The Latifundist.com team, together with partners, the “Astra” Agro-Construction Alliance and Valmont Inc. (maker of irrigation systems under the Valley brand), continues its Hydro Tour across Ukraine, traveling the whole country and, together with you, learning the nuances of using irrigation systems in the different climate conditions of every region of our vast country.
Harvesting
The second stop on our route was Zaporizhzhia region, where many farms have felt the effects of the drought firsthand. Everyone’s heard about climate change and global warming, but it’s hard even to imagine what large-scale changes they’ll lead to.
Sharp climate shifts are happening because of rising temperatures on the planet. Temperatures started climbing back in the late ’90s, but in recent years the intensity of these changes has increased. The rise is greatest in polar latitudes, which has ultimately disrupted atmospheric circulation and air-mass transfer. That’s why lately we’re increasingly seeing an abnormally warm winter in Europe, and conversely, snow in Saudi Arabia. And the last 5 years turned out to be the warmest in the entire history of observations.
According to specialists, Zaporizhzhia region in the 2020 season was characterized by a hydrothermal moisture coefficient of 0.4, which corresponds to a level of severe drought. This is confirmed by data from the agro-weather service “Meteo Farm”.
ASA “Astra” lead sales manager for Valley irrigation systems in southern Ukraine, Dmytro Zhmak, notes that modern agriculture, especially in the south of the country, is unimaginable without the right watering system.
«Southern Ukraine is a zone of risky farming, where without irrigation it’s very difficult to get a harvest of corn, soybean, and in fact many grain crops. And irrigation is becoming an integral part of any agricultural producer’s success»
Dmytro Zhmak
Lead sales manager for Valley irrigation systems at ASA “Astra”
Irrigation at the “Rossiya” enterprise
The “Rossiya” agro-company traces its origins back to the distant year 1970, still during the days of the Soviet Union. According to the enterprise’s chief agronomist Oleksandr Baranov, the name hasn’t changed since then: it was “Rossiya”, and “Rossiya” it has remained.
The enterprise’s land bank totals 6,000 ha, of which 1,400 ha are irrigated. Going forward, the company plans to increase the irrigated area by another 600 ha. The main crop is grain corn, but they also grow soybean, peas and perennial grasses, used as cattle feed.
Irrigation at the enterprise, which appeared almost right from its founding (in 1973) under a state program, still finds its use today, albeit with a number of upgrades.
The irrigation system
Understanding the value of watering, and the need to move to more modern technology alongside the growth of the land bank, management decided in 2002 to buy their first sprinkler machine. The choice was difficult — they settled on a Valley circular-type machine. And they weren’t wrong.
«Originally, the “ancient” tractor was refueled with 200-250 liters of diesel daily. Then we bought circular sprinkler machines, which needed refueling only once every four days. At our farm we run an old Valley machine that’s already 16 years old. It’s the very first machine of its kind in Ukraine still working today.»
Oleksandr Baranov
Chief agronomist at the “Rossiya” enterprise
The first crop grown under irrigation at the “Rossiya” farm was soybean. Today irrigation is used to grow many crops, the main selection criterion being high profitability.
Dmytro Zhmak, lead sales manager for Valley irrigation systems at ASA “Astra”
According to Dmytro Zhmak, lead sales manager for Valley irrigation systems at ASA “Astra”, highly profitable crops should only be grown using irrigation equipment.
«If a farmer is looking toward growing highly profitable crops (today that means grain corn, and soybean of various varieties, both early- and late-maturing) and at the same time wants to get consistently high yields, they need to pay attention specifically to irrigation», — specified Dmytro Zhmak.
It’s also worth noting that the enterprise has a livestock farm with 600 dairy cows. So beyond stability and rising yields, the main question is the constant supply of feed for the cattle.
«I have a cattle herd. If I didn’t have irrigation, both last year and this year, they’d simply have been left hungry. I probably wouldn’t have been able to feed my livestock», — shared the director of the “Rossiya” enterprise.
