To work at the call of one?s heart - not everyone can afford it. Someone is just afraid to try it. Someone does not believe that it is possible to escape from the whirlpool of everyday duties. However, there are people who cannot imagine their life without their favourite work. Such work brings not only some material benefits, but makes them happy. They put their heart and soul into this work and their wings spread from it. When a man does what he likes, he is able - with God?s help - to pull through every hardship. 000000005

Mykola Mykolayovych Rak, Head of the farm ?ROM? situated on Khrystynivsky district of Cherkasy region, is one of the best farmers of this region. However, he has not started to work on the ground at once. As soon as he returned from the army, he entered the college. After graduating he worked as a gasification engineer in the district. He had been supplying towns with gas until the nineties when he returned to his home village.

After school he studied in Umansky Mechanization College. After the first course he served in the Soviet Army. He fought in Afghanistan. After demobilization he graduated from the college and was sent to work as a Chief Engineer on Schorsa collective farm on Gorodischensky district. But fate called him to his home village Velyka Sevastyanivka. At this time gasification works had been carried out in the village. A lot of engineers were needed there. When returning to the collective farm ?Velykosevastyanivske? he began to work as a gasification engineer.

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- Mykola Mykolayovych, what made you change your ?profession??

- When I returned to my home village I supplied almost half of households with gas, including my own. Then I realized that I should move on. I have always been drawn to farm: all my grandfathers were farmers. Surely farming is in my genes. Moreover, at that time I already could work for myself, not for the state. Of course, it was not easy at first - I had to learn everything. But I did not pay much attention to difficulties - I took 50 hectares of land on lease and began to farm. First I did everything alone. Then my father, an experienced agrarian, retired and joined me. The farm was gradually developing. In 1996 we increased our land on 42.7 hectares, and then in 2004 - another 400 hectares were added. This is how our collective farm ?ROM? was gradually forming.

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- Your farm is known for some of the best indicators of productivity in the region. How did you achieve such good results?

- First I want to say that we specialize in the crop. We grow winter wheat, corn, spring and winter barley, such industrial crops as soybeans, winter rape. Also we do not forget about sunflowers and some other crops. Despite not very favorable weather conditions this year we managed to get a good harvest including high grade wheat. To be true, I do not remember that we have ever grown fodder wheat. We produce only food grain of 2-3 class. And even in the most unfavorable conditions our wheat capacity is never below 50 dt/ha. And corn generally bears at 100 dt/ha.

The secret of our success consists of several important points. First, our farm is not very large, so we have relied on the efficiency and intensity of management. We learned by ourselves, observed how other people hosted, which crop grows better and which worst. We visited exhibitions and seminars, consulted with experts. The result of this is close cooperation with scientists and companies that not only provide us with all necessary for our business, but also inform us about new developments in agricultural science.

Seeds of high quality are no less important. We take our wheat of Myronivska selection. Experience shows that it is much more suitable for our climatic conditions. And we learnt it by experience: last year we sowed import seeds on some part of our fields but we were not pleased. We wish that our plant breeders continued to grow this plant which is so important to us. Because of climate change we need a little ?correction? to generally excellent seed. As for other crop, here we choose import seeds featuring a high yield, resistance to pests and other useful qualities.

Of course we do not forget about the fertilizers and efficient cultivation of fields as well as plants. It is just impossible to get a good harvest - let alone high grade wheat - without applying all necessary fertilizers and minor nutrient elements even on our fruitful black earth.

And quite a large machine and tractor fleet enables us to do all necessary works on the ground efficiently and quickly.

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- So you are provided with quality machinery in full?

- Absolutely. All our machinery is imported. We have 2 combine harvesters, 7 trucks, new tractors. The only domestic equipment in our farm is a drill but it is of a very good quality. Since I bought it I was very pleased with its quality as well as price. So I recommend it to all my fellows. You know how it is ? good news travels quickly.

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- Good machinery requires good professionals. Do you feel staff scarcity?

- Indeed it is a very important issue for us. We never allow inexperienced and irresponsible people to work on expensive import combine harvesters because they can make big losses.

