Viktor Kudryashov works as an instructor at Pinsk State Agrarian College, teaching young people to drive trucks. For the last eighteen years, every summer the mentor changes his profession (fortunately, the college administration is accommodating) and helps grain farmers bring in the harvest. In the team, he is known as a thousand-ton driver, which is why students strive to get into Viktor Viktorovich's group, since it is considered an honor.

“Out of the eighteen years, this is my seventh season working at OAO Osnezhitskoye,” says the hero of the current harvest. “This year I worked as a driver hauling grain and at the same time as a combine operator’s assistant. My partner is a young grain farmer, so I also taught him all the intricacies of working during the harvest season. I was always right next to him. He has lunch – I thresh; then we switch. And if the equipment breaks down, I stop my MAZ, and we repair the combine together.”

Surprisingly, Viktor Kudryashov has made it a rule to haul the new harvest grain only from “his” combine, while once again confirming his long-standing title of thousand-ton harvester.

“If I hauled from all the combines, I’d be the record of all records! My truck is small, not like the others – giants with large carrying capacity. It’s easier for them: they pull up, take the harvest from three or four combines, and drive off. But I have to make four trips to transport the same amount of threshed grain,” says the experienced driver.

The year 2026 will be written into Viktor Kudryashov’s work biography as a year of absolute record. If earlier he managed to reach the mark of 100 or 105 tons of grain during a work shift, then in the current season the record mark reached 130 tons. That’s 16 trips a day! The leading worker has his own explanation for this: the field was close – just a kilometer from the farm, and the harvest turned out well. And, of course, the weather that day was favorable and the equipment did not let him down.

And Viktor Kudryashov also noted: if you modernize a few things in the car, it greatly increases labor productivity. And so he starts tinkering with his MAZ a month before the harvest.

Work productivity depends on many little things," believes Viktor Viktorovich. "I completely foam-sealed the body and raised its sides, so that after unloading grain from one combine hopper there is still room left in the compartment – as a result, grain doesn't spill out on rough roads. I also installed an additional ladder on the body to quickly unfurl the tarp. To avoid getting out of the truck unnecessarily, I installed an electric valve on the tailgate: press a button – and presto! – the tailgate opens. After unloading the grain, then you get out and close it. I saved five minutes here, five minutes there – in the end, over a day, it adds up to enormous time savings.

In the cab of his MAZ, Viktor Kudryashov always has a cooler bag at hand, where drinks stay cool and food doesn't spoil during the hot season. "I have music, a fan, and air conditioning in the cab," boasts the driver with an engineer's ingenuity. "Besides, I modernized the lighting: I installed two sets of additional headlights, and mounted a video camera at the rear of the truck so that I have a clear view when approaching warehouses. I'll tell you this: I modify any machine, whether work-related or my own, to suit myself, so that it's convenient to work and, most importantly, everything is done with quality."

Other drivers always look with interest at the improved model of the MAZ truck, as Viktor Viktorovich said, but they are in no hurry to adopt his experience; they only praise and marvel: "And to think he went to all that trouble!"

For Viktor Kudryashov, being among the leading workers is already a familiar thing. There has not been a single year when he was not recognized with awards at the regional or district level.

"I remember, before the army, I spent two years harvesting grain on a Niva with my father. It was hellish work! I swore then: I would never work in the field again. Twenty years passed – and I had to come back. Working has become many times more comfortable; the machinery is different now. If people ask me whether I'll go to the harvest, I always answer: I will! I plan to reach twenty years of experience in the harvest, that's the minimum," smiles the leading driver.

Yulia SKRIPNIK,

photo by the author