Organic Production – Prospects for Youth

Oleh KRAVCHUK, a student of the Faculty of Agricultural Technologies and Nature Management of Sumy National Agrarian University, is a prize-winner of the scientific works competition “Organic Production – Prospects for Youth”.

Educators from all over Ukraine conducted and publicized their research on organic agricultural production and marketing of organic products. In two areas: economic and agro-technological, the works of more than 10 participants were recognized at the highest level.

Oleh KRAVCHUK, a student of the Faculty of Agricultural Technologies and Nature Management of SNAU, created his own scientific work “The role of siderates in improving the water resistance of typical chernozem during the cultivation of organic buckwheat” under the guidance of Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor of the Department of Agricultural Technologies and Soil Science Yurii MISHCHENKO.

The purpose of the research: ensuring better soil quality, in particular its water resistance and resistance to erosion, increasing its humidity and water permeability.

It is possible to achieve the desired result, according to the materials of the student’s scientific work, by sowing intermediate crops of mustard and phacelia before buckwheat. This cultivation technology will allow water to enter the lower layers of the soil and improve its properties.

Data obtained practically during classes on organic fields of the Sumy National Agrarian University were used to write the paper. In particular, the department of agricultural technologies and soil science has 2 hectares of land at its disposal. Oleh KRAVCHUK together with the manager processed the data from 2000 to 2022.

The winners of the competition “Organic production – prospects for youth” were announced on May 1, 2024 during the work of the Student Organic Forum “Organic agricultural production: the future for youth”, which took place at the State Institution “Scientific and Methodological Center of Higher and Vocational Pre-Higher Education” and the Federation of Organic movement of Ukraine with the support of the project “German-Ukrainian cooperation in the field of organic agriculture”. Oleh KRAVCHUK took 2nd place with his scientific work.

The head of the scientific work, Yurii MISHCHENKO, says that the topic of organic production is now more relevant than ever. This is due to climate changes and uneven distribution of rainfall.

Students and scientists of the Sumy National Agrarian University raise this issue not for the first time: they grow organic wheat on experimental fields, the harvest of which is even sold, they conduct experiments in the scientific laboratory of ecological agriculture and nature management. Our institution became the only higher education institution in Ukraine that has the official status of an organic operator. Currently, a new international project on organic farming is being implemented on the basis of the Sumy National University of Science and Technology: https://organic-eu.snau.edu.ua/.

More news of the Faculty of Agricultural Technologies and Nature Management of SNAU: https://agro.snau.edu.ua/.