Vegetable grower Stanimir Lapatarev: “We fight” the challenges in the sector with innovations

For another year, the vegetable grower from the s. Trud relies on Trimble's innovative technologies during the busiest time of the year, the spring campaign.

In the midst of the field work, the NIK team visited the farm of Stanimir Lapatarev in Plovdiv. Stanimir processes 2000 DKA of vegetables and 2000 DKA of cereals.

Here is what he shared about the challenges in the sector and what solutions he is implementing.

What is it like to be a vegetable grower?

Being a vegetable grower is a prestige when you love your job. To produce vegetables that people like — that is indispensable.

But in this work we encounter many difficulties, such as climatic conditions, the constant rise in prices of fertilizers, preparations and fuels. This makes it difficult for us because we are becoming uncompetitive for Bulgaria.

The challenges in our work are great. We encounter some of them every day, such as the short time to perform a given cultivation /sowing, spraying, harvest/, the surprises of the weather and the lack of staff.

How do you deal with these challenges?

We fight the challenges through innovations that will make our work easier in the field. All our tractors are equipped with navigation displays and autopilots Trimble, which contribute to very precise work, save us time and, last but not least, we do quite “beautiful” farming with them. In addition, the mechanizers are also satisfied, because it is much easier for them.

Separately we have inventory Kverneland— disc harrows, threshers and plows, which I am very happy with, because they contribute to better tillage in the field. We have also implemented the system TechnoFarm, which helps us a lot in the administration of the farm. As a combination of all things, we manage to handle the work much easier and optimize time and costs.

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We see that today is a busy day. Tell us what machines and what treatments you carry out today?

Today we have three machines in the field. The first makes beds, which we will later sow. It is equipped with a navigation display and autopilot Trimblewith a precision of 2 cm., which allows the beds to become perfectly straight. Without the help of this autopilot, this is unthinkable, because in the same lines over time we enter several times, sow them, fertilize them, etc.

The second machine that is currently working is preparing the field for sowing sunflower. It is equipped with Trimble autopilot and disc harrow Kverneland, which is also precise and efficient.

The third machine is sowing sunflowers at the moment. And she has equipment Trimble, which allows precise sowing up to 2 cm., which allows us to then use the trenching and the lines. Technology is helping us to move forward.

Watch the full interview in the following video: