“Novgorodians will definitely not be left without potatoes, carrots, beets”: a farmer about the agroseason

The KFH of Yulia Petrovna Korotkova was born in 2003 from a personal subsidiary plot. Moving from Central Asia to the Novgorod region, perhaps, predetermined the field of activity. Now the farm is part of the Novgorod Agrarian cooperative, sells products in retail chains, and this season expects to increase the yield of vegetables on 100 hectares. “My husband first worked as a hired worker on a farm, looked, understood what was happening. We decided to work for ourselves, at first we saved up strength, finances and experience in the subsidiary farm. The Novgorod region is not a very favorable zone for agriculture. We chose vegetable growing: potatoes, carrots, beets are always in demand on the market,” says Yulia Petrovna. In the Korotkov farm, everything is clearly planned, issues are resolved together with colleagues and partner members of the Novgorod Agrarian cooperative. Through the cooperative, 11 farms of the region jointly purchase fertilizers, plant protection products, and sell their products. Trading networks are satisfied with such volume and quality. “The implementation is on stream, but it has its own rules, its own peculiarities. We have to select varieties of longer storage, having a presentation familiar to the townspeople. For example, white, smooth and even tubers of the Aurora and Colombo varieties have proven themselves well,” Yulia Petrovna said. This year, the farm managed to purchase the seed fund on time, many years of experience, as they say, “prepare the sleigh in the summer,” had an effect. Several seed companies are successfully operating in the Novgorod region; potato seeds of Novgorod selection are already used in their work not only by local farmers. Part for planting remains from the previous year’s harvest, part – new seed stock. During this sowing season, with the funds of the preferential investment loan of the RSHB, farmers purchased the latest potato planter. This will definitely increase productivity, because it is on the increase in productivity on their 100 hectares that the farm is betting. “Seasonal work for 2022 has been completed, everything is going according to plan. The new technique worked great. Fertilizers that we use to improve soil fertility are mainly domestically produced, import substitution is already working in this direction, – Yulia Petrovna argues. “Novgorodians will definitely not be left without potatoes, carrots, and beets this year.”