Young agrarian Pavel Safonov - about work on the ground, smart technology and prestigious victories

20-year-old Pavel Safonov works as a locksmith and tractor driver in the Mogilev State Order of the Red Banner of Labor Agroforestry College named after K. P. Orlovsky, which he graduated in 2025. The choice of the work path clearly states:

- The profession of a locksmith, like a tractor driver, will always feed: the country will grow bread to ensure food security, so I will not remain without earnings.

To grow up during the season, Pavel Safonov comes from the Dribinsky district, parents work in an agricultural enterprise in the Shklovsky district: mother is a storekeeper, father is a driver. He saw from childhood how hard bread was to get, but this work was never afraid

My dad didn’t lecture me about the benefits of work, he just showed me how technology works. I learned to feel it, to fix it, and it came in handy. But the main order of parents is always to finish what I started, and I follow it.

The guy entered the agroforestry college and studied as a tractor driver following the example of his older brother, who told about excellent teachers and the material and technical base of this institution. Pavel, in turn, noted the high concentration of professional training for practice during his studies:

- There is a competence center here, which helps the educational process to be not just interesting, but practice-oriented. We got the skills to work on the most modern agricultural machinery. And they honed them in the harvesting, sowing. That's where you grow up quickly: when you're 16 years old, you go out into the field in a multi-ton car and you realize that the overall result depends on your efforts. In the college, popularizing the profession of agricultural orientation, Pavel Safonov received several specialties at once, including a driver of category C. His duties as a tractor driver are to plow, sow, mow, remove hay. The land near the college is 250 hectares, of which 180 are arable. Wheat, oats, corn are grown here for the inhabitants of the Mogilev Zoosad - the training laboratory of the college, where only about 400 individuals are ungulates: bison, deer, roe deer, marals ... As a locksmith, Pavel maintains and repairs equipment: there are 36 tractors in the college, including the new Belarus-3522 with a precision farming system. Another energy pack will arrive before the end of the year.

- A modern locksmith is not a person with a sledgehammer, but a specialist who understands hydraulics, electronics, smart onboard systems, says the young agrarian. I love this work for specifics: you see a breakdown, you eliminate it, and a huge technique is on the move again. In 2025, Pavel took silver at the Republican contest ProfSkills Belarus, won the Tractor Show at the agro-forum in the Moscow region, in August of this year he was awarded gold at the professional skills competition “Professionals” in Kaluga: he became the best in the international standings in the competence “Exploitation of agricultural machines”.

- Any competition is a test. They take you out of your comfort zone and show you what you can do. In Kaluga, it was necessary to adjust the plow, repair the tractor, adjust the autopilot, assemble the engine ... I did my best. Winning is prestigious. But competitions are not for medals. They give an impetus to learn further: if you stop, tomorrow you will be overtaken.

Speaking about the fixability of young specialists in the first jobs, Pavel Safonov calls the reason why the guys most often leave the profession - it is a household disorder: - I was provided with everything necessary: from workwear to tools. We allocated a room of 18 "squares" in the hostel - equipped, with furniture, gave lifts as a young specialist. When basic needs are closed, there is time for rest and hobbies, like-minded friends are nearby, you calmly do your job - with full dedication, opening up prospects for career growth. Paul has a goal - to become a master of industrial training. He can already teach a lot to freshmen today, but in order to have the right to teach, he receives in absentia at the Klichev Agrarian-Technical College secondary special education - in the specialty of a mechanical technician. So work on the ground, Pavel notes, is not a fallback option for those who did not enter the university, but a choice that brings pleasure, prosperity and respect.

kislyak@sb.by