The harvest has begun in the Kharkiv region. According to the Department of Agricultural Development of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, this year the agrarians of the region are to harvest grain and legumes on an area of over 750 thousand hectares. Despite the fact that this year’s harvest began two weeks later than last year (due to weather conditions), farmers plan to harvest no worse than last year. It will be recalled that last year more than 3 million tons of grain and legumes were harvested in the Kharkiv region.
The course of this year’s harvest campaign is closely monitored by specialists of the Kharkiv National Technical University of Agriculture. P. Vasilenko. First, the university has long-standing partnerships with many farms and collective farms of the Kharkiv region, which are the basis for testing modern equipment and advanced agricultural technologies. Secondly, very often the leaders and leading specialists of such farms are graduates of our university. And, thirdly, in such farms students of our university who gain invaluable experience pass practice. This practice is especially important for students majoring in 208 Agricultural Engineering. Therefore, the management of the ESI of Mechatronics and Management Systems selects for them really the best farms and the best practice managers.
One such farm is the Alfa farm, located in the Bohodukhiv district of the Kharkiv region (formerly Zolochiv district) and specializing in the cultivation of grain and legumes. For more than a year now, our students have been practicing on the basis of this farm, working as assistant harvesters or tractor drivers. And not the first year the curator of their practice is an associate professor of the Department of Agrotechnology and Ecology, Honored Worker of Agriculture of Ukraine Anatoliy Petrovich Gorbanyov. He not only selects students for internships in this economy (of course, the best) but also constantly maintains contact with them, conducts briefings, gives parental guidance. It should be noted that in 1974, after graduating from our university A. Gorbanyov began his career in the Zolochiv district as a chief engineer. That is why he is still known and respected here as an experienced specialist and is always welcomed.
This time, together with his colleagues – the first vice-rector of the university Mykola Leonidovych Lysychenko and the head of the Center for Practice, Employment and Career of Student Youth Petro Syromyatnikov A. Gorbanyov came to Alfa to inquire about the conditions in which our students practice, whether they are satisfied with the living conditions and working conditions. Currently, 8 students who are practicing on a farm work as assistant combine harvesters. And Ivan Yatsenko, who last year had an internship as an assistant combine harvester, is already working as a combine harvester this year. Assessing the level of professional training of our student (now he is a 4th-year student of the Institute of MMS), farm specialists entrusted him with complex equipment.
We found our interns in the fields in the squads and, of course, did not take time off from work. We talked only with Roman Babayev (a third-year student of the Institute of MMS) and the head of his crew, who stopped for a few minutes to agree on some production issues with the executive director of the farm Mykola Andriyenko. In short, the guy is currently satisfied with his practice. His responsibilities include regular maintenance of the Claas combine, which, according to the student, is very highly productive and reliable. But the management of such equipment requires constant attention and concentration. Roman promised to tell more about the results of his practice after the harvest…
According to A. Gorbanev, this practice will be very useful for future bachelors and masters, because they have the opportunity to better understand the work of foreign technology, assess its advantages and disadvantages, as well as gain experience in servicing this equipment and managing it in real conditions. At the end of the internship, students will prepare reports on their work, the defense of which will take place during the autumn session.
On the way back, our delegation visited the office of the Alfa farm to talk to its founder and head Viktor Bilinsky. He expressed satisfaction with the work of our students and the level of their technical training. But questions about their living conditions and nutrition and wages did not even arise, because such issues in the economy decide what is called automatically and our students have never complained about it.
It is no exaggeration to say that Alfa is one of the best farms in the Kharkiv region. Although in fact, it is a powerful agricultural enterprise with a large land bank and a modern technical base. Suffice it to say that today the assets of FG “Alpha” are about 11 thousand hectares of farmland, a park of modern equipment with repair and technical base, three dryers, a livestock farm of 700 heads, of which 300 – a dairy herd, etc. In addition, the farm maintains a considerable social infrastructure, which is located in the village of Odnorobivka and in the territory of 9 village councils of Zolochiv district, where “Alfa” manages. You can read more about this farm on the AGROTIME website.
We will add that the management of FG “Alpha” is ready not only to provide our students with an opportunity for an internship but also for employment, because the farm is constantly updating its technical park and introducing new technologies, including precision farming, which require qualified maintenance and support. We hope that the future agricultural engineers trained by our university will fully meet these requirements and none of them will lose their jobs. For example, former students of our university Igor Opalkov and Dmitry Budenko, who recently underwent an internship at FG “Alfi”, now head of engineering services in large farms in southern Ukraine. And that’s just the beginning of their careers.
Victor Kozoriz,
the Media communications department