The irrigation process
In our country and abroad, the most advanced method of mechanized watering is sprinkler irrigation. This type of irrigation comes closest to an optimal delivery of moisture to the plant, that is, to natural rainfall. In this case, moisture reaches not only the soil but also the leaf surface of plants and the surface air layer, which has a beneficial effect on plant vegetation, lowers the temperature and raises air humidity during hot, dry periods.
Irrigation at the “Rossiya” farm traces its origins to DDA-100MA sprinkler machines (with a 120 m working width), which used short-jet, double-cantilever sprinkler technology, drawing water from an open network and watering while in motion.
«A temporary channel is cut — a ditch or “aryk”, as in Central Asia — water is fed along the channel. Using a centrifugal pump, it draws water through a float valve and distributes it along the rotating circle and lower belt of the frame, from which, through short-jet and end nozzles, it irrigates the field along the machine’s full length in a fine spray».
Oleksandr Baranov
Chief agronomist at the “Rossiya” enterprise
This process took a lot of time and required skilled personnel. That entailed a loss of precious time and increased costs.
An old-style sprinkler machine
«When I used to work at the farm, the staff had 14 machine operators, and 14 board-handlers per tractor. With that many people, we managed to process at most 7 ha a day. Now, over 4 days, we can water an average of 70 ha with one machine», — specified the director of the “Rossiya” enterprise.
Right now preference is given to advanced technology and modern Valley circular-irrigation machines, of which the farm has 17. The machine’s price depends on its length. One running meter cost the enterprise $200.
«For watering quality, the new ones are of course better. If we take the old machines — “Fregat”, “Dnipro”, “DDA”, “Volzhanka” — in terms of watering quality you could rank them like this: “Volzhanka”, “DDA”, “Fregat”, and then, way behind, “Dnipro”. “Dnipro” watered worst of all. The machine moved from position to position using carts driven electrically via gearmotors. The electricity was generated by a mobile power station, which ran off the tractor’s diesel engine PTO».
Oleksandr Baranov
Chief agronomist at the “Rossiya” enterprise
According to the enterprise’s chief agronomist, every machine has both its strengths and its weaknesses. Among the main advantages of frontal irrigation machines is a larger watering area (coverage up to 98%). Circular irrigation machines, in turn, can boast a small maintenance staff and simplicity of operation.
Assembling new Valley machines at the “Rossiya” agricultural production cooperative
«A circular machine is very simple to operate: you switch it on, and that’s it. Staffing needs are minimal. These machines do have their drawbacks, of course: the corners don’t get watered. However, there’s a big advantage — the return time for the watering machine to its starting point is 2 times shorter than for a frontal one», — noted Oleksandr Baranov.
Many machines have minor drawbacks, but what matters is that the positive aspects of using them outweigh those drawbacks and let the end user operate the irrigation equipment effectively.
«This has to do primarily with ease of use of the machines. Of course, a circular one doesn’t fully cover the field. But if you want to automate the process and minimize the human factor, then it’s exactly the circular machine that can be fully monitored and controlled remotely, and used with minimal human involvement. That’s the main deciding factor», — noted Serhiy Melnychenko, Valmont’s territorial representative.
Serhiy Melnychenko, Valmont’s territorial representative for irrigation-equipment sales
Choosing the right equipment is of course important, but once you’ve chosen your irrigation machines, don’t forget about the right growing technology either. After all, yield won’t take off from irrigation alone — a whole set of measures matters, overseen by the enterprise’s agronomist.
«What’s a child without a mother? You have to raise them, educate them. It’s exactly the same with an agronomist for a farm. A competent agronomist is the key to a good harvest», — specified the director of the “Rossiya” enterprise.
How much does irrigation cost?
Developing, producing and putting into agricultural use a new generation of irrigation machinery with substantially higher technical and economic performance is a key condition for bringing agricultural production to a fundamentally new level. To provide the necessary infrastructure in the field, technical work was carried out laying a total of 18 km of pipe at a depth of 1.2 m, along with power lines. It’s very important to understand the economics of irrigation and to be able to choose systems suited to each client’s specific parameters.
