What flies, mister artist?! How the Belarusian farm surprised Gerard Depardieu

This fair-haired beautiful woman in an embroidered shirt is the very personification of Belarus: hardworking, proud, open. The DIRECTOR of JSC "Ozeritsky-Agro" Nina Zheleznova is known to many people not only in our country. There is a lot to learn in the farm she manages, there is something to show, there is something to compare with, which is why guests from many countries come here to get to know the country's agricultural production, Belarusians.

We are standing with the HEAD of JSC "Ozeritsky-Agro" on a high slope near the farm "Zadomlya". The picture is amazing: several well-groomed villages, meadows, fields, roads, copses and forests - everything is in full view. A couple of hundred years ago, a princely castle would have been built here for sure ...

- So Gerard Depardieu, who visited here, said: "Your place is beautiful, like in Switzerland!" And I objected: "It's beautiful in Switzerland, like ours!" - Nina Vikentievna recalls the charismatic Frenchman with a smile.

Then the artist was walking with a sweeping step through the barn with open windows and fans driving cool air and asked in bewilderment:

- Where are the flies? Why are there no flies?

- No dirt - no flies! - Nina Zheleznova explained to the dull monsieur, who had his own farm in RUSSIA, they say, near Saransk.

After a tour of the farm, Depardieu left an entry in the guest book: "I am delighted with this beauty!", As well as a caricature of himself.

On the day of our meeting, spring field work was coming to an end, the director's work schedule became calmer, and we spent several interesting hours together. For example, on one of the farms they witnessed a miracle - the birth of a calf, which the mother cow immediately began to lick, looking at people with contentment.

- Let's call the calf BelTA, - suggested the leader, carefully looking around the farm: is there order everywhere?

Everything is at its best here. In the milking parlour, cows took their places on the "carousel" for the second milking. The last daily MILK yield of the local record holder was 60 liters!

When the director's Geely slowed down on the side of the road, behind which the fields of winter barley had already stood like a green wall, they decided to ask Nina Vikentyevna about the views of the harvest.

- Spring has come - and thank God for everything. Look at the winter barley, handsome! she drew our attention to the fields. - There is also winter wheat - only 1590 hectares, but not all of them overwintered well, so our technologists will pay special attention to it. They know how to support plants when they need it. In total, about 4.8 thousand hectares of winter and spring crops, 2 thousand hectares of corn were sown. The state order will be fulfilled in full. Part of the grown is for sale, but the largest is for feeding cattle , of which there are more than 10 thousand heads. We are working as usual, working on technologies. After sowing - a week to rest, and then harvesting fodder. Milk rivers and MEAT banks are daily work.

No sooner had I finished than a cloud covered the sun.

- Thank you for bringing the rain - we were really looking forward to it, - Nina Vikentievna rejoices at the life-giving moisture pouring from the sky and clarifies: - You never need to complain that something is frozen or wet. Up there, they know how it should be on earth.

Nina Zheleznova is a person who knows and appreciates her family and her small homeland. Obviously, under the influence of the paternal family Taratuta, wise, respected, her strong character was also formed.

- I was born in the village of Slavkovo, in the Nesvizh region. I dreamed of living and working in my small homeland, so that I could apply my knowledge exactly where the origins of the family, which for me is the support, the foundation on which I stand, which leads me through life, - the interlocutor admits, straying from Russian into her native Belarusian, and jokingly clarifies: - Here, they say, you can survive a person from a village, but never a village from a person. For me, this is not an offensive phrase at all. I am a village person.

Nina Zheleznova, a schoolgirl, thought that she would be with those people who surrounded her since childhood, but fate decreed otherwise. After graduating from the Belarusian Agricultural Academy in Gorki, Nina and Oleg Zheleznov worked for 17 years in the Cherven region and another 10 years in the Luban region. Significant for the Zheleznovs was the land of OJSC "Ozeritsky-Agro" in the Smolevichi district, which 15 years ago was headed by Nina Zheleznova. As the interlocutor admitted, here she fell in love again - with the blessed Smolevichi expanses, with their fields, forests, lakes.

- This land is very strong, energetically powerful. It was not for nothing that almost 80 years ago ours drove the Nazis into the MINSK cauldron here, and then the Mound of Glory was erected in honor of the Great Victory. Here, on the lands of the economy, in addition to the Mound of Glory, there are objects that are significant for the country - the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park "Great Stone", the National Airport. It is difficult to adapt to this land, - the head of the farm believes. She either accepts you or she doesn't. I still don't know if she accepted me? But I accepted it and loved it.

JSC "Ozeritsky-Agro" - these are five farms, united at different times by Belagroprombank into one strong enterprise. The last one was added four months ago. Now there are already lands and farms in the Logoisk region.

- 15 years flew by like 15 days, - admits Nina Zheleznova. - During this time, much has changed in Ozeritsky. Production has grown exponentially. We supplied 30 tons of milk, now - more than 90 tons. The milk rivers of Ozeritsky are our property, pride, wealth, - the interlocutor lists and draws an important conclusion: - A cow is a sacred animal not only in India, but also in Belarus. She, like a fabulous antelope, fills the country with white gold!

