Vasyl Melnyk received the honorary award “Agronomist of the Year”

Vasyl Melnyk, Chief Agronomist of the Kyiv Cluster of Agro-Region Group, has received the honorary award “Agronomist of the Year.”

He became one of the top one hundred agronomists of Ukraine recognized for their professionalism, dedication, implementation of modern technologies, and commitment to preserving the fertility of Ukrainian soils.

The ranking award was established by the editorial board of The Ukrainian Farmer magazine.

A graduate of Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, Mr. Vasyl has 12 years of agronomic experience, 11 of which he has spent working at Agro-Region Group — first as a field agronomist, and since 2018 as Chief Agronomist of the company’s Kyiv Cluster, which manages a land bank of 11.7 thousand hectares.

Mr. Vasyl considers the main achievement of the agronomic service under his leadership to be a significant increase in the yields of the cluster’s crops — wheat, corn, soybeans, sunflower, and rapeseed — along with a reduction in production costs. This was achieved, in particular, through the introduction of an individualized approach to crop protection, fertilization, tillage, seed/variety selection, and overall technology for each field or land plot, as well as the implementation of variable-rate seeding and fertilization, higher-quality performance of all agronomic operations, improved soil preparation for sowing, and the transition to moisture-saving tillage.

“In an agronomist’s work, every technological stage is important, but in my opinion, the most responsible part is fieldwork — fine-tuning, monitoring, and the timeliness of operations. You can plan everything perfectly, but if execution is weak, you won’t achieve the desired result. That’s why you need to spend a lot of time in the field, have good technical resources, and know how to use them,” he emphasizes.

What Mr. Vasyl enjoys most in the production process is harvesting — seeing the results of one’s work, analyzing successful decisions, and working on mistakes.

“I do not regret choosing the profession of agronomist — it’s an engaging job, diverse and creative. When you can influence the result, it motivates you even more to research and implement new practices. From my own experience, I’ve realized: you shouldn’t be afraid to test new things — that’s the only way to develop production and grow personally,” the agronomist concludes.