Professions related to agriculture. Agriculture-related professions: an overview. Machine milking operator

Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy of each state, providing people with the necessary food products and raw materials for the production of consumer goods. Development this direction directly depends on human resources. A huge variety of in-demand agricultural professions require certain knowledge and skills.

Highly qualified personnel are an integral part of the successful functioning of agricultural enterprises Russian Federation. Working in this industry is hard, painstaking work that requires appropriate encouragement. Over time, myths about low wages in the agricultural sector cease to exist. The presence of many available vacancies allows a young agrarian, a man of his business, to build a fast career. Representatives of agribusiness have the right to increase demands on employees whose work is highly paid with the provision of privileges and compensation (monthly provision of food packages, payment for travel to the workplace, assistance in solving the housing problem for non-resident workers).

Some of the most popular professions in the field of agriculture are: livestock specialist, animal engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, machine operator, operator machine milking, poultry farmer, beekeeper, breeder, and others.

Modern views equipment and units, Newest technologies processing plants and harvesting, drawing up reporting and scientific documentation oblige the agronomist to be more responsible and conscientious about his specialty, and make his work the most in demand.

Machine operators are specialists who can manage various types agricultural technology. Knowledge of machine design, routine maintenance and repairs is the responsibility of these employees.

The importance of the profession of a machine milking operator is determined by strict adherence to the milking regime - up to three times a day.

Livestock specialists provide the most comfortable conditions for the stay and breeding of animals on the farm. In addition, workers are engaged in breeding purebred livestock and bird crosses; take care of the health and diet of animals.

Veterinarians (doctors and paramedics) treat animals and carry out preventive measures.

Beekeeper is a profession that is gaining popularity in our country, it is amazing, complex and very responsible. Main responsibilities: formation of new bee families, their comfortable stay during winter period and honey collection.

Currently, a huge number of educational institutions different levels are engaged in training specialists and agricultural workers.

Agrarian youth are the backbone of the country, which has a great agricultural future.

Choosing an agricultural profession

Rural schoolchildren's choice of them future profession largely depends on the opinions and advice of parents.

Even a janitor, but in the city! - so, with some even challenge, a man in one of the village councils of the Vygonichsky district, in the Bryansk region, seemed to draw a line under our rather lengthy conversation. And we discussed with him the reasons for the aging of the rural population. Young people continue to leave for the city... According to this indicator, our region is in the forefront.

While the conversation was going on, my interlocutor and I easily found a common language. But then I asked him how he sees the future of his own high school children. Here the same thing followed - “at least as a janitor...”. I admit, this didn’t surprise me too much. Once again I was convinced: this position is typical for rural residents of the Bryansk region. This also revealed sociological research, among the goals of which was to determine how parents influence the choice of profession by their growing children.

It turned out that at least 80% of rural boys and girls who graduate from school follow the advice of their parents when choosing a profession as a decisive recommendation. What are these tips? The survey showed that they directly depend on how satisfied mothers and fathers are with the working and living conditions on a collective farm or state farm, and with relationships in the team.

In total, out of 2.5 thousand respondents in Bryansk villages, only 47.3% were generally satisfied with their lives, 26% expressed obvious dissatisfaction, and 26.7% did not give a specific answer (of course, this cannot be interpreted as an expression of satisfaction). For women, the degree of such satisfaction is noticeably lower than for men, amounting to 31.3%, which is much lower than the average. Apparently, among other things, the hardships that additionally befall women have an impact: firstly, as housewives, and secondly, as those employed primarily in agricultural production, where manual labor predominates, and is also underpaid.

The survey also showed that the type of employment of parents in one or another “shop” - in field farming, livestock farming, etc. - significantly influences the attitude towards the professional choice of children. Taking this circumstance into account, we will consider people’s opinions. First let's show what they answered

Field farmers

In this category (and it is the most numerous and accounts for 42.4% of all those employed in agriculture in the region), only 2.8% of mothers and 8% of fathers would like to see their children as their successors, because they regard their work as extremely unprestigious. In fact, it is poorly mechanized and has high seasonal fluctuations in load. And although it requires considerable skill, dexterity, and ability, it is considered unskilled, and therefore field farmers have the lowest average monthly earnings. When the harvest begins and more money can be earned, the townspeople are attracted to this type of work. This is the tradition.