And the director of the enterprise is happy that the backbone of the team, consisting of hardworking, interesting, original professionals, has not lost his head. These 15 years have made them stronger, stronger: there are no strife, omissions, resentment here.

Ensuring the food security of the country, the economy is among the leaders in many areas.

- Our team, which is 480 people, is charged to win. And we want to be respected, meaningful, responsible. Our championship is not fake, it is the result of labor. There are not so many farms in Belarus that produce so much milk, thousands of tons of potatoes, tens of thousands of tons of grain. We try to establish ourselves in leadership positions and not give them up. The Ozerchuks are proud of the quality of their products: what has grown on the ground is a sin to make of poor quality.

For the fifth year in Ozeritsky, "live lessons" have been held for children from the age of six, many of whom have mothers and fathers, uncles, aunts, and acquaintances working on the farm.

- Our goal is to show the kids that the village is good, the collective farm is cool. Seeing a cow on the farm, and tomorrow buying cheese, yogurt , milk , sour cream, the child will already understand where it comes from. If children do not know how a calf is fed, do not feel how its rough tongue tickles their small hands, then they will never become milkmaids, veterinarians, ministers of agriculture and, possibly, even presidents, Nina Zheleznova is sure.

In Ozeritsky, they do not expect that all schoolchildren will be peasants, but they are sure that they will love their homeland, begin to be proud of their parents, respect relatives, neighbors who grow bread, vegetables, potatoes, milk cows ...

Such excursions teach a lot and adults.

- Somehow during a "live lesson" one of the boys says: "Do you know my dad? He is the best tractor driver!" "What is his last name?" - I ask, - the director of the farm recalls. - The kid calls: I'm surprised, because his dad at that time was not on the lists of leaders. On the next excursion, the same boy: "Do you know that my dad will get a new tractor soon?!"

This was not in the plans of the economy. But the next day, in front of all the machine operators, Nina Zheleznova told the brave man's dad:

- There are parents who stand up for their children, but your best protector is your son. So here's a new tractor - we give, but you have yet to become the best in the profession. For the sake of the son.

Now the hero has three sons, and he is a wonderful machine operator.

Ozeritsky-Agro OJSC closely monitors newcomers. Speaking about the personnel policy of the enterprise, Nina Zheleznova emphasizes that she does not accept excessive guardianship of young specialists: after all, they have just received documents that give them the right to start their professional activities at the enterprise.

- These are healthy, beautiful, strong people to whom we must give our peaceful, rich, kind, humane country, and we create hothouse conditions for them and relax them with extra care.

The leader believes that it is necessary to give young people more loads - physical, psychological, moral, but such that they are within their strength .... Yes, there should be a wise professional nearby who knows as much as a young worker will not receive in any academy. But the newcomer must independently ensure that he is accepted by the team.

- If you have chosen a profession related to the earth, then you must love, understand, feel, be devoted to the earth, so to speak, to the marrow of your bones, - the director is sure. It doesn't matter if you were born in a village or a city. If you are in love with your business - the profession of an agronomist, machine operator, livestock specialist, livestock breeder, then you are a person who stands firmly on the ground!

With the arrival of Nina Zheleznova at Ozeritsky-Agro OJSC, a number of import-substituting directions appeared in the local greenhouse industry. Here, as before, on the Day of Defenders of the Fatherland, the first cucumbers ripen, a little later, tomatoes and much more. In the yard - the end of May, and here they are already harvesting blueberries, strawberries. A subject of special pride is a fruit-bearing citrus garden, which is already more than 6 years old. In 2022, the farm supplied 1,380 kg of lemons and 50 tons of watermelons to the local retail chain. Buyers of vitamin products are farm workers, residents of Sloboda and surrounding villages.

When the head of state arrived at Ozeritsky-Agro OJSC in August 2019, he was presented with a lemon tree.

- It was the President's birthday. We were harvesting potatoes and sowing winter grains, - Nina Zheleznova recalls. - The head of state liked the gift. Since then, with his unspoken blessing in our lemon garden, along with the mother plant, there are almost 900 citrus trees.

Whatever the workers of JSC Ozeritsky-Agro undertake, everything works like clockwork for them . But not everything is profitable: for example, the Dubrova park, which is on the banks of the Dubrovno reservoir. The places are magnificent: nature, as they say, whispers - a lake, a birch grove, beaches, a path of HEALTH.

- Yes, on such shores, businessmen could build a classy resort with expensive hotels and luxurious restaurants. But this would make such beauty inaccessible to every person. Such corners of the Motherland given to us by God should be affordable for the Belarusians and our guests, - says Nina Vikentievna and specifies how the maintenance of the agroecotourism object pays off: - To share such beauty and power of these places with our fellow countrymen, we are ready to neutralize losses by earning in other production areas .

was created at the expense of earmarked funds for the production of national content.

Tamara MARKINA,

photo Nadezhda ANDREICHIK,

newspaper "7 days".