Meetings with Oleg Makarenko, a member of the Ukrainian Walnut Association, always bring back memories from children's fairy tales about legendary heroes. Through unhurried confidence in conversation, movements and actions, the powerful inner strength of a person who firmly believes that he will be able to overcome all kinds of difficulties thanks to his abilities and accumulated life experience shines through.

And he has more than enough life experience.

Captain Oleh Volodymyrovych Makarenko, the commander of the mortar battery, having passed the fiercest battles in August 2014 - "Ilovai Cauldron" as part of the glorious 93rd separate mechanized brigade with the honorary name "Cold Yar", for personal courage and heroism was awarded the state award of Ukraine - the order " For courage" III degree. Other awards only complement Oleg's courageous personality and personal qualities as a leader who is used to always being ahead.

However, a battle wound received in the distant 2014 made the WARRIOR-HERO reconsider his future path and returned him to creative peaceful work.

Successfully engaged in entrepreneurial activities, Oleg always dreamed of planting a hazelnut garden. Therefore, together with a partner, we bought 30 hectares of land in the Kryvorizka district of the Dnipropetrovsk region and planted a hazelnut orchard in the fall of 2018.

Four years of work in the garden yielded results - slender rows of hazelnut varieties "Barcelona", "Catalan" together with the pollinator variety "Cosford" are today decorated with the first nut harvest. The scheme of planting seedlings in a garden of 4 x 5 meters, the pollinator variety "Cosford" in the amount of 10% of the total number of seedlings, planted in every tenth row, the scheme of growing seedlings is standard.

... Note: In the developed industrial gardens of the USA and other countries, standard cultivation of hazelnuts is practiced, because, according to experts, the yield of plantings with single-stemmed crowns is higher than with a bushy form. This is due to the fact that they quickly increase the harvest and already at the age of 5-6 years give more nuts and have the highest specific yield per unit of horizontal projection of the crown. The standard hazelnut culture has a lower value of growth indicators of the above-ground part of the bushes. There is an opportunity to mechanize the main time-consuming process - the process of collecting nuts, which accounts for 45% of all costs associated with the industrial cultivation of hazelnuts. Good illumination of plants with this form of management creates conditions for increasing the potential of hazelnuts...

"Of course, we hit "bumps" on this plot - only a year and a half after planting the garden, we started installing drip irrigation - recalls Oleg - the presence of a river next to the garden initially inspired confidence that we would be able to water manually. However, the practice of manual watering with the help of a tractor and a barrel led us to the need to install a functional drip irrigation system - because our garden is located in the agro-climatic zone of the Steppe - irrigation was extremely lacking."

"That's why - continues Oleg - they invited colleagues from the nut association: the "IRRIGATOR" campaign, which designed a drip irrigation system with fertigation equipment and a 2,000 cubic meter storage reservoir. Thanks to this, constant optimization of the soil moisture regime (without overflows or shortages of water) together fertigation - the introduction of water-soluble fertilizers into the soil ensures more stable growth and is more economically efficient. Only after that they started laying a new plot of land with an area of 20 hectares."

Currently, the company "AGRONATS" has purchased 62 hectares, of which 50 hectares were planted in 2018, 20 hectares of hazelnuts were planted in 2021 with varieties of Italian selection "Tonda di Gifony" and "Tonda Romano". Another 12 hectares of hazelnut orchards are planned to be planted in the fall.

...Note: I would like to draw the attention of gardeners who plan to create new commercial gardens or expand existing ones.

When creating intensive hazelnut gardens that have 500 (4x5 meter scheme) – 625 (4x4 meter scheme) seedlings per hectare (or more – super-intensive gardens with the use of a trellis), it is necessary to plan drip irrigation. Hazelnut is a moisture-loving plant with a rather powerful root system, of the root type with a maximum penetration depth of up to one meter and with a radius of its distribution over the entire projection of the crown.

Moreover, according to the results of scientific research (dissertation of O.A. Balabak for obtaining the scientific degree of Doctor of Science, 2019), hazelnut roots are located in the soil as follows (in % of the total number of roots and their mass): in the horizon from 0 cm to 20 cm - 51 ,2%, 21-40cm – 24.3%, 41-60cm – 12.1%, 61-80cm – 8.5%, 81-100cm – 3.9%.

Therefore, in the absence of drip irrigation, intense evaporation of moisture from the upper part of the soil in the garden in the hot summer season sharply reduces root nutrition, which greatly inhibits the development of hazelnut seedlings...

The entire garden of AGRONATS LLC is serviced by three MTZ-82 tractors with a train of processing equipment. Oleg Makarenko directs the organization of all works.

"All our agricultural equipment is domestic," Oleg Dmytrovych explains, "except for the trunk knife of the Turkish company Kadioglu, which I bought from the official dealer of this well-known company, Oleksandr Kurkudym, who, by the way, is also a member of the Ukrainian Nut Association."

At the time of our arrival in the garden, all three tractors were performing their respective tasks.

The first tractor - on a plot of 20 hectares, worked between the rows with the help of a mulcher. The second - with a trunk knife, he processed rows on an area of 30 hectares. On other rows of this plot, the third tractor with a mounted sprayer was desiccating with the Registan-Ultra contact desiccant.

Oleg Makarenko proudly showed all the garden plots. And there was a lot to see - the garden is well-kept on all 50 hectares. The soil for the next plot of 12 hectares is being actively prepared.

As of today, Oleh Makarenko's hazelnut garden is the largest in terms of area in the Dnipropetrovsk region - industrial hazelnut farming has only just begun to gain momentum in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

The Kamyanka River (a tributary of the Bazavluka) flows near the garden. The riverbed is rocky in many places, which led to its name.

At one time, four centuries ago, on the more full-water Kamianka on glorious seagulls, the Zaporizhia Cossacks dealt devastating blows to the enemy, which significantly weakened the aggressive actions of the Ottoman Empire not only against Ukraine, but also against other European countries (as it is similar to the current situation, when Ukraine again protects peace for all European countries!).

The Kamianka River is the border between the Kryvorizka District and the Apostolovsky District, which has been under active shelling by enemy artillery for the past month.

"No, not a single projectile has reached here yet," said Oleg, catching my gaze directed to the other side of the river.

Sitting on the bank of the river, we talked for a long time with Oleg about the future of the nut business, the need for cooperation in nut processing, the strategy of the nut association in the world nut market, and the participation of the nut association delegation in the world exhibition SIAL-2022, which will soon be held in Paris.

While massaging his wounded leg, Oleg also talked about a new "mark" of the current war this year.

"The sixth fragment was recently retrieved - finally the last one. Practically at the very beginning of the war - in March, it was hit by a shrapnel shell on the front line," recalls the combat commander, a knight of the Order of Courage Oleg Volodymyrovych Makarenko with a sigh.

Standing on the bank of the river, along which in ancient times Cossack seagulls swam to destroy the enemies, protecting Motherland-Ukraine, I said goodbye to Oleg, shaking his strong hand. Looking at his dense, stately figure of a warrior-protector, a Cossack, I caught myself thinking - how true the wise saying is:

"THE COSSACK GENEALOGY HAS NO TRANSLATION!".

Such a person will protect the earth from the enemy and grow a garden!

GLORY TO UKRAINE!

President of the Ukrainian Nut Association G. Yudin