Accordingly, the pensions of field farmers are lower than those of others, and housing is given last, and they are not in a hurry to present awards. Under these conditions, it is difficult to expect that it will be possible to safely pass the “baton” in field farming to rural youth.

Some better position on this score in another category of rural workers, which consists

Machine operators

They occupy a higher position on the “scale of prestige” of rural professions and therefore are more willing than field farmers to recommend their “heirs” to follow in their parents’ footsteps. 12-13% of them think: it would be good if their sons became machine operators. Earnings in this group are noticeably higher than those of field farmers. And pension provision is better, and housing is provided in the first place, and incentives are given more often. In addition, there are much fewer machine operators than field farmers, so they are worth their weight in gold everywhere. In the region they make up only 11.2% of all agricultural workers - 20 thousand people. And today this quantity is clearly not enough to ensure the effective use of existing and new equipment coming to the village. We need at least 7-8 thousand more machine operators.

But, unfortunately, there is no confidence that such an increase will be achieved. We still need to raise the prestige of machine labor. It allows everyone to work more creatively, responsibly, economically, and accordingly earn more.

It is necessary to improve the quality of machines so that machine operators do not have to endlessly engage in repairs. This reduces labor productivity and satisfaction and affects earnings. An important role is played by the arrangement of workshops, the convenience of the workplace, the aesthetic content of work, work clothes... Everything matters when so many roads are open to a young man, and it is very necessary that he be attracted to the profession of a rural machine operator!

In the meantime, I repeat, only 13% of machine operators believe that it would be nice for their children to get the same profession. But 87% do not think so, and many because they themselves are not satisfied with their working and living conditions.

Now let us turn to the opinion of representatives of such a mass profession in rural areas as

Livestock breeders

What do they recommend to their children? Only 3.5% of fathers and 5.8% of mothers advise their daughters and sons (more often daughters) to go into animal husbandry. The low prestige of this profession among rural residents is also evidenced by the following data: women field farmers, who consider their profession to be far from prestigious, rate the profession of livestock breeder even lower; less than 2% of them responded that they advise their children to go to work on the farm.

But it would seem that work in animal husbandry should at least attract people with earnings. Here is the monthly average wage much higher than, say, field farmers, almost the same as machine operators. However, if a machine operator works 270-280 days a year, then a livestock farmer works 300-320, and sometimes more! Many farms have a low level of mechanization, so milkmaids have to carry heavy cans and hand out feed. Farms do not take good care of raising the qualifications of livestock breeders: only 23% of them have class, although class is also more earnings, and respect from fellow villagers, and self-respect.

The one-sided dependence of the efficiency of their labor on the development of other sectors of the economy, primarily on feed production, has a negative impact on the moral and psychological state of livestock farmers. If there is not enough feed, and what is available is of low quality, unbalanced in protein and other nutritional components, then no matter how hard the milkmaid tries, she will not receive a large increase in milk yield from her group of cows.

In recent years, there have been no noticeable changes in creating conditions for livestock farmers to relax, in providing them with comfortable and beautiful clothing, although a lot has been said and written about this.

And with all this, it was among livestock breeders, as it turned out, that there are the fewest people who can be called “potential migrants,” that is, those who are oriented toward moving to the city. More than half of the livestock farmers we surveyed responded that they prefer to live in the countryside. Therefore, we must rely primarily on this category of rural residents.

In the meantime, change is coming very slowly. Even according to the most optimistic forecasts, there will be an acute shortage of workers on the farms of the Bryansk region in the coming years. As for the children of livestock breeders, they will, apparently, “fill” only about 5% of the need for personnel in the livestock “workshop” - no more than 2,500 people. These are the prospects.

Agricultural specialists

Of the 852 agronomists, economists, zoo engineers and other specialists surveyed, 29.7% of fathers and 17.8% of mothers advise their children to inherit their parent’s profession. The rest abstain from this, believing that it is better for their sons and daughters to do something else. Why? Yes, because, they explain, the work of a specialist brings less and less satisfaction.

