The crew of the Orsha district has overcome the two-thousand mark in grain harvesting

Nikolai Zakharenko and Sergei Katkovsky, machine operators of the agricultural production cooperative (SPC) "Larinovka" in the Orsha district, a crew that has been setting the pace for labor competition in grain harvesting in the Pridvinye region for many years, were the first in the Vitebsk region to exceed the 2,000 mark. The machine operators have been absolute winners of the republican competition for harvesting grain and leguminous crops five times, and have been honored at republican and regional agricultural festivals-fairs "Dazhynki". Diligence and a conscientious approach to work, reliable machinery are the components of this tandem's success. The generosity of the grain fields is also an important factor. The harvest in their native SPC "Larinovka" is the highest in the region.

Senior combine operator Nikolai Zakharenko and combine operator Sergei Katkovsky work at SPC "Larinovka" and are harvesting on a "Lexion-580".

– To get such a harvest, it's not enough to know what you want from the land, you need to feel what it wants from you, – says the director of SPC "Larinovka" Alexander Kukhtenkov. – Everything depends on people, on their experience and love for their work.

The fact that the machine operators of "Larinovka" were the first in the Vitebsk region to reach two thousand tons of threshed grain is not accidental. Judge for yourself: in a year with difficult climatic conditions, the northern part of the republic gets an average of 29 centners per hectare, while "Larinovka" gets 60.9. Winter wheat yielded 62.4, and in some places – 80 centners per hectare. The secret lies in skillful land management and competent specialists. They approach every task with intelligence.

– "Harvest at any cost!" is not our principle. We pursue economic interest above all else. We try to sow and cultivate exclusively according to technological canons, and those crops that will bring the highest profit, – says Alexander Kukhtenkov.

Such work, with maximum dedication, is required from the team by an experienced leader who, thanks to his peasant wisdom and thriftiness, has managed to lead the farm from laggards to leaders.

In another day or two, the last chords of the harvest song will sound in the district. But in the cycle of the agricultural calendar, there is no

without breaks for rest. The fields are being prepared for the 2017 harvest.

Olga Lebedeva, "Vitebskiye Vesti". Photo by Anastasia Turok.