Representatives of the agricultural holding A.G.R. Group met with a renowned European specialist in agronomy

20.12.2019

Representatives of A.G.R. Group met and exchanged experience with one of Europe's renowned agronomy and agriculture experts, Agrar Consulting Tatzber's head Johann Tatzber.

From A.G.R. Group the meeting was attended by the operations director of the holding David Ananyan, the chief agronomist Alexander Arakelyan, the head of the technology implementation and monitoring department Sergey Hablak, as well as the agronomists and engineers of the holding.

The participants of the meeting focused on agronomic soil cultivation issues. Particular attention was paid to the issues of autumn differentiated and spring vertical tillage, the negative impact of plowing on its structure, mixing of plant residues, the influence of soil compaction and plow soles on yield, and the role of living organisms in conservation and maintenance.

“It is important for us to become acquainted with the advanced foreign approaches to soil cultivation, especially in the context of working on a strategy to reduce the impact of weather conditions on yields, which are developed by the specialists of our holding. The ideas and advices of our Austrian colleague Mr. Tatzber are particularly relevant, as he has over thirty years of experience in successfully managing agrarian enterprises and projects not only in Europe but also in Ukraine,” said operations director of A.G.R. Group David Ananyan.

As reported earlier, in late November 2019, as part of the development of a strategy to reduce the impact of weather conditions on productivity in the Brovarsky Cluster, A.G.R. Group has tested modern techniques for deep loosening of the soil, the use of which will increase the yield by 15%.

A.G.R. Group tested a new technique that will increase yield by 15%

12.16.2019

In the time of the constant and strong impact of the agricultural machinery on the soil and climate change the challenging issue is improving yields and protection of the soil from negative impact of the environment.

“With the development of agriculture, technology is becoming more powerful and, accordingly, harder. A large load on the soil compacts it, reduces aeration and water absorption, which impedes the development of plants and leads to a decrease in yield by more than 15%, ”said A.G.R. Group chief agronomist Alexander Arakelyan.

To handle the situation the agricultural holding A.G.R. Group held tests of modern technology for deep loosening of the soil in its Brovarsky cluster in November 2019. Agronomists and holding engineers tested the Case Magnum 380 tractor and the Case Ecolo Tiger 875 disc tiller.

Another threat to crops is global climate change. As the head of the technology implementation and monitoring department, Sergey Khablak, noted during the presentation of the developments on the strategy, “today almost the entire territory of Ukraine is a territory of risky agriculture. To reduce the impact of changing weather conditions, the strategy provides for a gradual transition to deep loosening instead of plowing. Loosening to a depth of 40 centimeters is planned to be carried out every 4-5 years, and on sandy soils - once every 2 years. Change from plowing to loosening the soil will lead to soil moisture that, in its turn, will increase yield by 15% in case of unfavourable weather conditions”.

According to Sergey Khablak, data obtained using a digital penetrometer are used to determine the need for deep loosening. The received information is entered into the Agrocontrol system for further analysis. This approach allows, on the one hand, to increase productivity, and on the other, to reduce fuel consumption for deep cultivation.

Misak Khidiryan, founder and President of the agrarholding, commented on A.G.R. Group’s goal of reducing the impact of weather conditions on crop yields: “The main priorities of the holding’s development are to attract the best specialists to the team and use their developments in activities, introduce effective modern technologies and take care of the environment. This strategy developed by A.G.R. Group, is the next step in putting these priorities into practice.”