A fresh installment of Potato Enthusiast is live on YouTube (also mirrored on VK Video). This time the crew heads to Pavlodar Region—specifically to Kairat Abishev’s farm “Daneker,” near the village of Beskaragay.
Episode Highlights
| What’s Shown | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Digital field management: “Daneker” demonstrates the Cropwise system in action (GPS equipment tracking, satellite crop-health monitoring, fuel-level sensors) | Helped cut diesel use by ~15 % and fertilizer by 10-15 %, while spotting disease hot-spots early |
| PepsiCo contract: growing “Colomba,” “Lady Claire,” and “Pancho” varieties for the future Lay’s plant in Alatau (launch-date: March 2026) | One of the first local raw-material partnerships for PepsiCo in Kazakhstan, underscoring rising demand for quality chipping potatoes |
| Irrigation expansion and plans to increase potato and fodder acreage | Shows how farmers diversify to reduce weather risk and boost export potential |
Abishev drops a memorable line: “We stopped keeping records in a notebook—now every operation is logged online, so mistakes show up immediately.” Labor shortages also come up, and the farm’s answer is automation plus staff training.
Mini-Tour of Kazakhstan: Episodes Already Out
| Publication Date | Farm / Location | Quick Take |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Jul 2025 | TOO “Aktogay Agro,” Aktogay | First tour stop: young Dutch varieties and battling solanine |
| 10 Jul 2025 | TOO “Shuyskoye,” Pavlodar Region | Reviving a Soviet-era enterprise with imported machinery |
| 8 Jul 2025 | TOO “Bio Nord,” EKO | Organic focus, in-house mineral plant, and a “green starch” experiment |
| 11 Jul 2025 | KH “Sergey,” Evgenyevka | Viktor Ryambov on keeping yields at 60 t/ha in steppe conditions |
| 12 Jul 2025 | TOO KH “Daneker” (new episode) | See above |
According to the creators, several more northern stops are coming, plus a “big montage special” in August 2025 that will sum up the Kazakhstan road-show—keep an eye on the Potatoes News playlist “Potato Enthusiast.”
Worth Watching If You…
- Want a real-world look at AgTech adoption on a mid-sized farm.
- Need collab ideas with processors (see the PepsiCo example).
- Are curious how farmers adapt to dry steppe climates through irrigation and precision farming.