Requirements for agricultural specialists are growing: after all, it is necessary to better master and implement new equipment and technology, and scientific achievements. At the same time, there are also such old, inhibiting factors as: excessive regulation of the work of specialists, impersonality and subjective assessment of results, bureaucratic management methods on the part of agricultural industry bodies, low culture of performing work, unsatisfactory material and technical provision, continued strong dependence on natural processes, and much more. That is why, despite the fact that on the “prestige scale” of rural professions a specialist is at the very top, it is in this group that the percentage of potential migrants is highest.

The picture is approximately the same - an increased tendency to migrate to the city - and among specialists without higher education, such as electricians, builders, repairmen, whose professions are in high demand in the city. Accordingly, they often direct their children to leave the village.

Meanwhile, the school, naturally, continues to provide career guidance for rural specialties, inviting people to work on the farm and on the tractor. And they often encounter silent rejection from high school students, who in their thoughts soar far from their native “penates”, on the wings of parental support. There is a clear contradiction between the attitudes of society, which are expressed by the school, and the attitudes of the family.

How can we bring the positions of both sides closer together and prevent the expected “personnel shortage” in the village?

Let's listen to what is advised in this situation

Sociologists

Propaganda for rural professions, which is conducted by the school, labor lessons, work of schoolchildren on the farm during the holidays - all this is clearly not enough anymore. In order for peasant children to strive to master rural professions, they must see with their own eyes that life around them is changing for the better. This means that we need a comprehensive and accelerated program for the social reconstruction of the village.

In addition, today it is impossible to be content with the decision of individual, even important, social problems. Let’s say that the construction of a new club alone will not force city-oriented villagers to change their plans. And construction of a new one kindergarten- not a panacea. And even the opening of a paramedic station... Villagers must be sure that the farm is carrying out a comprehensive social program, where one thing follows another without big breaks or failures.

Many villagers during conversations expressed bewilderment: why in the cities so much money is spent on decorating houses and streets, on “all sorts of fountains” and so on, when in the villages people still not only live without any amenities, but also cannot get to the doctor due to... for the lack of roads, give children a normal education, buy basic necessities?

Another priority task for the village is to overcome the seasonality of labor and expand opportunities professional choice for young people. First of all, we can talk about the creation of subsidiary enterprises related to the processing of agricultural products, and the development of traditional crafts for the area.

And what about such a logical production chain as growing feed crops - producing feed? It just begs to be sold close to raw material reserves. Or growing fruits - producing juices, jams, canned food. Again, a logical relationship awaiting implementation. The point is not only that this is necessary for the implementation of the Food Program. Such interaction between agriculture and the processing industry will make it possible to provide income to villagers throughout the year.

Enterprises equipped modern technology, warm and bright rooms will attract young people. Young people cannot sit for six months without earning money. Their grandmothers somehow put up with this, who also had a traditionally large private household, and did not have any needs and demands beyond the very minimum. But my granddaughters and grandchildren don’t want to live like that. They want to work for modern production, V good conditions, in a team where there is a diverse public life, where there are opportunities for personal and cultural growth. And during busy agricultural periods, workers employed at such enterprises go to the fields and work there, in any case, better than visiting city dwellers.

A strong agitator... against work in the village is the loss of harvested crops. The sight of spoiled products that have not reached the consumer makes one think: why go out of your way if no one needs what is produced? The second side of this situation is the decline of morality. Since what is grown disappears anyway, why not take the potatoes or carrots from the field? Why not take a can of milk from the farm?

All these are problems that can no longer be brushed aside out of old habit. The time has passed when it was possible to carry out the social reconstruction of the village by patching this or that hole. To prevent alarming forecasts of a “staff shortage” in the village from becoming a reality, the situation must be decisively changed. And the additional expenses will pay off.

