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Gorky Television

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This is Central Russia.

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There's no other earth as black
or as lush and vivid on Earth.

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Although known as

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"a harsh and severe land",

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it is also called
"the land of great possibilities".

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For this reason,
our occupations and thoughts

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have much to do with this land.

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THE MOST MUNDANE OCCUPATIONS

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This is the Gorky region,

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one of the most important
in Central Russia.

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In recent years, agriculture has
developped considerably here.

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The grain harvests are plentiful

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and there are new zootechnical complexes

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whose numbers are constantly growing.

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Ample collective farms
were established recently

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in the surrounding areas of
Gorky, Dzerzhinsk and Kstovo.

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A recent government decree

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for the Russian Soviet
Federative Socialist Republic

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announces a considerable increase
in the agrarian production,

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notably in qualitative terms.

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A complex government plan

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seeks the development of the material
and technical bases of the local agriculture,

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improvements in the management of
natural resources,

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and the rationalization of all means
necessary to achieve these goals.

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In order to face the needs of the Gorky farmers,

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the government has pledged them
2 billion rubles along the next 5 years.

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Yevgeni Romanovitch Repnikov

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director of the main food company in Gorky,
Tresta-Milevod-Stroy,

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supervises the construction of a water reservoir.

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The farmers' concerns will be addressed

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by the director of the Dzerzhinski sovkhoz,
Yuri Stepanovitch Kniaziev.

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At the Novolekeyevski sovkhoz,
another interview.

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We'll bring together labour heroes

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from the brigade of Anna Ivanovna Kondratieva.

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Our foremost interest in the interviews
was to highlight and review

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the most pressing problems

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the government is dedicated to resolve.

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These interviews constitute the
core of our film.

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Some of the farms can only be sown
with the support of machines.

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It's too exhaustive to do it with our bare hands.

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The manual proccess requires the worker
to water the farms by hand,

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while with the machines,
irrigation is mechanized.

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The cucumber harvest is the most exhausting.

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When the cucumbers are harvested,
one has to bend down.

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Sometimes it seems that
your back will break.

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The most labour intensive sector

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is the horticulture.

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Nowadays the levels of mechanization
have increased.

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The sowing machine.

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For weeding and fertilizing,

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these machines can deploy chemical products.

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Even with all these improvements,

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horticulture is still a very labour intensive activity.

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And if sometimes the uninvited snow covers the ground,

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even threading through the fields becomes difficult.

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AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION

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The most recent technological innovations
are presented at the farming fair.

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Something new for the farmers,
a weeding tractor.

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It has room for four persons.

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This machine was projected
for the first weeding.

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This tool is then operated
by each of the farmers.

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In spite of all innovations,

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no harvesting machines have been produced
for the horticulture yet.

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All the more pressing thus
is the need to solve the problems

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linked with the mechanization of the
harvesting process.

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Low levels of application of
the new technologies 

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impose a high demand for supplementary labour
even from within the big cities.

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Further specialization of the material
and technical bases for farming development,

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especially of those related to the horticulture,
is crucial for solving the problems.

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Long gone are the days of the 1976 drought,

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when the labourers who came from the city
had to carry water to the fields in their own cars.

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Just as they helped then, they're helping now
in the harvest of vegetables.

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Two years passed and today there
are no more irrigation problems.

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Now all crops are irrigated automatically.

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Each irrigated hectare provides the guarantee

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of an ever more abundant harvest.

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Before, we used to water the fields manually,

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we used tubes laid by men and women across the fields.

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With a full-time irrigation system

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we managed to irrigate everything.
This year, however, there's no water.

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The equipment is working,
but there's no water.

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No reason to worry.

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The Kudma river has plenty of water to offer.

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In the Gorky region there is no shortage of water resources.

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The Volga, the Oka, the Vetluga...

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Nine thousand rivers, canals and springs

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along a total of 32,000 km.

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Around 3,000 lakes, water reservoirs

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and subterranean springs
that have just begun to be explored.

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The exploitation process of the volumous Kudma river

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conveys an appreciation of the Gorky region
in all its complexity.

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The flood-lands along the Kudma river,

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if well exploited, are very fertile.

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The irrigation systems along the Kudma
have been built 30 years ago,

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but they have deteriorated due to
deficient exploitation.

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In 1971 the construction works have started

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for the first irrigation system
supplied by the Kudma river.

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The first plan had an estimated coverage

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of 1,500 ha of arable land.

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Sure. In order to irrigate such a vast land,

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much more water will be needed.

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And for that reason, not even
the whole Kudma would be enough.

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That's why a project was devised
to flood its marginal lands

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and to construct the
Lakshansk water reservoir.

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Here we are, comrades, at the
construction site of the Lakchansk reservoir.

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This reservoir's function
is to store water

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to compensate for the scarce
water volume of the Kudma river

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for the period when irrigation water is most needed.

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The construction began in 1971

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and it will be finished this year.

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In the area to our right we can see 
all that will be flooded

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of the Lakshya and Polta rivers, 
each one providing half the total volume.

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This reservoir's capacity will reach
9 million cubic meters of water.

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Right now we are building the
main portion of the dam.

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It will be 1.2km long

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and it will reach 13m on its highest point.

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It will resist pressures equivalent
to a 11.5m column of water.

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A secondary construction project is planned,

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it will provide water for the less irrigated terrains,

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connecting them with the primary system and
extending the coverage to a further 5,000ha.

