The first potatoes are already being sold in the fields of the Alekseevsky district of the region.
Picasso and Arizona: Potatoes without chemicals were grown in the fields of the Alekseevsky district
Potatoes are the second bread. So, seven years ago, Pavel Cherepennikov decided to give preference to this particular root crop. Initially experimented on five hectares. Now three times more land has been given for potatoes. Every year, the farmer admits, work with his favorite varieties is becoming more and more successful.
- They are delicious, Picasso, for example, is very boiled, that is, if the housewives put it in a saucepan, it can even boil in mashed potatoes. “Arizona” – it is big, for example, this year some specimens were larger than the palm, – says farmer Pavel Cherepennikov.
But even in the spring, when planting potatoes, farmers were seriously worried about the fate of the future harvest – the weather was unstable. But then all summer – favored. The root crop has matured wonderfully. If last year we managed to collect 30 centners per hectare, then this year the figures will be clearly higher. The results will be summed up only by October, when the collection is completed.
Potatoes in these fields are ecologically clean. The principal position of the farm is not to use chemicals in the work. As the farmers themselves say, only water and Mother Nature give them a harvest.
Of course, there are also difficulties. Significantly increased in price means against the Colorado potato beetle, the main pest of the Volgograd potato. There are no problems with planting material. 50% are our own tubers, the other half is renewed annually from regular suppliers. They sell potatoes, as they say, directly from the fields.
- Potatoes remain in our area: these are Nekhaevsky, Alekseevsky, Kikvidzensky, Uryupinsky, Kumylzhensky districts. Everyone who knows our potatoes comes to us. We sell most of the potatoes locally,” says farmer Pavel Cherepennikov.
The local product is valued for its taste and quality. Part of the harvest here, of course, will be kept until winter. In addition to potatoes, the farm grows watermelons, melons, sunflowers, and winter crops. So let the earth rest. In general, the farmers of the Volgograd region have already overcome the bar of 100,000 tons of vegetables. The harvesting campaign continues.
