They plant potatoes with both machinery and horses. How farmers of the Shchuchinsky district work in the fields on May Day

Topic news Village workers in the Grodno region cannot afford to stop work in the field, either on weekends or on holidays. They spend every fine spring day with benefit. The cycle of agricultural work cannot be adjusted to the usual calendar. And the essence of today’s holiday perfectly reflects the usual approach to the work of farmers - only through hard and responsible work will there be a result. BELTA correspondents visited the Shchuchinsky district and found out what farmers are doing today.

Residents of the agricultural town of Bolshoye Mozheikovo, as befits every villager, postponed the celebration of May 1 a little. The weather is favorable, the day should not be wasted. Potato planting is in full swing on one of the fields of the local farm. This year, the KSUP State Farm Bolshoye Mozheikovo has allocated 80 hectares for this crop. In the field there is one unit of equipment for planting, two MAZs for transporting potatoes, and a tractor that prepares the field for potatoes . Before this, the entire complex of fertilizers was applied. “The fact of the matter is that today is Labor Day ! Here we are at work! We don’t have time for holidays,” says machine operator Evgeniy Sipailo with a smile after another load of potatoes. “Moreover, the pay is double, so there is an incentive to work even harder. Yes, and we understand the responsibility. Everything needs to be sown and planted on time. Who, if not us, who will do this besides us?" the man asked a rhetorical question. All winter, Evgeniy Sipailo worked on the farm, now he is busy planting, and the next plan is to get behind the grain harvester. "I have been doing the cleaning for several years now, work pleasant and good,” shares a man who has 25 years of experience in agriculture. His parents , by the way, also worked all their lives on the land, on the Zheludoksky state farm. His wife is also in agriculture. In addition to planting potatoes, today they sow corn on the farm “This year we have allocated 1,920 hectares for spring crops. Of these, potatoes occupy 80 hectares, corn for silage and grain - 1 thousand hectares, medicinal herbs occupy about 100 hectares. Under winter crops - 1.2 thousand hectares, 500 hectares of winter rapeseed. This year, due to the early spring, we started work early, but due to the surprise that the weather gave us, rains and cold snaps began, the work had to be shifted a little,” said Petr Roba, DIRECTOR of the State Farm “Bolshoye Mozheikovo” KSUP.” As for corn and potatoes, crops that are sown and planted a little later, a small problem arose - how to enter the fields. Here, where we are planting potatoes now, we deliberately cut off part of the field in order to plant that one.the part on which, depending on soil moisture, planting can be done. Therefore, here there are 60 hectares, in another field we will annoy the remaining 20 hectares,” noted Petr Roba. “By the way, we also produce and sell elite potatoes, we have seven varieties of potatoes of different reproductions.” By May 9, the farm plans to complete all work with sowing spring crops. “And from this moment we plan to begin the most crucial moment for the villager - the preparation of feed . This is the most responsible and technologically complex process. This will determine how we will live, how we will receive livestock products, from which, in principle, the main profit of the economy. And we have more than 4 thousand livestock on our farm," added the HEAD of the agricultural enterprise. By the way, local farmers plan to begin construction of a new MILK production complex this year. "There is a very old and fair proverb: a spring day feeds the year . In order to meet all technological deadlines, we must work every fine hour in the spring. The harvest also depends on this. The machine operators understand this and work conscientiously; they realize the importance of our business. Spring is a hardship for them, it’s the same as harvesting in the summer for a combine harvester. And, of course, people do not remain offended. On weekends and holidays, payment for work in the field is double. Accordingly, it is more interesting for a machine operator to work on a day off,” noted Petr Roba. While work is in full swing in the fields of the farm, local residents do not lag behind. On a plot of several hundred square meters, they also plant potatoes, and just like in the good old days, with a horse.” I only have five hundred square meters. I am already 79 years old, but I plant potatoes, my own garden - cucumbers, tomatoes , onions, garlic, carrots, beets . Everything to have our own on the table, and to treat the children too,” shares Elena Shanchuk. The woman adds: “It happened that May 1 was not spent in the field, not at work, but for the most part we still worked. And now I’m so old, but I still work on the land. We will grow and wait for the harvest." Her assistant is her son Andrei Shanchuk, also a local farm worker, who knowledgeably notes: "Before, people knew the value of land. After all, when you plant a horse, the furrow turns out to be narrower. But, of course, modern technology makes labor and field processing much easier in the future. But working like this is good for the soul.”

It’s faster and smoother to work in a big and good company - family friends also joined, including their horse. “It’s a pleasant spring day. We decided to help our friends. We plant as in the old days, under a horse, under a plow. It’s a small plot here, we can handle it easily and quickly,” notes Evgeniy Kotilo, who works as the chief agronomist at the Bolshoye Mozheikovo state farm. The horse, which already 24 years old, taught to work in the fields from the age of three. Beautiful and humble, she still does her job today. “We raised her from a foal. We taught her everything - to plow, harrow, ride in a cart. She listens only to me and my son. She feels and knows the owners,” says Sergei Kotilo, adding that on his plotThe potatoes were planted a long time ago, but people also need to be helped. By the way, their horse is the only one in the whole village. “For people now, a horse is a real curiosity. Very often, when they see it, they ask to take a picture and pet it,” the man noted. In the family of farmers, three-year-old Alina Kotilo is also busy, walking along the furrow and carefully laying out potatoes after potatoes from a small basket. “But of course, in a family of agronomists it won’t work out any other way,” her grandmother says with a smile and adds: “Today, like all Belarusians, we have a holiday! Now we’ll work, and then we can rest. After all, a spring day feeds the year , we know that." Katerina BENADISYUK,
Photo by Leonid SHCHEGLOV,
BELTA.