Farmers from Orsha use drones in their work
21-year-old Anton Polyakov from Orsha came to the "Belarus Intellectual" exhibition with a brand-new agricultural drone and innovative proposals. The final-year student of the Belarusian State Academy of Aviation has many ideas! All of them are agriculturally focused, as Anton is not only a future engineer but also a third-generation farmer.
Love for the Land is in the Genes
The Polyakov family and their crop-farming farm are well-known in the Orsha village of Bryli. They cultivate rapeseed, wheat, and potatoes on 70 hectares. About thirty years ago, they were granted loamy soils for use; for a time, five hectares were even occupied by a brick factory. So much effort has been invested to make golden wheat flourish here, essentially from ruins!
The head of the family, 68-year-old Viktor Polyakov, is the seventh child in a peasant family. He was born in the Mogilev region and continued his studies in Orsha after school. It was here in the 1990s that he became a farmer. All his ancestors worked in agriculture, so he knew for sure that even in the most difficult times, the land would provide. Now Viktor Maksimovich is proud of his son and grandson:
— Interest, love, and respect for the land are hereditary. This is our strength, our foundation. For me, farming is more than just a business. I am glad that there is someone to continue the work. My grandson Anton is one of us; he surprised me in a good way. I knew from my youth that aviation could assist agriculture: pilots used to be stationed here, spraying fertilizers over the fields. But the fact that such an "aerial" approach is now accessible not only to large farms is real progress.
Viktor Maksimovich's son, Yuri, is an engineer who graduated from the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy. He worked in his field but at some point became involved in the family business. He admits:
— Investing in your land and seeing the results is inspiring. Last year, the wheat yielded exceptionally well. The "Quintus" variety produced over 70 centners per hectare. Joy? Of course. We also grow honey plants – sunflowers, phacelia, and we are considering using sweet clover as a green manure. Grasses are a promising direction, especially now when there is more than enough grain on the market.
The Polyakovs have plenty of equipment. The small T-16 tractor is not idle, the Lida-1300 grain harvester is waiting for the season at the mechanical yard, and three MTZ tractors are eager to get into the field, two of which are leased. The farmers say they earn a good salary themselves, but to develop, they cannot do without investments. As well as without financial acumen. A couple of years ago, the Polyakovs installed a grain cleaning machine and earned an extra hundred rubles on each ton of rapeseed.
Yuri has three children. Denis is 18, a first-year student at Vitebsk Medical University, and his daughter Nastya will start school in the autumn. Yuri Polyakov admits that all his agricultural hopes are pinned on the eldest son:
As an experiment, a Chinese drone assembled by Anton circled in Bryli in the autumn of 2022. In the current agricultural season, the device is planned to be used on a permanent basis – both for personal use and for custom orders. There is interest from fellow farmers.
Anton reasons:
— The prospects are very broad, not only in terms of economically efficient spraying of plant protection products and microfertilizers. My proposal to use drones to combat invasive plants, such as Sosnowsky's hogweed, reached the finals of the BRSM youth project "100 Ideas for Belarus."
This is more than relevant for the Vitebsk region, which accounts for the lion's share of hogweed growth in the country. Often, machinery and people cannot approach the poisonous thickets. What to do? Polyakov proposes to solve the problem from the air. Drones will also be useful for desiccation – drying agricultural crops before harvesting. The young farmer concludes with expertise:
— The result will be even after rain and with waterlogged soil, where machinery is unlikely to enter. This year I will test this option in our fields, which have long been an open book to me.
Anton also began to design and demonstrate an engineering mindset from childhood. As well as learning to work the land, without which he cannot imagine himself. The young man looks fondly at the birch grove outside the window of the mechanical workshop:
— I planted these trees with my family. In the spring, I watch them rustle their green leaves, and my heart rejoices. This is my place of strength, my home, which I would not trade for any foreign country. I am sure that in Belarus there are incentives and opportunities for development in both the agro-industrial complex and any other field. For me, work at Vitebskoblgaz will be a stepping stone, where unmanned aerial vehicles are used in two areas at once – gas and agricultural. Recently, serial production of the first Belarusian-Chinese agricultural drones in the CIS has started in the country. So we are aiming for fruitful work – it will be interesting.
IN THE NEWS
Last summer, a training and practical center for precision agriculture of SKhP "MazolovoGaz" was opened in the village of Buyany, Vitebsk district. The customer of the project was the enterprise "Vitebskoblgaz". The center also purchased a complex of agricultural drones, which are needed both for targeted field treatment and for servicing gas distribution system facilities.
Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by