«The machines have an electric drive. You can power the machines with electricity either using a diesel generator or from a power line. Initially, buying a machine with a diesel unit or laying a cable to the machine from the grid costs the same, but if you buy a machine powered from the general power supply, you won’t have to repair the piston assembly, change the oil, or refuel it. Press the button — the machine goes», — noted Oleksandr Baranov.
A Valley irrigation system
He says that, being a realist by nature, when switching to the new equipment he didn’t doubt his decision for a minute. Under conditions like this year’s, the equipment’s payback period will be a year and a half at most.
«We mainly grow highly profitable crops, and we also raise livestock. That’s why we need 400 ha of corn for silage and 200 ha for summer grasses, haylage, hay and soybean, since that’s high-protein feed. In addition, we sow grain corn, wheat, and set aside plots for seed. This year we also planted sunflower».
Oleksandr Baranov
Chief agronomist at the “Rossiya” enterprise
Another important factor in choosing a sprinkler machine is access to water and the cost of watering relative to the profit from the yield increase. According to the “Rossiya” farm’s specialist, these figures are within the norm at the enterprise.
«Today water costs us 3.05 UAH per cubic meter. This year, compared with unirrigated farming, we’ll be able to get an additional 5 to 7 tonnes of corn per hectare. If you calculate all the irrigation costs, it turns out irrigation gives us 100% profitability», — noted the farm’s director.
Through thorns to the stars
However, the path to modern machines was by no means easy or quick. The high cost of equipment didn’t allow buying the necessary machinery in such a short time. Regardless, the enterprise moved toward its goal with slow but steady steps, understanding the full importance of irrigation in today’s reality.
According to the farm’s agronomist, the enterprise didn’t use borrowed funds when purchasing the irrigation systems, always relying only on its own resources.
Today the market offers many financial-support programs for farmers. The programs are designed specifically for the needs of agricultural producers.
Yuriy Kucherenko, head of small- and medium-business sales at “OTP Leasing”
«From the standpoint of meeting their obligations, generally speaking, if we’re talking about the borrower market as a whole, farmers are dependable people who honor their obligations in most cases. And what they promise, they try to deliver», — shared “OTP Leasing” small- and medium-business sales head Yuriy Kucherenko.
It’s precisely for these reasons that specialists at “OTP Leasing” are ready to help with financing irrigation equipment.
«We consider our task to be not just directly providing funds, but also becoming a kind of consultant that helps clients, first, understand what financing is, what financing through financial-leasing instruments is, its advantages, how it works, why a company should attract borrowed funds. All of this is an important function, and our role is to raise the financial literacy of a company’s management».
Yuriy Kucherenko
Head of small- and medium-business sales at “OTP Leasing”
ASA “Astra” also, together with its financial partner “OTP Leasing” and Valley Irrigation, launched a special partner financing program. What does the partner program mean? It means that the manufacturer, specifically for clients buying Valley irrigation systems, compensates for a reduction in interest rates. This way, farmers get better purchase terms. They can also be offered various financing terms and discuss the down payment.
Natalia Zhylnikova, head of the Valley irrigation-systems sales group at ASA “Astra”
Key advantages of financial leasing:
- Getting a tax credit on the full cost of the machinery, immediately after making the down payment and signing the equipment handover certificate.
- The machinery is put on the lessee’s balance sheet and depreciated.
- The lessee can choose the timing of the main payments. For instance, periods when product prices are highest.
- You can choose the financing currency.
All these factors give the enterprise a chance to develop using financial instruments, notes Natalia Zhylnikova.
According to Oleksandr Baranov, modernization and development of the enterprise is the main key to a successful farm. And irrigation is no exception in this regard.
«If an enterprise doesn’t develop, it dies. A farm must keep renewing itself, and only then will there be any use».
Oleksandr Baranov
Chief agronomist at the “Rossiya” enterprise
The next stop on our Hydro Tour’s route will be Dnipropetrovsk region. Stay tuned for our tour!
