On the desk of Alexander Belous, director of KSUP "Varoni," in the most prominent place sits a Diploma for second place in the district competition for achieving high results in the harvest of grain and leguminous crops in 2026. This award is a special cause for pride, as it is the first in the entire history of the agricultural enterprise.

"Varoni" is a special farm. First, it is small — its grain acreage amounts to only 700 hectares, plus 120 hectares of rapeseed. And second, its lands are arguably the poorest in fertility in the Stolin district. This makes the achievements all the more significant — achievements that the team of 100 people attains through tireless labor.

And those achievements are impressive. This year, from an area of 120 hectares, they harvested three times more rapeseed than last year — 320 tons versus 98 tons in 2025. They grew magnificent barley: winter barley on the best plots yielded 100 centners per hectare, spring barley — 60. Triticale, rye, and wheat also pleased them. As a result, the gross grain harvest came to 2,860 tons — 460 tons more than the previous year.

A real event was the lease-purchase of a brand-new combine harvester in time for the harvest, and today the farm has four of them.

"Our acreage is small," Alexander Belous agrees, "but the workload per combine is practically the same as at other farms. Despite that, we are the first in the Brest region, and probably in the republic, to begin the harvest and the first to finish it. And we always help our neighbors. This year too, we sent combines and trucks to KSUP 'Struga.'"

The harvest once again revealed a weak link in the harvesting chain. According to the director, it is simply a miracle that the old grain-drying equipment withstood such a load. They did not wait for a force majeure and have already practically resolved the issue of acquiring a ZSK-30 grain cleaning and drying complex.

In general, since the new director arrived at KSUP "Varoni," much has changed for the better. Using their own funds, they purchased a considerable amount of agricultural machinery, including the ROSA unit, which made it possible to carry out spring feeding of crops in a timely and effective manner. Repairs of production and livestock buildings are in full swing. Here they know how to count money and spend it very prudently, achieving the desired return both in crop production and animal husbandry.

"We have a wonderful team," says Alexander Nikolaevich. "The people are very hardworking, and it's a pleasure to work with them. Take, for example, our chief agronomist Nina Vasilyevna Shinkarevich. She doesn't just know her business down to the smallest detail — she truly puts her heart and soul into it. Good young people are coming in, and we are very interested in keeping them. To strengthen our livestock and veterinary service, we're training two future livestock specialists and a veterinarian on targeted placements, paying each of them over 500 rubles on top of their scholarship every month. And recently we amended the Collective Agreement to provide serious allowances for students of the agricultural college who will come to work at our farm as machine operators.

Confirmation that hardworking young people are seeking to join the agricultural organization can be seen in the example of Alexander Shmat, a native of the Stolin district and a student at the Luninets Agricultural College. During this year's harvest, the young man worked as a second combine operator at KSUP "Voronі." Andrey Shpak, a teacher at the Stolin Agricultural and Economic College, also got behind the wheel of a combine during the busy season, showing his students how one can spend a vacation or holidays in a useful way.

And within the farm itself there are many who have earned honor and respect through their diligent work. The current harvest has also named its heroes. They are combine operators who harvested a thousand tonnes — Alexander Khlebovich and Anatoly Kukulesko — as well as driver Vladimir Molchanovich, who took first place in grain transportation.

Tatyana VOITKHOVSKAYA

Photo by the author