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Organic fertilizers “Gumino de Gallina”: Caring for nature!

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The fertility of agricultural soils is now becoming a global-scale issue. The notorious ‘black earth’ of Ukraine, once rich in humus, is rapidly losing its value. Mineral fertilizers will not improve the situation as the soil requires at least 30 per cent of organic compounds to be added to them. In response to the needs of Ukrainian market, a new brand of natural (organic) fertilizers has emerged; its name is Gumino de Gallina.

We have already written about the way this fertilizer was created, its unique production technology and guaranteed product safety, in the article entitled In a Greenhouse, on a Field, or on Sand…

Just as a reminder, back in 2011, Integro developed and introduced a technological process of anaerobic transformation of pure chicken manure with no additives or chemical treatment using bioreactors of its own manufacture. This technology has been patented in Ukraine and EU.

Gallina the Chicken

Farmers have known the miraculous force of chicken manure for a long time, especially in fruit orchards and berry-fields. A tiny rhyme “Gumino de Gallina” is easy to memorize and helps visualize the product even if it is not around. “Humus from chicken is our product. At the same time, we care about the product quality and brand recognizability, says Mr. Anton Bulygin, Integro President. Gumino comes from humates that remind of organic fertilizers, and gallina is Italian for chicken. Some time ago, there was a heavy promotion of Gallina Blanca chicken stock cubes in our country, so this word is closely associated with chicken in the public mind. The Gumino de Gallina trademark is currently being registered by Integro, but the process goes rather slowly.”

In order to enter the specialized network, Gumino de Gallina fertilizers must obtain a whole pack of documents, which are ready now; we have UkeSEPRO’s certificates of quality and conformity, bar codes, technical specifications, and updated Veterinary Service documents.

Back to Genuine Taste

The presence of certain micro and macro elements in the soil is not only the path to higher yields. What is at stake is the taste quality of berries, fruit, and other crops. Intensification has been deteriorating the genuine taste of agricultural produce both in Europe and America for a long time.

Anton Bulygin knows well that the produce can be made tastier through the use of high-quality organic fertilizers. “We received numerous responses that confirm our fertilizers’ beneficial influence on the taste of crops. In particular, strawberries and tomatoes produced by farmers that used Gumino de Gallina became much tastier.”

Strawberry, farmer Nikolay, Vylkove, Odesa rgn.

We should remember the European trend towards higher popularity of organic produce. “Europeans have forgotten the taste of true produce. They should try Ukrainian strawberries or raspberries gown with Integro’s organic fertilizers”, Anton Bulygin assures.

Higher Yields

In the season of 2016-2017, Integro performed the studies of Gumino de Gallina solid and liquid fertilizers together with scientists and farmers on 16 crops. The farmers noted beneficial influence of organics on the plants’ growth and development and formation of fruits; the increase of yield, in certain cases, amounted to 30 per cent. The total area of experiments added up to more than 300 hectares in 10 regions of Ukraine. Gumino de Gallina fertilizers were tested on the following crops: corn, sunflowers, soybeans, apples, pears, peaches, squashes, tomatoes, berries (strawberries, raspberries, and red currants), and watermelons. One of the fields showed the increase of yield for winter wheats around 8% (350 kg/ha), for summer wheats 2,5% (around 150 kg/ha); this happened after a summer that was difficult weather-wise. The most impressive result was achieved with raspberries; its yield increase was 34.5% (1.8 tons/ha). Introducing liquid fertilizers was made by way of drip irrigation and top-dressing. Solid fertilizers were introduced into the fruit trees pans or directly into the planting hole. All the 16 crops manifested a positive trend towards yield increase.

Winter wheat, PJSC “Obukhivske”, Obukhiv, Kyiv rgn.

“We made an experiment in a berry-producing co-operative farm near Kyiv. Almost all strawberries had perished on their fields, but in the areas where Gumino de Gallina fertilizers had been introduced before frosts, the crop suffered lass and there was some yield. They are still counting their loss and benefit, but the local agronomist is satisfied by the result and would like to continue co-operation with Integro. Gumino de Gallina also gave their strawberries fantastic taste and improved the overall condition of the soil”, says Anton Bulygin.

Strawberry, LLC Agrofirm “Vesna-2011”, Makariv, Kyiv rgn.

But, as the saying goes, you don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. The results on all other crops will be obtained by late fall and so far the expectations are truly optimistic.

Working with Farmers

“We performed a fabulous amount of work in the agricultural sector during 2017. Today, we co-operate with dozens of farms. The most actively co-operating ones are located in Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions. We have a number of partners that provided rather spacious lands; for instance, 50 hectares of wheat in Kyiv region. These are 8 bands of crops with different doses of Gumino de Gallina introduced into each. They have already harvested it and we know that our fertilizers provided for higher yields, but the exact results will be available later. We also experimented with soybeans, sunflowers, and maize; the areas of these crops summed up to 100 hectares”, explains Anton Bulygin with pride.

Maize, Farm enterprise “Shakuly”, Ulaniv village, Vinnitsia rgn.

