One of the farms in the Gorodishchensky District of the Volgograd Region grows an unconventional crop for the region - winter onions. Harvesting is not planned as usual - in the fall, but in the middle of summer. What made a farmer go for an agricultural experiment?
Mechanical weeding is the everyday life of urban vegetable growers. Onions were planted in this field back in September. They are preparing to harvest in June. The work is scheduled to begin in a couple of weeks. The experiment with the so-called winter onion has been carried out on the farm since 2017 and is considered very successful.
Arkady Dudov, head of a peasant farm: “We planted this onion last year - 18 hectares. They removed it before everyone else, sold it before everyone else. This is also a big boost to money. That is, people pay for the Egyptian bow or mine. This is the point - to grow as early as possible. "
Arkady Dudov has been growing vegetables for almost 30 years. Over time, the farmer says, the cost of imported seeds increased significantly, and the domestic breeding base was practically lost, seeds had to be bought annually. Therefore, we decided to start breeding ourselves. The first shipment was brought from Serbia.
- This is a selection, experimental field. The most important thing that this field will give birth is seeds.
They hope to get more than three tons of seeds this year. The farm relies on an environmentally friendly product. To grow such, you need to follow a certain technology. First, the field should rest under fallow, then it is sown with grain, they will not be harvested, but will be allowed to grow green. And only then will the bow be planted.
Arkady Dudov, head of the peasant farm: “We will not receive grain from here. We will wait for the wax ripeness of this culture and first grind it, and then plow it. When we talk about an environmentally friendly product, we must talk about properly grown. The onions that will be grown here will be grown practically without chemicals. ”
The agrarians are sure that this technology can significantly increase the yield. In two years, they plan to completely abandon the purchase of planting material. And if everything goes well, then after four, start selling the seeds. There is a demand. Imported hybrid seeds, farmers say, are expensive.
Viktor Voluchevsky, farmer: “It costs 24 thousand one pack per hectare, 5 packs are needed per hectare. 120 thousand, roughly speaking. Expensive, expensive, very expensive. "
The tasks are ambitious: to significantly increase the volume of production so that there is an opportunity to sell planting material to other regions of the country. After all, the so-called winter onion has a powerful root system and is able to withstand severe frosts.