The military pensioner, having gone on a well-deserved rest, retrained as a farmer. He grows various crops, but strawberries have become the main product. “I have been dealing with strawberries since childhood, thanks to my mother, she dealt with different berries, but strawberries were one of my favorites. And I continued her work, ”said farmer Vasily Lykov.
In 2020, he received a grant from Agrostartup. With these funds, Vasily Lykov built a high-tech greenhouse. It is distinguished by a unique near-natural technology for growing garden strawberries on a vertical farm: natural soil, a ventilation and heating system, lighting with a dawn-sunset function are used. Berry in such a greenhouse grows 9 months a year. Daughter Marina and son-in-law Alexei help Vasily. Everyone is responsible for their own “site”: Alexey is engaged in the technical component of the greenhouse, Marina took over the entire growing process. Farmers take the matter seriously: they have registered their own brand – Berry Forests.
Vasily, Marina and Aleksey are constantly experimenting with varieties of garden strawberries. Now 5 varieties are growing on the beds. “The most delicious berry in the open field, on remontant varieties. It grows at the end of August. We are trying to repeat the conditions that she needs for maturation: we create the same length of day and night, which usually happens in August. Maintain the same temperatures. Temperatures are higher during the day, lower at night,” Alexey Dyatlov explained.
Harvested by the whole family. Records are not aspired to, but they happen by themselves. The largest berry that grew in the greenhouse was the Cabrillo variety, its weight was 58 grams. Usually, from 4 to 7 kilograms of strawberries weighing up to 30 grams each ripen per day on a vertical farm. In March, they get almost 2 times more fragrant berries – 11 kilograms. “This year we are trying to reach the average level of collection for the entire season – at least 6-7 kilograms. We work every day, we don’t miss days, ”Marina Dyatlova shared.
Within the framework of the 24th Russian agro-industrial exhibition “Golden Autumn – 2022”, the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia held the competition “The Best Entrepreneurial Initiative in the Agro-Industrial Complex”. Vasily Lykov in the nomination “Unique “Agrostartup” spoke about the technology of growing fruit and berry crops. For the implementation of a unique project, Vasily Lykov was awarded a gold medal.
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