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On the other hand, we must build new roads,

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because you cannot harvest vegetables
without transporting them.

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As a result, it will be possible to establish
sovkhozy dedicated to vegetable farming

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and build houses for the workers

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involved in the manifold construction
projects along the Kudma river.

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With the improvements in these 5,000ha,

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all the problems related to the provision
of vegetables in the city of Gorky will be solved.

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This system is especially efficient because
everything will be produced in the region

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and the main result is that vegetables
won't have to be shipped in

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from distant producing regions.

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Coming from the Bogorodsk settlement,
workers specialized in mobile mechanization

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are building for the Lakchansky sovkhoz

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an irrigation system for another 120ha of arable land.

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Another 2,000ha have been irrigated
and are ready to be cultivated.

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In the present situation,

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a rational management of irrigation systems
is crucial to enhance agricultural production.

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For that reason, improvement specialists are required.

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They have designed and installed the Fregat irrigation system,

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but it was only their latest achievement.

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There's still a lot to be done.

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The agricultural plan for this region
of the RSFSR has been approved.

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The plan includes goals that

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both in developmental and organizational terms,
for the food factories in the Gorky region,

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are perhaps hard to achieve.

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But we are equipping ourselves for this task.

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Orienting ourselves towards more
ambitious goals might help to assess

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whether we are ready to face the
challenges we will have to face ahead.

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Many problems have been an obstacle to our work.

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There are not enough industrial resources.

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We have no pre-fabricated materials, such as iron or cement,

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there are no factories producing them.

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If they were available, it would be easier
to advance in our construction works.

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We have neither big companies
to provide the necessary materials

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nor an organized transport system
to support our work.

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I'll give an example.

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On the Kudma river We have built
a lock based on the same system.

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It took us two years.

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If the project had incorporated and
provided for pre-fabricated elements,

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that would have been brought in
from an external industrial plant

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- in this specific case,
from any big cement factory -

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it wouldn't have taken us two years,
but only one.

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The difficulties on the path of improvement

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are objective and evident.

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But we can overcome them.

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The State will provide the technical instruments

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and in due time we will surpass the difficulties.

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The government decree is
quite reassuring by clearly stating:

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"We demand the Ministry of Hydric Resources
of the Soviet Union

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and the Ministers Council of the
Russian Republic

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to give particular attention to the development
of water management plants,

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to the accomplishment of the
necessary construction works

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and adequate housing for the workers,

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as well as making the means available for the
cement factories and construction companies involved."

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We must make sure that our improvement efforts

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won't interfere with the complexities of the ecosystem.

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And we must manage efficiently the available means.

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The specialized agriculture is the most profitable.

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Let's take the Dzerzhinski sovkhoz as an example.

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It is specialized in the
greenhouse cultivation of vegetables,

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supplying onions to the city throughout the year.

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Tomatoes are grown from April to October.

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The first cucumbers can already be harvested
right after New Year's Eve.

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They are still costly, but they'll get
much cheaper in the future.

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This structure is very efficient,

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but also here there are
still many difficulties.

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In order to build this agro-industrial complex,
with its 46,000 square meters,

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we have spent 3.6 million rubles.

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That ammount was necessary to build
only the basic structure,

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that is, the offices and the greenhouse,
not including the equipment.

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During this period, we have
done a lot to improve

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the general working conditions.

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In order to further cut the costs
of the vegetables we produce,

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we still have to increase the production.

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So that we won't waste the resources of our farm,
as well as our invaluable human resources,

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we must take further the mechanization process.

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We have set our goals to improve working conditions.

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First: to mechanize irrigation.

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A worker needs 2 to 3 hours
to water the plants manually,

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which means 30% of the working hours.

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It's simply too much.

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Then we have mechanized ploughing.

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In the beginning, when we
first established this farm,

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we used to till the soil with spades.

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We had to request help from the city,
cause we couldn't handle it on our own.

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Then our designers developped
an electric plough.

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A great invention that is still being used today.

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We can plough the whole farm with it.

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Our farm is quite profitable,

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but we are not the direct beneficiaries
of these earnings.

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And the funds that are invested
in further development of the farm

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are scarce in relation to our ambitions.

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They cannot cover all the necessary investments.

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We shall expand the basic structure,
build houses for the workers,

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but we must take into account
our limited funds.

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At the Dzerzhinski sovkhoz,
many things are still needed.

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New technologies, further mechanization,
new funds, more space.

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All this is needed to develop
the agricultural system.

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We have the means for this development
and we will grow further.

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At the Dzerzhinski sovkhoz, new equipment
and new greenhouses are being built.

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It's important to put in practice
the already gathered experience.

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We have mechanized part of the work.

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The Moskovsky sovkhoz,
in the Moscow region,

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is completely mechanized.

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Temperature is automatically regulated,

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as well as humidity levels.

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Also supplies of water and fertilizers
are automatically controlled.

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Here we have opted to mechanize first

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the temperature control,

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which is automatically regulated
within the greenhouses.

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So many ideas, so many thoughts,

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so many proposals arise regarding the new decree.

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We have only regarded some of them.

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Lush and vivid Central Russia.

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This black soil needs all the warmth
and care human hands can provide.

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People care about the future of this land.

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And for this reason they face
the problems in all earnestness.

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Upon their efforts depends the future of this land.

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Faith in change!

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Script: V. Ternovoy

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Director: A. Sokurov

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Camera: A. Barishkov

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Subtitles:
bastelik