The harvest campaign is always a test of strength. And here it's not so much about the machinery as about the people who operate it. This season, the true heroes of the Gantsevichi fields were Igor Rudnikevich and Alexander Mukha. Aboard their reliable KZS-1218 combine, this duo confidently surpassed the symbolic milestone of 2,500 tons of threshed grain.

Teamwork is the key to success

When you watch this crew at work, it seems as if the machine and the operators are one single mechanism. Igor Leonidovich and Alexander Alexandrovich have known each other for years, and you can feel it in every move they make. Inside the combine cab there are no unnecessary words: each knows his task, each understands his partner with half a word, half a glance.

Igor Rudnikevich worked his first harvest as a combine operator's assistant at the age of fifteen, during his summer school break. He has never parted with the golden fields since. For 25 years now, the driver from the agriculture and food department of the Gantsevichi District Executive Committee has been choosing the harvest campaign over a seaside vacation during his working leave.

Alexander Mukha, an ambulance driver at the Gantsevichi Central District Hospital, is no newcomer to the fields either. Born and raised in the village of Ostrov in the Gantsevichi district, he worked in agriculture for over 20 years. He is a perfect hand at a car, a tractor, and a combine. Like his partner, he spends every summer vacation working on the harvest.

"The main thing for a combine operator is not to fuss, to do your work skillfully and with a desire to produce results, not just put in the required hours," shares Igor Rudnikevich, a harvest front-runner, revealing the secrets of his success. "The machinery demands respect, and the field demands attention. When you're moving along the strip, it's important to feel the machine, to hear it. And of course, without a reliable shoulder beside you, such results would be impossible."

"We have complete mutual understanding and interchangeability in our crew," echoes Alexander Mukha. "We don't divide up the duties. If it's combine maintenance or repair, we do it together. We take turns at the wheel of the machine."

Machinery in capable hands

The KZS-1218 combine is a serious, high-performance machine, but it too demands a caring approach. Igor Rudnikevich and Alexander Mukha note that the key to their high threshing output lies not only in speed but also in the proper preparation of the equipment.

– I've been working on this combine harvester for seven seasons now and know the machine's character well, – says Igor Leonidovich. – Every year I draw up a defect report, personally put the machine into storage and take it out again. I start getting the equipment ready back in May, in my free time from my main job. And then before every trip to the field, my partner and I thoroughly check everything, lubricate and tighten where needed. If necessary, we order replacement parts for failed components and install them ourselves. If the combine is in good working order, it won't let you down at the most crucial moment. And when you're moving through the grain field, the main thing is not a single idle minute and not losing a single grain.

More than just a job

The harvest is a hard labor, but it's also the time when you can see the real result of your work. The management of OAO "Lyubashevo" notes that crews like these are the pride of the enterprise. Igor Rudnikevich and Alexander Mukha have shown an example of how a responsible attitude to work turns an ordinary job into true craftsmanship. Throughout the entire harvesting campaign they held leading positions and, having crossed the two-thousand-ton threshold, did not slow down.

– Sometimes we spent 12 to 14 hours a day in the combine cab. Dust, heat, constant tension – all of that fades into the background when you see grain pouring from a full hopper into the truck bed, – the combine operators say. – Besides, a great motivator is the competition between crews and professional reputation. The team you work with also matters a lot – people's willingness to help, to support both in word and deed. Without that, you simply can't manage in our line of work.

They often say that a combine operator's job is more than just a job – it's a tremendous responsibility. And that's truly the case, because the fate of the harvest, and consequently the country's food security, depends largely on the combine operator's attitude toward the work and the quality of his performance.

We congratulate Igor Leonidovich and Alexander Alexandrovich on their excellent result! We wish them good health, easy fields, and new labor victories. May their equipment never let them down, and may the weather always be on the harvesters' side.

Oleg GREBENNIKOV

Photos by Alla PETLITSKAYA