Scientists have revealed what future they are preparing for domestic agricultural machinery

Topic news Strict adherence to technology is the main secret of rich harvests and high MILK yields, as scientists insist, and workers in the agro-industrial complex agree with them. But is it possible to fulfill this extremely important condition without the help of equipment - modern, highly specialized and meeting the requirements of farmers? Those in the know will call the question rhetorical, adding that in this case it is important to get into the flow: having clearly tracked the market demand, to develop the type of machines that will immediately go into service in agricultural enterprises, and not go to gather dust on the shelves as an exclusive, but unclaimed scientific project. The team of the Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences for Agricultural Mechanization successfully copes with this task, developing today models of agricultural machinery that will be in demand tomorrow. How do they do it? The answer is in our material.
87% of the equipment used by farmers is Belarusian
Agricultural mechanization is exactly the area of ​​​​scientists' work, the success of the results of which is easy to assess. It is enough to go to a farm anywhere in the country and talk to farmers or look at statistics. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food gave us a clear answer: the basis of the country's machinery and tractor fleet is domestic equipment. This indicator is significant because back in 1990, our factories produced only 13% of the machines needed by agricultural workers, and today 87% of the machinery on the balance sheet of agricultural enterprises is of Belarusian production.  


- Our machines are used at all stages of the technological process: from soil cultivation and sowing to packaging and storage of finished products. The machinery and tractor fleet of agricultural enterprises allows us to carry out a full range of work using modern technologies in optimal agrotechnical terms, - comments Stanislav Karpovich, HEAD of the Main Directorate of Technical Progress and Energy, State Supervision of the Technical Condition of Machines and Equipment of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
Scientists do not stop there and demonstrate their intention to bring the figure closer to a hundred, working, however, with an emphasis on improving the quality of the equipment being developed, and not on increasing the number of designed copies. As experts assure, it is very effective. Let's take a look too.
Farm algorithms
To do this, we head to the laboratories and production workshops of the Scientific and Production Center for Agricultural Mechanization - this is where the prototypes of equipment of various modifications are "rolled out". An impromptu tour with a demonstration of the latest developments of the center is conducted by its general DIRECTOR , candidate of technical sciences, associate professor Dmitry Komlach, who decided to start with technological highlights for livestock breeders.  
- Let's take the indicator of the physiological state of animals that we developed. This device is attached to the cow's neck and transmits information about the cow's HEALTH to the farm's computing center in real time . We launched serial production of the indicator in Belarus, and I would like to note that the device is in great demand in RUSSIA. This development is another step towards a digital farm, - explains Dmitry Ivanovich. - And it is extremely important for us to move in this direction and achieve success, because the transition to a new level of automation of agricultural production is one of the tasks set by the head of state.  
Systematicity - this is the motto of the center's scientists , who, after the introduction of the indicator, took up the development of a device that identifies the pre-mastitis condition of cows. Treatment of animals is an expensive process that requires attention to horned patients from veterinary assistants and livestock specialists, and if there are several dozen sick people in a herd of a dairy complex, then it is also quite a protracted process. The development of domestic scientists allows us to avoid the disposal of animals, reduce the cost of medicines , reduce the cost of dairy products and increase the volume of lactation in cows.
The path to a digital farm does not end there. An automated microclimate system created by specialists from the Scientific and Production Center for Mechanization is being installed at several livestock facilities in the country. And here we can recall the 4K technological approach: cow - personnel - feed - comfort. As the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Anatoly Linevich notes, if in previous years livestock breeders took into account the balance of only the first three components, then over time they came to the conclusion that the same cow gives different amounts of milk in different conditions. Careful treatment of our main wet nurses and their high-quality maintenance increase productivity several times. Scientists have taken note of this.

- At the end of last year, we began developing a robotic milking system. Generally speaking, we are talking about a milking robot. The complex is extremely complex. At the moment, a control system and a manipulator are being developed, - the general director of the Scientific and Production Center for Agricultural Mechanization lays it out on the shelves. - What are we teaching the robot? To detectudder , take care of the animal, correctly position the milking cups and milk the cow.

Scientists agree with the proverb "What's on the cow's tongue is in the milk" one hundred percent, and therefore at one time they were concerned with the creation of smart feed dispensers. Researchers have found out empirically that about 30% of the feed table of cows on an average farm goes to waste due to imperfect equipment, and this is a considerable financial loss for the farm. Researchers at the Scientific and Production Center decided to help farmers get rid of unjustified costs and designed a feed pusher.

- When an animal eats, part of the feed from the feed table is thrown into the passage. As soon as machinery passes, it becomes unusable. The costs are colossal. The feed pusher we developed and manufactured on the basis of a walk-behind tractor aerates, puffs up the feed and pushes it towards the cows. Currently, a self-propelled pusher is being developed, the testing of which is scheduled for next year, - Dmitry Komlach shares production plans.