Rarely do any parents want their grown-up children to live away from home, in a not-so-familiar urban environment, without parental participation. But even more, they do not want to condemn their children to a hopeless, monotonous life full of everyday and industrial difficulties. And if they don’t hope for speedy and significant changes in the village, then they follow the principle that was briefly but expressively outlined at the very beginning of this article.

Lydia Nesterenko, associate professor of Bryansk Agricultural Institute

Futurologists have predicted which agricultural professions will be in demand after the revolution in traditional agriculture, which will occur in the next 10-20 years

If you believe futurologists, the changes taking place in the modern agricultural sector are comparable to those processes that in the first half of the 20th century led to the widespread use of motorized agricultural machinery.

With the development of technology, new professions will appear. Many of them will combine everyday skills and new skills, while others have no analogues yet and will become a real discovery for the agricultural industry. The Agroinfo portal talks about what the farmers of the future will be like with reference to material in the online publication Foodbay.

City farmer

Agriculture came to big cities. Projects of farmland located on the roofs of skyscrapers, and the so-called vertical farms no one is surprised anymore. In this regard, analysts at the Skolkovo research center believe that within 15 years there will be new profession city ​​farmer. These workers will specialize in growing crops in a modern metropolis, as well as in organizing and improving land in cramped conditions.

Agronomist-geneticist

Despite all the horror stories about genetically modified foods, they are gradually conquering the world. Therefore, in the future, agronomists specializing in the field of genetic modification of plants will be in demand. They will apply the achievements of biotechnology in practice, adapting crops to local climatic conditions, increasing yields, improving taste and extending the shelf life of fruits.

Bio-hacker

Leading futurist Thomas Frey decided not to stop at the peaceful application of agricultural genetics. In his opinion, in the next 30 years there will be bio-hackers who will be able to hack the genetic code of organisms like computer systems. Their abilities will be appreciated by fans of unfair competition.

Let's say company A has invested huge amounts of money in growing genetically modified tomatoes in the city that do not accumulate harmful substances and contain antioxidants that help people cope with toxins. To avoid losing market share, Company B hires a bio-hacker to develop genetic code that speeds up the decomposition of fruits. As a result, company A suffers huge losses due to the rapid spoilage of the harvested crop.

Drone operator

In many countries, unmanned aircrafts Already today they are actively used to control farmland. Therefore, in the next 10 years, large agricultural companies will have entire departments responsible for satellite and aerial reconnaissance. Operators who monitor the work of drone squadrons and analysts who make recommendations for improvement will work in such departments. technological processes.

With the development of smart agricultural machinery, even ordinary tractor drivers will be forced to sit at office desks with computers, from where they will be able to control the process of planting, irrigation and harvesting.

Agricultural engineer

Every year agricultural machinery becomes more and more complex. Mechanical skills are no longer enough to repair a smart tractor or combine. Along with them, the specialist requires knowledge of microelectronics, programming and network technologies. Therefore, in the next decade, the profession of an agricultural engineer will appear, whose responsibilities will include servicing and configuring smart machines, as well as combining them into intelligent clusters.

Livestock specialist

To increase the productivity of livestock, it is necessary to create ideal conditions for raising livestock, that is, take care of the microclimate, a balanced diet and timely prevention of diseases. The profession of an animal technician will require knowledge in the field of biology, veterinary medicine, nutrition, as well as technical skills. The responsibilities of such a specialist will include setting up climate systems, automatic feeding devices, operating veterinary equipment that monitors the condition of animals in real time, developing effective feeding methods and other tasks to improve the living conditions of livestock.

Agricultural ecologist

The da Vinci Institute believes that the development of agriculture in the coming decades will be inextricably linked with the environment. In conditions of reduction fertile soils It will be necessary to create a new class of ecologists who will specialize in methods of conserving natural resources.

The tasks of agricultural ecologists will include recycling waste, restoring soils after growing certain crops, as well as creating programs for environmentally friendly agriculture that does not disturb natural processes. These specialists will need to clearly know what methods should be used in order to obtain an environmentally friendly harvest that will meet all the buyer’s requirements.

