In the Slutsky district, mechanizers work from dawn to dusk, using daylight as much as possible

The harvesting campaign is not yet complete, and farmers are already laying the foundation for next year’s harvest. One of the key stages is the sowing of winter grains, on which it depends, with what margin of safety the farms will enter the new agricultural year. The work in the fields is well underway, and the pace speaks for itself. In the Minsk region, 329,000 hectares are smelled under the sowing of winter grains - 95 percent of the planned indicator. Sown 284 thousand hectares, or 82 percent of the plan.

Farmers use every fine day, if not an hour, to complete the sowing in the optimal agricultural time. Among them are employees of the Znamensky-Agro UE of the Slutsky District. Here, 3,500 hectares are allocated for winter grains. According to the head of the agricultural organization Sergey Tseiko, at least 70 percent of seeds are elite and super-elite. Preference is given to winter wheat and barley. Now all forces are thrown on winter grains, which traditionally give a significant harvest.

- We plan to sow winter crops before the weekend, said the chief agronomist Dmitry Dobrian. Winter rapeseed was completed at the end of August. Together with it will be almost 5 thousand hectares.

Under the winter in the UE "Znamensky-agro" in full purchased fertilizers: phosphate - for credit funds, potash - for their own. Organic fertilizers are used in sufficient quantities. High labor and technological discipline makes it possible to get good harvests and harvest the right amount of feed, taking into account the increase in the number of animals.

Mechanizers now work from dawn to dusk, using daylight to the maximum. When it begins to darken, navigation equipment comes to the rescue, allowing you to continue sowing. The rains have improved working conditions in the field.

First Deputy Head of the Department for Agriculture and Food of the Slutsk District Executive Committee Marina Prakopovich spoke about the situation in the fields:

- On the morning of September 30, 72 percent of the planned area was sown. Every day seeds are laid in the soil on an area of more than a thousand hectares, we are increasing the pace. The farms are tasked with completing the sowing by October 5. We do everything we can to get there on time.

In parallel, work is underway in the Slutsk district on corn fields. Removed 9400 hectares per silage (48 percent of the plan) with a yield of 316 centners per hectare. For grain - 743 hectares, threshing 5116 tons with a yield of 69 centners per hectare.

- Since corn is one of the predecessors for winter sowing, we quickly remove it to ensure timely soil preparation, the representative of the department explained. Potatoes are also harvested (72 percent of the area was excavated) and sugar beets (66 percent).

grudnitskiy@sb.by