Not temporary workers, but the owners of the land

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Back in the late 1950s, the Gastello collective farm in the MINSK region was recognized as one of the best in the republic. And in 1967 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. JSC "Gastellovskoye" holds a high bar to this day. In 2022, the farm made a worthy contribution to the common Belarusian loaf - the harvest was harvested at the level of the best world indicators.

High results were achieved thanks to the exact observance of crop growing technologies, the talent of farmers and favorable weather. We learned firsthand about the mood with which the well-known agricultural enterprise met the New Year and what plans the management is building for 2023.

Learning is always helpful

- Over the past six or seven years, we have received good results - more than 90 centners of grain per hectare. But in 2022, the yield indicators were really high - 108 centners per hectare, - says Stanislav Sokolovsky, DIRECTOR of Gastellovskoye OJSC. - Almost 11 thousand kilograms of MILK per cow was milked. Having a rather large herd - 1740 heads, one has to work hard to keep at such a level of milk yield. SUGAR beet produced 800 centners per hectare, potatoes - 660 centners per hectare, rapeseed - over 50 centners per hectare, that is, they reached truly European indicators in terms of crop yields.

More than once, foreign delegations came to the enterprise, located in the agricultural town of Senitsa, not only to see a "beautiful picture", but also to learn from experience. In "Gastellovsky" they always welcome guests, but at the same time they do not relax, keep their nose to the wind and closely follow the new world practices of farming. For example, local farmers did not go unnoticed by the fact that against the background of general difficulties in the economy, Russian agriculture showed good results.

– Today, our neighbors in the agricultural sector have made a big step forward. Firstly, there is a private form of ownership, and secondly, there are very large cash injections from the state into the industry. And if earlier, about 10 years ago, they came to learn something from us, today we take lessons from them, - admits the HEAD of the farm. - Poultry and pig breeding are decently developed in RUSSIA. In terms of cattle, of course, they are a little behind, because cattle breeding is a very difficult, labor-intensive and long-term industry. Therefore, in these matters, compared to Belarus, they still need to push. But on new farms, advanced technologies are already being installed there, and we go to them to see how everything is settling down, we kindly envy. They, in turn, admire the performance of our economy, especially when they find out

"Gastellovskoe" from year to year confirms the reputation of a responsible partner: it pays off debts on time, has an ideal credit history and excellent relations with banks.

We asked Stanislav Sokolovsky about his opinion about the current practice of joining unprofitable farms to the leaders.

- You can attach it, but you need to understand: what's the point of that? I am a supporter of the development of agriculture for my own, earned money, - says the director. - If you have free finances, if you are not burdened with accounts payable, then you can develop, maneuver: reward a person for work, update equipment, introduce new technologies. For example, we do not have our own processing industry, so money is earned purely from raw materials - milk, MEAT. And, accordingly, it is very difficult to develop further without any additional income. Probably, it is necessary to take a mature and responsible approach to such reforms. I calculate the policy of the enterprise far ahead and do everything to avoid the risk of ruining the economy that I manage.

Meat or milk?

In the opinion of the head, today the prices for dairy products in Belarus are quite good for the manufacturer. “But you can’t say the same about the meat industry,” the director laments. “The profitability here is falling, we simply compensate for it by selling milk. Therefore, when we relied on dairy production 12 years ago, we did the right thing. debt, put there 700 bull-calves for fattening. We get a good weight gain of 1.2-1.3 kilograms, but we see that it is impossible to ensure profitability purely at the expense of meat. Therefore, there are certain difficulties in solving the meat issue, which is something to hide. not a broiler chicken, which is stuffed with feed in a month and a half and is ready.The bull, of course, has high weight gain, but it grows much more slowly.

According to Stanislav Sokolovsky, the human factor cannot be discounted in the production of products: all regulations, requirements of agricultural technologies, and land use culture must be strictly observed in order to end up with a quality product.

“Agriculture does not forgive mistakes. We must set the bar for ourselves, necessary in order to continue to receive high results and not stop developing, - the director sums up.

Everything for the working man

The leader puts concern for people in the first place. The average monthly salary at Gastellovsky for 2022 is about 2,000 rubles. In March, a general meeting of shareholders will be held, and it is planned to pay the 13th salary to the team based on its results. It is customary here to encourage hard work and for the holidays: on the Day of Agricultural Workers they issued a bonus in the amount of a thousand rubles, on New Year's Eve they bought gifts at the expense of the trade union and transferred from 300 to 500 rubles to the festive table.

- If a person has worked for 10 years without violating labor discipline, comments, reprimands, then by decree of the President, he has the right to buy out his apartment. Agree, this is a good incentive, - says the leader. - In agreement with the head of state, we have been allocated 3 hectares of land for the construction of a 125-apartment building. The other day we concluded an agreement with MAPID and are ready to start construction. Considering that we have a clean credit history, we can take a loan, not necessarily even a preferential one, and build a house within a year, which will even more interest people in conscientious work for the benefit of the native economy. Today we have 55 people who need housing. In order to keep the team, we rent housing for many specialists in Priluki, Minsk, paying them certain amounts for rent. By the way, ten years ago we already built an apartment building, and now its tenants make out square meters as private property. Moreover, housing is located in a good location, literally two kilometers from Minsk, moreover, at prices several times lower than commercial ones.

Today, there are enough labor resources at the enterprise, but the management, taking into account further development, is still recruiting.

Elena NIKOLAEVA

Photo by Pavel ORLOVSKY