Agrocybernetics

Today, entire staffs of programmers and technicians are working on the automation of factories and factories. Similar specialists will appear in agriculture. Agro-cybernetics will be responsible for setting up and maintaining smart farms, introducing new automation methods, and monitoring technological processes. In the near future, entire companies may appear offering farmers to turn their farms into a single digital system.

Whether the predictions of futurologists regarding the professions presented will come true is a matter of time. But one thing is for sure - the upcoming technological breakthrough associated with the massive introduction of digital management methods and biotechnologies will change agriculture beyond recognition. (

Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva believes that the new series of lessons on professional navigation for high school students, which began today at MISiS and brought together more than 18 thousand schools, will be of interest to schoolchildren and their parents.

"the main task lessons - to tell children about the professions that the country needs. And tell it in a modern, interesting and understandable language. These lessons are vocational guidance in a new format. I think that the lessons will be interesting and understandable to the children and will receive the approval of the school and parent audience,” the minister said.

A million from a test tube

Each of us eats 105 kilograms of vegetables, 88 kilograms of meat, 98 kilograms of bread and drinks 270 liters of milk per year. Where can I get so much food for everyone? How to grow from one tiny test tube? Which vegetables are better - from grandma's garden or from an industrial greenhouse? Why do agricultural holdings need beekeepers? What professions are most needed in agriculture? About this to students Russian schools told at the All-Russian open online lesson “What do you know about food?”

This unusual lesson is part of the career guidance project of the Ministry of Education and Science Projectoria. It took place at the High Complexity Prototyping Center of MISiS.

Do you know what fifth-generation greenhouses are and how many bumblebees there are in the state? - Vladimir Pirozhkov, director of the center, asks the students sitting in the hall. - While you are thinking, I would like to appeal to those who are on our video call: vote for those professions that will be the most in demand.

Modern greenhouses require not only vegetable growers, but also IT specialists. It turns out that industrial greenhouses are now high-tech production. For example, every day they measure how plant growth depends on different conditions: today they gave a little more light, tomorrow - carbon dioxide, two days later they started drip irrigation, changed the composition of the fertilizing. A week later, all indicators were changed at once. In a word, the experiment goes on every day. The machine processes and analyzes all data.

We take 200 indicators, 150 of them are automated. We keep a thousand bumblebees for pollination. They see well only in sunlight, so on cloudy days we illuminate the way to the hive with ultraviolet light,” says Dmitry Lashin, chairman of the board of directors of one of the holdings. By the way, he is a former IT specialist and a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. - I believe that robotics will undergo serious development in the greenhouse. Now vegetable growers manually collect 6 thousand cucumbers every day, but we need to create a robot that would do this work for a person.

Who do you need most today? - asks one of the graduates.

Marketers. People don’t yet believe that vegetables from a greenhouse are no worse than those from the garden. But if grandma has aphids on her cucumbers, she will poison them. This is impossible for us.

The salary of a marketer is 150 thousand and above. Breeders get less. In the Tambov region, let’s say, there are about 50 thousand, but what prospects!

Which apple tree do you think is better for the garden - small or large? - The second lecturer comes on stage - Vice-Rector of Michurinsky Agrarian University Elena Simbirskikh. - Small - dwarf or semi-dwarf. 90 percent of the cost comes from harvesting, and it is easier to harvest from short apple trees. Another secret: the denser the planting pattern, the higher the yield. The issue of the near future is personalized nutrition, it is dealt with by nutritionists - scientists who study how food is absorbed in the body. Such specialists will be in great demand.

Is it possible to print products on a 3D printer? - they ask a question from the audience.

Depends on what. We are already producing strawberry and currant chips, and ones that replace the usual vitamins. I think, for example, fortified apples will appear in the near future. If I ate this, I received a full daily set of vitamins and microelements,” answers Elena Simbirskikh.

Modern greenhouses require not only vegetable growers, but also IT specialists, roboticists and biotechnologists. Every day there is an experiment

The Timiryazev Agricultural Academy invented flax cookies and knows how to grow a million trees from one test tube.

