«My future in Agro»

THE PROBLEM SITUATION 

Working closely together in rural communities, we have seen such a problem as a shortage of agribusiness staff: the lack of opportunities for youth development in rural areas is causing them to move abroad. We want to show that you can earn money directly in Ukraine, without going abroad, in your home village find yourself in the agricultural sector.

Agricultural business is one of the most perspective in the world. We want to interest students in the modern agricultural sector, help them decide on their future profession and prove that the agricultural sector is an innovation and a vast field of creativity and self-realization.

In view of the above, we decided to implement the project «My future in Agro».

SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM SITUATION

The company launched an educational career guidance project «My future in Agro» in 2018 in three pilot schools in the Khmelnytsky region with the involvement of 126 students. Currently, the project operates in 5 regions of Ukraine: Poltava, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Ternopil. From 2020, the format of blended learning is used: due to quarantine restrictions – in the online format, and the practical component – offline.

The overall goal of the project is to create conditions for changing youth stereotypes about the modern agricultural sector of Ukraine, acquainting students with the opportunities and prospects of agriculture in Ukraine, its main directions, formation of practical agricultural experience, developing project skills, solving creative and practical research tasks. 

«This project has really brought together potential leaders – young and old, students and their teachers-mentors. And participating in it is the first step to working in the most interesting field, which not only provides people with food, but also develops people and many related fields, education and science, which embodies innovative technologies. At the same time, it instills love for the land, for life!» – said Svitlana Mozhova, Director of human resources, corporate partnership and communications in Astarta-Kyiv.

The company has taken care of teacher training in advance: webinars, trainings and meetings are held throughout the year.

Teachers of Uman Agrarian Lyceum have developed a theoretical course «Agrosphere» for students of the project «My Future in Agro». It focuses on career guidance for students. The content of the program is based on the principles of scientific school education, its integration on the basis of intra-subject and inter-subject relations, differentiation of educational material in accordance with the interests and abilities of students.

«All children are different, but they are all talented, the main thing is to distinguish this talent, to interest a child. We tell students that there are many interesting professions in modern agriculture, and you can choose from a mechanic and agronomist to an IT specialist. In addition, there is an opportunity to earn well and live worthily on the native land, next to the parents, and not to go abroad for work», – commented the curator of the class «Dyvosvit» in the Oboznivsky Training Educational Complex Elena Paliievets.

Optional groups have been introduced in the schools participating in the project. The training course consists of 2 textbooks and methodological recommendations. The project is divided into training in both theoretical and practical knowledge. First, students study the theory of agricultural technology. As part of the second component, students gain practical skills, for which greenhouses were installed, where students grow plants independently and explore methods of caring for them. The course provides acquaintance with various professions in agriculture: for children there are many organized excursions to the automated production, to the field where the highly productive technology equipped with autopilots works.

In addition, students choose an agricultural topic, which is then explored in practice in consultation with experienced mentors-agronomists of the company. In particular, research was carried out on such topics as growing organic crops in greenhouses, studying the agrochemical state of the soil, finding ways to preserve it, the impact of climate change on the development phases of crops and many others. The subject of the works is very diverse: from simple of growing one culture to quite complex innovations.

Every year ASTARTA holds a competition of these scientific works. For many, participation in the project becomes the beginning of a lifelong work – agrarian.

RESULTS OF THE DECISION

Key project results for 2020-2021:

– The textbook, methodological recommendations are developed;

– 25 schools from 5 Ukrainian regions are participating in the project;

– 800 children took a course of optional classes “My future in Agro”;

– 35 children took part in a scientific project contest;

– 32 scientific projects have been developed.

On December 1, 2021, a round table will be held to exchange experiences and disseminate results among schools throughout Ukraine together with the Ministry of Education and Science and the author’s team of the textbook «Agrosphere» – Uman Agricultural Lyceum, schools participating in the project «My Future in Agro». From 2022 new schools from all over Ukraine will join.

Thanks to the project «My future in Agro» students learned to work both independently and in a team. Participants develop their analytical skills by implementing their own projects: they choose topics for research, come together and, under the guidance of experienced mentors, begin to put them into practice.

For example, in 2020, two students of the Krivorudska Сomprehensive School (Poltava Region) shared the first place in the scientific project contest. They are Maksym Kisenko, for in-depth study of the topic of alternative energy sources and environmental protection: «Growing of bioenergy crops», and Oleksii Bondar for the extremely relevant topic «Improving of soil quality», where scientifically substantiated and practically proved positive effects of green manures for increasing soil fertility and crop yields.

This year, the jury chose Serhii Snizhko (Globynsky Lyceum №5) as the winner of the «My Future in Agro» contest with the scientific work «Research of yield and quality characteristics of new regionalized buckwheat varieties». The study was conducted during 2021 in the fields and laboratories of the Ustymivka Research Plant Station with a collection of buckwheat totaling 1634 samples. The obtained results allowed to explore and find among the set of new regionalized varieties the most suitable for growing in forest-steppe conditions.

However, the results of the project are not only the theoretical and practical skills of children, but also a certain social component, which is designed to cultivate a culture of volunteering in students. Children collect vitamin baskets with vegetables grown in greenhouses and visit veterans, pensioners in their communities, provide school canteens with vegetables and plant flowers on school grounds.

An important result of the project is that some participants have identified the agro-industry as their profession and entered professional higher educational institutions, students add new skills and knowledge to family households, which increases crop yields and the well-being of rural residents.

«My future in Agro» teaches for the future and does good today.