Vegetable growers of the Svetloyarsky district are harvesting a “crunchy” crop. Sergey Ivanov’s farm is armed with a special platform. There are no problems with the sale of products; people from all over the country go for Volgograd cucumbers.
Feed the region and the country: vegetable growers of the Svetloyarsky district sell the harvest of cucumbers
Svetloyarsky district, where Anvar cucumbers are grown, adapted to Volgograd climatic conditions in the zone of risky farming, borders on Kalmykia. The weather here is dry and hot, and the soils are often sandy and nutrient-poor. But the cucumbers here show themselves perfectly. With a good yield and taste this year. The price, farmers say, is also expected this summer – 25-30 rubles per kilogram. Regular for the season.
The caliber of cucumbers is small. Good for summer canning. This was appreciated even by guests from Krasnodar.
– Of course, cucumbers are of interest. I roll up in banks necessarily for the winter. And salt with oak leaves – the most excellent. And what, the most real, without chemistry, excellent cucumbers! We have grown in the south! We need to buy! In the city, it’s one thing. It’s much cheaper here. Need to try. Good cucumber, you can already see them! – says Irina Brueva, a resident of Krasnodar.
Helps to get a harvest of babalets. So in the language of agricultural producers they call a special platform for collecting vegetable products, reminiscent of an aircraft.
– Effective – goes over cucumbers, the tops do not deteriorate, the plant is not trampled and not damaged. This is the first plus, well, of course, the speed of collection, – explains the head of the KFH Sergey Ivanov.
It is convenient for the workers, and the harvest itself is going at a good pace. From the side, the structure looks like a large anthill. 40 pairs of working hands pick vegetables at the same time. 100 people on the platform work in two shifts.
We work, we collect! Everything is fine, fine – eight hours with breaks. Fine. You can work, – says the worker Stanislav Klinov.
Cucumbers are grown on the farm for the second year. Satisfied with the results of the work. Half of the harvest has already been harvested.
Up to 10 thousand tons of various vegetables are harvested annually on the farm. This year, farmers say that the prospects for the harvest are good. They will collect a worthy borscht set. And they will feed not only the region but the country.
Now 40 migrants from Uzbekistan are working here. The rest are residents of nearby villages and Volgograd. On the conveyor, the products are fed for sorting. The design is like a caravan slowly moving across the field. Up to 200 cucumber nets are packed per day.
The workers are just picking cucumbers. And we are standing here, sorting. So that the size does not exceed 12 centimeters. Everything goes on the tape. We sort out, we throw the large ones aside, – says sorter Vladimir Akimov.
Efficiency is evident. The design allows you to minimize the percentage of substandard.
The farm says that about 10 hectares of land are occupied by cucumbers. Cleaning began in early July, and is scheduled to be completed in mid-August. The yield this year is average, vegetable growers say, due to weather conditions – there were rains and colds in the region, but the quality of vegetables is normal, the harvest will still “give its own”.
Cucumbers even outgrow in one extra day on a bush. Agrarian Sergey Ivanov recalls that last year there was dry and warm weather at this time. And this is what you need for rapid maturation and timely collection. This summer is cold and rainy for a vegetable. Losses in the form of “overgrowth” are up to 10-15%. The cost of growing vegetables has also increased.
Probably more expenses this year. We buy fertilizers under the federal program, the prices are below the market ones. This is through the Ministry of Agriculture. Everything has risen in price for imported equipment, but everything is fine with spare parts and equipment. Drip irrigation – here 70% of everything is already Russian-made, so there were no problems with this at all. We pay water by cubes, we have meters everywhere, the tariffs have increased slightly. Expenses will rise, somehow it is necessary to compensate for this. Well, and there the market will already show what the price will be. Cucumber – at the level of last year, the price, plus or minus, – says the head of the KFH Sergey Ivanov.
And wholesalers take the products right from the field. The batches are taken away for processing. For canning factories in the region, as well as in the Krasnodar Territory, Nizhny Novgorod Region, St. Petersburg. Contracts for deliveries are concluded in the winter. Varieties “leaf”, “sound” – the most common for salting. The next 20 tons of “crunchy harvest” are sent on a journey.
— City of Valdai, Novgorod region. Cucumbers will go to the cannery. Roughly – one and a half thousand kilometers, we deliver cucumbers of normal quality in a day and a half, – says forwarding driver Dmitry Tolstikov.
There is still a lot of work ahead for vegetable growers. Harvest of peppers and carrots is on the way. Growth rates are good. In total, about 100 hectares are occupied here under the crops of onions, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, and peppers.
