We also diversify first courses, drinks. We always give out something sweet - buns, cookies, waffles "Plus light salads, mineral water. Everything is fresh, tasty, we try to do our best. It's nice when people thank you," says Yana Chizhuk, a distributor.

Mechanic Alexander Ogulik turned 24 that day. On the occasion of his birthday, he was offered double portions, he refused with a smile. We are interested in whether it is insulting to spend a birthday in a combine? "No, on the contrary, it's better. More fun. I've wanted to work in the harvest for a long time. This is the third season for me. This year they entrusted a new harvester," the young agrarian remarked not without pride.

“Young people make up almost 70% of the team. Our salaries are decent: the average for household chores is Br1,800. In the season, some earn both Br2,000 and Br3,000. for three years, we have 300 basic, then - 400. We help with housing. That is, we find various incentives to detain and attract workers to the economy," the director of the company said.

“We have done a lot on the farms. There, a person comes to work, bathes, changes clothes, and the overalls are washed. In this regard, our machine operators are a little overlooked. Therefore, today we are turning around and arrange exactly the same service at the workshops. for showers, we install equipment so that it is not the wife of the machine operator who can wash the overalls at home. That is, we create comfortable conditions, we try to really, not in words, but in deeds, take care of people," Andrei Lukiyanchik added.

Svetlana VECHORKO,

photo by Vadim YAKUBYONKA,

BELTA.