And all the plants from this test tube are not infected with viruses, which means they will not get sick for a long time,” clarifies the rector of the academy Galina Zolina, showing the schoolchildren a test tube with future forests. “We need engineers, agronomists, but each profession will have the prefix “researcher.”

There is a question via video link. “Will it turn out that people in agriculture will be replaced by robots and drones?” - asks Roman, a student of school 49 from Yaroslavl.

Kirill Alifanov, a representative of a large agricultural holding in the country, answers him:

In the next 50 years - no. But we can’t do without technology and technology. Look, there are 50 thousand pigs in the pig farm. There are devices that record noise levels. Let's say one pig gets sick - the noise level changes, the device records this, the animal is treated. Another example: 20 percent of the grain harvest is lost to rodents. What to do? You can't poison the field. The drone comes to the rescue. He flies and discovers areas where rodents have accumulated. Next comes another drone, which purposefully throws poison towards the hole.

According to Kirill Alifanov, agricultural holdings need agronomists, breeders, and machine operators who know information technology.

The All-Russian lesson is coming to an end. On the screen are the results of the survey. Schoolchildren believe that in the very near future the professions of milkmaid, shepherd and berry picker will disappear. But biotechnologies, agronomists, roboticists and agricultural engineers will be needed.

Maybe milkmaids will disappear, but shepherds are still very much needed. The Internet is full of advertisements from all regions. Salary - from 10 to 25 thousand. True, more and more often employers want to hire “a person responsible for grazing livestock” instead of a shepherd.

Schedule of the next All-Russian open lessons

Start of classes- at 10:00 Moscow time.

Meanwhile

Shall we fuck?

Siberian scientists were asked to think about how to change school curricula in chemistry and biology. Such an offer was made to them by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. Perhaps the school curriculum will include the basics of biomedicine, which is developing very actively today and is of interest to teenagers. The Ministry of Agriculture agrees that approaches to teaching biology and chemistry need to be changed. The development of biotechnology is becoming of great importance, but the necessary knowledge is not enough.

Indeed, chemistry and biology programs have changed little in recent years. The situation with biology is still tolerable, but with chemistry it is a disaster. This subject is considered one of the most difficult in school; it requires abstract thinking and good knowledge of physics and mathematics. Plus expensive laboratory equipment. Many schoolchildren find textbooks too difficult. But the paradox is that students pass the Unified State Exam in chemistry very well. This is explained simply. There are five or six students left in the class who can handle this subject, the teacher throws all his strength at them and, as a rule, there is a result.

Olga Andryushkova, head of laboratory 
 scientific foundations teaching chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University:

The textbooks do not seem too difficult to me, but children, firstly, need to be interested in the subject, and then given theoretical knowledge. How to get interested? For example, conducting interesting experiments or quests. The younger the students, the more game elements should be used with them. With older kids, you can discuss, for example, the problem of discovering mercury deposits in Alaska, which may be unsafe in the event of global warming. How might this affect people's health? What consequences can this lead to? The problem of chemical and natural science education cannot be solved only by creating a new line of textbooks. Will also be required electronic resources. It is important to be able to competently combine videos, for example, of expensive or not entirely safe experiments with performing simple experiments in laboratory work in the classroom. Virtual laboratories can help where there is no equipment to illustrate technological processes, natural phenomena or to look into the microworld. However, it should be remembered that sometimes the simplest experience in the laboratory will be more useful than a video on the screen.

Programs must take into account the technological challenges that the country now faces. Various branches of chemistry are included in educational plans for training, for example, geologists, biologists, physicists, geographers, and doctors. Specialists with knowledge of chemistry are in demand in areas developing at the intersection of sciences - biochemistry, physical chemistry, chemical physics, bioengineering and others.

You can write excellent textbooks, prepare electronic resources, equip laboratories, but if there is no competent teacher, there will be no result. There are not enough chemistry teachers in schools. I heard from students that at school their chemistry class was taught by a labor teacher.