Cows also wear fitness bracelets
After getting acquainted with technological innovations for livestock breeders, our research interest also awakened and there was a desire to "touch" the production. For this purpose, we visit the employees of the laboratory for the mechanization of milk and beef production processes, whose range of scientific interests is very wide: here they design equipment for the maintenance and feeding of the inhabitants of dairy farms and maintaining the necessary technical conditions at livestock complexes, and specialize in both cattle and pig farming. The head of the laboratory, Evgeny Zhilich, helps us delve into the specifics of the work, immediately making a reservation that the smart farm system, about which we were told so much, is a key project, and the laboratory employees have been struggling to implement it for many years. 

– One of our developments that we are proud of is a hardware and software complex for the system of identification and control of the physiological state of animals, or fitness bracelets for cows. With their help, it is possible to record 28 parameters describing the cow’s well-being, – the scientist shares the details. – The manufacturer has already produced approximately 30 thousand such bracelets, which has made it possible to equip 70 dairy farms. Our bracelets are a huge help in the work of zootechnicians.

Skeptics will say that analogues have long been invented abroad. This is true: almost all the developments of the RPC specialists in mechanization are import-substituting in nature, but in this case, as in the classics, it's all about the price: fitness bracelets for cows of domestic production are much cheaper, while functionally and operationally they are no different from imported samples, and in some ways even give them a head start. Evgeny Zhilich clarifies that Belarusian fitness bracelets for cows have a wireless charging function, that is, they can serve up to five years without requiring increased attention, and in this they are superior to foreign developments.

The fact that half of its employees are young people, proactive and progressive adds additional points to the laboratory's work. Let's meet the designer Vitaly Nikonchuk, he has been working at the scientific and practical center since 2019. On the eve of our conversation, a team of young scientists from the Scientific and Production Center, which included Vitaly, had won a national competition of creative works held by the National Academy of Sciences. The winning development is practice-oriented and promises to become, if not a breakthrough, then give a significant impetus to the improvement of feed production in the country.

- It took us about a year and a half to complete the project. We created it with the help of our structural division, starting from the development of design documentation and ending with the installation of the finished unit, its launch and testing. At the moment, this line has already been launched on the basis of one of the farms in the Orsha district, - the young designer helps to understand the essence. - What is the project? It is a set of equipment for the automatic production of easily digestible compound feed and feed mixtures from forage grain and protein-vitamin-mineral supplements. The development will allow larger farms to reduce labor costs by an average of 30% due to the complete automation of a number of processes and reduce the cost of the finished product by up to 20%, and a small farm will be able to fully provide itself with compound feed.
And the flight of technical thought is, of course, not limited to the examples given. Evidence of this is easy to find in the workshops of the Experimental Plant of the Scientific and Production Center for Agricultural Mechanization.

They are the only ones
The company's team consists of no more than a hundred employees, which, having realized the uniqueness and scale of production, could not have been expected. The director of the plant, Alexander Bliznyuk, agrees:

- Next year we will expand: there are a lot of orders, and we can no longer cope with them all.

The company has been on the market for 65 years and today produces small-scale agricultural machinery, being absolutely self-sufficient: the plant has a design bureau and works on its own technologies, which justifies the declared indicator - 95% of the manufactured machines are designed and put into production by full-time employees. Exclusivity and demand are the plant's credo: equipment that does not meet these indicators is simply not made here.
- One example is pile-stacking complexes for SUGAR factories. We designed and manufactured them - all ourselves. This year, we have already successfully sold five complexes, each of which weighs more than 20 tons. They are designed to receive sugar beets, separate them from soil impurities, sort them and pile them into piles up to 8 m high, - explains the mechanism Alexander Bliznyuk. - Previously, such equipment was imported from abroad, mainly from Germany and Ukraine. In this case, the sanctions

played into our hands, since they freed up a profitable niche. The company's team has more than 70 unique examples of agricultural machinery. According to the plan, the plant puts at least two new developments into production per year, and there is no doubt that they will be commercialized with a decent profit. In 2024, the plant workers have already developed a modern potato planter, which they promise to demonstrate at Belagro-2025, and next year they will put into production a robotic palletizer, an indispensable assistant for the farmer.

In general, scientists, designers, and engineers of the Scientific and Production Center for Agricultural Mechanization are passionate about the development and production of not just machines, but efficient mini-factories with a wide range of functions, and the trend towards scaling such inventions will gain momentum, because such a demand is formed by the market.

Vera VASILEVSKAYA, Nadezhda Kostetskaya