Fortunately now we are deprived of such problems. We have a team of 20 people. They work year round in full. We have never asked them to register at the center of unemployment. Each of our workers is versatile. He can not only drive a truck and combine harvester but also build a house. And no one argues - all of them understand that we are doing one thing. Perhaps because of this we do not have staff turnover. When somebody wants to work - he does it. We have created well-paid jobs in the countryside. When you can earn good money at home you will never go away to Moscow or Kyiv.

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- The present agricultural science offers new approaches to farm business. How do you feel about the modern ideas of soil cultivation?

- We settled on the usual cultivation of fields. In my opinion, it is a best way for our conditions. We evidenced a lot of experiments but at our neighbour?s household. Once they decided to work on no-till technology. But when yield began to fall they left their experiments and returned to traditional ploughing.

However, good soil cultivation is not enough to get a good harvest. In our business everything depends not only on weather conditions, but also on the quality of seeds, fertilizers and of course skill. Something changes every day and climate as well. You never know what will happen next day. You must be flexible and able to adapt to various conditions. It is important even to choose the optimal time for cultivation.

By the way the state tasks us to collect up to 80 million tons of grain annually. And we are coming up to it but a bit slowly. The reason of it is unregulated government policy on agricultural market. Due to lack of current assets farmers are forced to sell autumn crops for a pittance and therefore are frequently unable to buy everything they want in the appropriate quantity and quality.

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- Do you get support from local authorities?

- Of course. We get support from authorities of all levels. We have great relationships with the district administration as well as the regional one. Especially I would like to focus on help from Anton Yatsenko, Deputy of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. He not only communicates with us. He drives around, checks, analyzes and ? when it is necessary - always helps either in material or administrative issues. And when you feel such a support then you are ready to work with double force. In my opinion, if at least 20% of deputies behaved in the same way we would have lived much better.

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- Today social sphere in the village often depends on the goodwill of local farmers. Please tell us more about your social projects.

- We never forget about the needs of the village because we live here. We are doing a lot. One of our most significant projects is a Walk of Fame dedicated to the veterans who returned to the village alive. Ivan Grygorovych Drachenko, Hero of the Soviet Union, Full Cavalier of the Orders of Glory is among them. There are only a few people in the whole Soviet Union who received the awards during the Second World War. This is a unique project which has no analogues in the whole CIS. For example, 810 people from our village went to the Great Patriotic War and only 405 returned home. The Walk of Fame was built during the reconstruction of the existing Obelisk of Glory which was built at the end of the 60-s. The Walk of Fame harmoniously joined the architectural ensemble.

On May 9 many villagers and guests from all over Ukraine and abroad come to our village. They come every year without any invitations. They want to pay tribute to those who laid down their lives for the foundations of the present.

Thankful brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, relatives and friends lay wreaths of flowers on granite slabs with engraved names of fallen soldiers. And they do not pass by a well-groomed Common grave of soldiers who died liberating our village. ?Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten?.

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- You have prepared one more interesting project for the Shevchenko anniversary.

- Yes. By 200?s birthday of our great countryman we opened a park dedicated to Taras Grygorovych Shevchenko and installed a bust of the poet there. We ennobled the territory as well and planted green plantations there. We are going to install some benches in the park this year. The creation of the park was entirely mine and my co-workers? idea.

However grooming of parks is not the only thing we do. We support rural schools, build sport grounds. Also we restored a club where local residents organize wonderful concerts. By the way, when we were planning the reconstruction of the club, people were telling they would not visit it. But now there is no room at all at events, although the auditorium is designed for 700 seats. And I think no matter what will happen later, everything will be OK in our village.

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- Where do you get the strength to work, to go further in the difficult conditions of national economy?

- The man is happy when he does his favourite work. And God gave me the talent to agriculture. I do not know whatever I was doing in my life without it. Of course life is full of various situations. There are also troubles and misfortunes. As it gets hard I go to Svyato-Uspensky monastery to comfort myself. So with God?s help everything is for the best. In addition, I have to care about my four daughters and a son. Elder girls already have families. One moved to Kyiv, the second - to Vinnytsia. Younger girls are still learning. And the son helps me and learns to farm. He will continue our grain-growing dynasty.

So I plan to continue my favourite work, develop myself, get even better yields and work for the state and my family. When your soul and heart long for working on the ground - God helps then.

Julia LINCHYTSKA