This company knows everything about rapeseed and how to make money on it. We visited JSC "Raps"

Topic news OJSC Raps is a dynamically developing modern enterprise of the country's agro-industrial complex, aimed at increasing the volume of agricultural production. Over the past five years, the joint-stock company has carried out a significant modernization of its capacities, buildings and structures. A lot of work has been done to update the equipment and technologies. We will tell you how this value-forming enterprise of the Minsk region, building an effective production strategy and tactics, follows the interests of the state.

Milk yields and weight gains are ever higher

The fact that dairy products are well known and loved in the Belarusian market and abroad, and food exports make a significant contribution to the country's economy, is the merit of such enterprises as the open joint-stock company Raps. It is no coincidence that the workforce of OJSC Raps pays significant attention to increasing production volumes and further developing not only the yield of fields, but also the livestock industry. The herd of cattle is 5,000 heads. As a result of constant competent work aimed at increasing the efficiency of animal husbandry, milk yields and weight gains of cattle are growing . In 2024 , the gross milk yield on the farm was 19,997 tons. The milk yield per cow increased to 9,216 kg by the end of the year. The offspring of cattle was 2,668 calves. The average daily gain of cattle is 730 grams, and the gross gain of cattle is 826 tons. As they say, dry figures, which, however, speak for themselves.

Ensuring the economic indicators of the livestock industry is the daily work of dozens of livestock breeders, veterinarians, zootechnicians and other workers of dairy complexes and farms. Competent selection work with the herd, providing it with balanced feed, improving feeding rations play a major role in increasing the efficiency of management.
Open Joint-Stock Company "Raps" is actively introducing new technologies for the production of livestock products. The enterprise has built a lot over the past 5 years. A new milking unit, calf houses, and modern cowsheds for 450 and 250 heads appeared at the Cherniki dairy farm. A new milking unit began operating at the Annopol dairy farm. It is equipped with a maternity ward for calving cows and heifers with modern boxes for keeping calves. The calf house building was reconstructed at the Vishnevka farm.
Modern equipment and mechanisms are used to facilitate physical labor and improve the quality of compliance with livestock technologies. A milk taxi, colostrum pasteurizer, and a feed pusher are used to raise healthy offspring of cattle. Much attention is paid to the constant analysis and improvement of feeding rations and the release of new types of compound feed.

Field yields are growing
What is important is that the livestock sector of the farm is fully provided with its own high-quality feed grown in the fields of the OJSC. The agricultural lands of the enterprise amount to 6,210 hectares. The team is purposefully working to improve the fertility of the land. Crop rotation is strictly observed in the fields. The required amount of mineral and organic fertilizers is applied annually.

The 2024 agricultural year turned out to be special for OJSC Raps. The use of intensive technologies in the crop production industry for the first time in the history of the enterprise made it possible to obtain 12,817 tons of grain with a yield of 74 centners per hectare, 3,120 tons of rapeseed with a yield of 39 centners per hectare and 5,522 tons of corn with a yield of 110 centners per hectare.

The farm annually updates its machinery and tractor fleet, purchasing modern machines and mechanisms. Over the past five years, four Polesie grain harvesters, three MAZ trucks, a Kirovets tractor, an Amkodor loader, a Mekosan sprayer, a Lider-12000 pneumatic grain seeder, a KVK-80 forage harvester, an electric generator and a vertical feed distributor have been purchased.

In addition to crop production and livestock farming, the enterprise processes oilseeds. About 20,000 tons are processed annually. The plant's infrastructure is being improved. The processing shops are equipped with new high-performance German equipment. Certified HASP product quality control systems are in place, and a modern laboratory is in operation. Advanced drying complexes and oilseed storage facilities with a capacity of 36,000 tons are effectively used.

And everyday life is not forgotten
The team's work does not go unnoticed. OJSC Raps has repeatedly won prizes in district and regional competitions, and has been awarded diplomas and certificates. In 2024, the company took part in the International Exhibition "BelAgro-2024" with an exposition where they presented the offspring of breeding bulls. The company was awarded a certificate from the BelAgro-2024 exhibition.
JSC Raps does not intend to give up the positions it has won: the team is on the rise – it is well motivated to achieve new labor successes. Updating equipment and technologies, the enterprise carries out a competent personnel policy. The total number of employees in JSC Raps is 370 people. Each one works conscientiously in his place, jointly solving the tasks facing the team. The enterprise constantly cares about improving the life and well-being of employees. Over the past five years, about 2,000 square meters of housing have been built. A 12-apartment building and a hostel have been built, and the reconstruction of its own store is underway.

Open Joint-Stock Company Raps has defined the main directions on the way to new achievements. Making real, quite achievable plans, the team confidently looks to the future. The implementation of these plans depends both on those who have been working in the enterprise for many years and on the youth who associate their future with the enterprise.

A little history

OJSC Raps is a modern enterprise of the Belarusian agro-industrial complex, which has a rich past, which old-timers of other agricultural enterprises are unlikely to tell you about. It was created on the basis of the collective farm Novy Byt, which appeared almost 100 years ago - back in 1929. Over almost a century, many legendary personalities have visited here. This list includes the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikita Khrushchev, and Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, our fellow countryman Andrei Gromyko and many others.

In 1991, OJSC Raps was created on the basis of the collective farm Novy Byt by the decision of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee. In 2003 and 2010, the company underwent reorganization by merging with OJSC Annopol 2009.

Since then, this enterprise of the Belarusian agro-industrial complex has gone far ahead. If Khrushchev were to visit the fields of JSC Raps today, he would be amazed at the harvests of corn ripening here, which, thanks to this Soviet leader, is still called the queen of the fields. Nikita Sergeevich would also be quite delighted with the yield of rapeseed, a crop that had never been sown in our latitudes before!

Results of 2024 at JSC Raps

Livestock farming

• 5,000 heads of cattle ;
• 19,997 tons – gross milk yield;
• 826 tons – gross weight gain of cattle;
• 730 grams – average daily weight gain of cattle.

Crop production

• 12,817 tons of grain with a yield of 74 c/ha;
• 3,120 tons of rapeseed with a yield of 39 c/ha;
• 5,522 tons of corn with a yield of 110 c/ha;
• 6,210 hectares – area of ​​agricultural land.

Tamara MARKINA, photo by BELTA and provided by JSC Raps