Svetlana Polovnikova, chemistry teacher, gymnasium No. 7, Lytkarino, Moscow region:

Every year various reasons the number of hours spent on chemistry is reduced. It turns out that every lesson we have - new topic, there is no time to apply or practice new knowledge. We solve problems only once in three lessons; there is no time to carry out experiments and experiments that are so interesting to children. I would not simplify the content of the chemistry course. Classic Themes must be studied in full. Who will teach future students of technical universities the basic concepts?! So we have to dodge, come up with new methods. We begin the study of chemistry with a propaedeutic course, according to the requirements of the standard, in the sixth and seventh grades. We conduct subject weeks, introducing students primary school with the magical science of the transformation of substances. I recommend that high school students complete various research projects. Some people think that the 8th grade chemistry textbook is too difficult? Maybe yes!

What mistakes do graduates most often make on the Unified State Exam in chemistry and biology?

Not all students know well even at a basic level Chemical properties organic and inorganic substances, therefore they cannot draw up reaction equations or perform calculation tasks. Many people do not know the names of chemical processes. Difficulty occurs in tasks where it is necessary to predict changes that may occur during the experiment. Even strong students “float” on questions that relate to real life: they don’t know how to get chemical substances industrially, how are they used and for what? In short, difficulties arise from questions that require analysis.

The Unified State Exam in Biology showed that schoolchildren do not know the methods well genetic engineering and selection, there are errors in tasks to determine the chromosome set of cells. There are problems with the "cytology" section. Graduates do not know how to analyze biological information about a cell, genetic code, cannot compare different groups and find general signs. Difficulties are caused by the task where it is necessary to supplement the table and determine the signs of a gene, chromosomal, genomic mutation.

Infographics RG / Leonid Kuleshov / Irina Ivoilova

Plant growing is one of the the most important industries Russian economy, accounting for about 2% of GDP and providing more than half of the food on the tables and refrigerators of Russians. In addition, crop production is a key supplier of animal feed and raw materials for several industries. Finally, growing cultivated plants is a huge sector in the labor market and is of great importance in rural areas.

Labor resources in crop production in Russia

The number of people employed in Russian agriculture has been steadily declining over the past two decades and has now reached less than 6 million people. Of these, only about half work directly at agricultural enterprises, the rest are engaged in processing agricultural products.

Precise statistics regarding exactly how many workers are employed directly in crop production probably do not exist, since many farms combine growing plants with raising animals. At the same time, some of the personnel are involved in both segments, that is, professions in animal husbandry and crop production overlap. In addition, calculations are complicated by the fact that in crop production some types of work (for example, harvesting) are often entrusted to seasonal workers who are not on the staff of the enterprise.

However, the persistent decline in the number of people employed in Russian agriculture was largely due to crop production professions. This industry was actively modernized, during which manual labor was increasingly replaced by mechanical labor. Even the collection of fruits and berries is gradually being transferred from manual harvesting to harvesting using special combines. Also, the decrease in the number of workers in crop production was noticeably affected by the decrease in acreage in Russia.

It is important to note that all of the above does not apply to small farms (including illegal ones), which today provide a significant part of the vegetables, fruits and berries grown in Russia. According to the roughest estimates, about 700 thousand - 1 million people are employed in this segment

Employment structure in crop production

All professions related to crop production can be divided into production and management and support personnel. As you might guess, production personnel are those people who are directly involved in the production of products or servicing production processes. These are tractor drivers, combine operators, agronomists, etc. Management and support personnel include all those involved in general management enterprise and other non-productive tasks. In addition to directors and purchasing/sales managers, this includes secretaries, accountants, drivers, canteen workers, cleaners, etc.

Also in crop production, the practice of using temporary or seasonal workers, who at certain production stages can constitute a significant part of the enterprise’s labor resource, is quite common. Unskilled personnel are hired for seasonal work (usually harvesting), so they do not have an agricultural profession as such. A completely different matter is permanent workers who are on the company’s staff all year and have certain qualifications that allow them to perform more complex and responsible types of work. This includes all the main professions of crop production - agronomists, tractor drivers, combine operators, etc.

Structure labor resources The enterprise very much depends on various factors (specialization and size of the farm, climatic conditions in which the activity is carried out, the technological level of the enterprise, etc.) However, with rough calculations we can say that the production personnel in crop farms is about 85% , of which permanent workers account for 75%.

As for farms, the structure of their labor resources is quite unique. Firstly, their personnel are rarely strictly divided by position and profession. As a rule, workers do a little bit of everything, depending on what needs to be done in the this moment. Secondly, very often farming- This family business, in which members of the same family are employed, which makes it pointless to build classical labor relations in the “ administrative staff- ordinary workers." Accordingly, the professions of people who are engaged in crop production according to this scheme also do not lend themselves to the usual classification.

Brief overview of the main professions

There are a huge number of different professions and specialties in crop production, so it is not possible to list them all within the scope of this article. We will consider only the most popular professions in Russia:

• agronomist,
• seed breeder,
• tractor/combine operator,
• agricultural machinery repairman,
• reclamation engineer,
• soil scientist,
• agrochemist

Agronomist - main man at an agricultural enterprise in matters of plant growing technology. He is responsible for organizing the production of all crops, developing a system of crop rotation, fertilization and the use of other agricultural techniques. His responsibilities include drawing up crop cultivation maps and work plans. In other words, it is the agronomist who manages everything production process Therefore, he is required to have knowledge of general biological disciplines, agriculture, crop production, agrochemistry, land reclamation, the basics of selection and seed production, and the general economics of the industry. Agronomists are graduated from higher educational institutions of agricultural profile.

The seed grower is also one of the the most important professions people in crop production. He works under the guidance of an agronomist and prepares seeds for sowing, treating them with special chemicals to combat diseases and insects. Also, the responsibilities of the seed grower include caring for plants, supervising the work of threshing, cleaning and drying seeds. He is also entrusted with the functions of preparing storage facilities and containers for storing seeds. The profession of a seed grower, as well as an agronomist, requires knowledge of general biological disciplines, agriculture, crop production, agrochemistry, land reclamation, the basics of selection and seed production. Seed growing professions are taught in higher education institutions educational institutions agricultural profile.

Tractor drivers perform a significant part of field work in modern crop production, driving wheeled and tracked tractors with attachments. In a circle job responsibilities A tractor driver's duties include plowing and cultivating fields, sowing, applying fertilizers, spraying pesticides, and performing other work in the field. A tractor driver must not only be able to operate a tractor and attached equipment, but also be able to carry out plumbing and repair work to promptly eliminate minor equipment breakdowns in the field. Although a combine harvester is very different in design and purpose from a tractor, at many enterprises ordinary tractor drivers are also involved in harvesting crops using a combine. Specialists in this profession are trained in vocational schools, colleges and other educational institutions of this level. At the same time, the practice of training directly at the enterprise is widespread.

A mechanic who repairs agricultural machinery and machinery is not directly involved in the production of crop products. However, no serious crop production enterprise can do without one or more such specialists. A mechanic does repairs and maintenance technical maintenance agricultural machinery and equipment (tractors, combines, plows, cultivators, seeders, etc.) To perform this work, you need to have a good understanding of modern agricultural machinery, including electronics. Such specialists are trained in vocational schools, as well as in agricultural universities.

Slightly less widespread in Russia are such professions of people involved in crop production as land reclamation engineer, soil scientist and agrochemist.

The reclamation engineer is responsible for preparing fields for irrigation; under his leadership, the maintenance of sprinkler systems is carried out. In order to properly organize an irrigation system, you need knowledge of geodesy, the ability to read relief topographic maps, and determine the slopes of the terrain. Reclamation engineers are trained in engineering and agricultural universities.

A soil scientist examines the characteristics of soils in crop fields, determines natural processes that affect the condition of the soil, prepares recommendations regarding the use of certain areas of the field (which crops are best to grow, how to increase fertility, how best to combat erosion, etc.) Soil scientists are trained in agricultural universities.

The agrochemist manages the implementation of measures to increase the yield of agricultural crops; under his leadership, the agrochemical laboratory of the farm determines the optimal plant varieties and fertilizer application system for the given area. He is required to have knowledge of general biological disciplines, chemistry, the basics of selection and seed production. Universities graduate agrochemists.