Integro also made an experiment with a niche crop of Austrian pumpkin for Austrian market. The farmer we co-operate with grows a sort of pumpkin with “naked” (hulless) pepitas. These Ukrainian pepitas are used in cosmetics, oil-pressing, and cooking. Pumpkins love organics. The farm owns a few fields in Vinnytsia region and in Kherson region; they are irrigated by a drip system. “Thus, we go on to diversification”, Anton Bulygin concludes.

Pumpkins, Private enterprise “Agri-Yug”, Chaplynka, Kherson rgn.

All field tests of Gumino de Gallina fertilizers are traced by the scientists of the renowned Sokolovsky Kharkiv Pedology Institute and National Institute of Drainage and Irrigation Problems. We also invited National Institute of Bioresources and Kholodny Institute of Botany to co-operate. Integro employs its own biotechnologists as well.

In this year, Integro supplied fertilizers to demo fields mostly free of charge. The reason for it is simple: “Farmers believe no one and nothing; neither me, nor papers nor universities. They need to check everything themselves or hear positive feedback from another farmer. That is why this year we worked for our own name trying to gain the reputation”, says Anton Bulygin.

Tomatoes, farmer Vladimir, Pashkivka village, Kyiv rgn.

Are Agricultural Holdings Changing Their Attitude to Organics?

“We call ourselves agriculturists, but in fact most of our customers are mere land users, not agriculturists, Anton Bulygin thinks. They take everything the soil gives them but give nothing in return. The true agriculturists manage a bidirectional process; the soil feeds them and they feed it too. ‘Feed the land and it will feed you’; this is the philosophy we keep to in Integro.”

Cabbage, farmer Vladimir, Pashkivka village, Kyiv rgn.

Ukraine’s agricultural holdings are often perceived as unconscientious land users that do not care about the fertility of tilled soils as they do not own them. However, Integro’s experience shows that holdings are already becoming interested in organic fertilizers.

One of the largest agricultural holdings in Kyiv region that we co-operate with has always used mineral fertilizers. But as the economy changed after the revolution of 2014, all agriculturists shrank their budgets. And Integro helped them restore the soils. With the help of Gumino de Gallina, we make the soil resurrect after intense agricultural activities, we restore the level of humic and fulvic acids that steadily decreases in Ukrainian soils. “Everyone at the agricultural holding are satisfied with our fertilizers; those are agronomists and the company owners, relates Anton Bulygin. At Integro, we are also satisfied with the co-operation as the company managed to perform an experiment at the total area of 200 hectares with the holding providing the machinery and human resources.”

Sunflower, Group of companies “Sil’khozproduct”, Plesetske village, Kyiv rgn.

Increased Yield Costs Low

There is an opinion that the use of organic fertilizers is costly. However, Integro’s pricing policy is loyal to a farmer. The ROI at berry-fields and fruit orchards is really high.

Let’s do the math together: 1 litre of Gumino de Gallina fertilizers costs 40 to 80 Hryvnias, depending on a batch size. A farmer that obtained 34 per cent yield increase for raspberries in Vinnytsia region had to spend about 80 litters on 2 hectares. Which makes the total cost of fertilizes 4,800 Hryvnias. Spending this sum and getting 34 per cent bigger crop instead is quite feasible and available.

The cost of added crop is much higher; it amounts to a few tens of thousands of Hryvnias. Gumino de Gallina added about 3.5 tons of raspberries to this farmers crop. Even counting at the lowest retail price of raspberries, that is 20 Hryvnias a kilo, the added 3.5 tons will bring 70,000 Hryvnias more.

Raspberry, LLC “Eco Nika”, Strointsi village, Vinnytsia rgn.

As for our partners’ orchards, the economic effect of the use of Gumino de Gallina fertilizers is less obvious because of anomalous frosts. Pear, apple, and cherry trees have not yielded high crops, but farmers note that the trees’ foliage has changes; it gained colour and mass.

Apples, LLC “Eco Nika”, Strointsi village, Vinnytsia rgn.

Volunteer Projects

Throw a piece of bread ahead of yourself and it will catch you up from behind, as the saying goes. Integro not only spends hundreds of thousands Hryvnias on demo fields, but also performs active environmental volunteer work for the benefit of our capital’s landscaping.

We have three volunteer projects in Kyiv. We are maintaining our old Botanical Garden and trying to make Kyiv greener. There is a non-commercial organization called Samosad acting at Podil (a part of Kyiv) that has planted over a plot of wasteland that remained empty for years. Podil is a beautiful place; it is the historical centre of Kyiv. “We provided fertilizers, water, and our own workforce for them. We also co-operate with an urban microfarm called KyivFarm located at Pushkinska Street”, explains Anton Bulygin.

At Podil, near the famous Landscape Alley, there is the Castle Hill; volunteers decided to clean it up and make it a neater recreational zone. There will be trees planted there, so Integro will take part in it as organic fertilizers work perfectly well as autumn dressing.

Gumino de Gallina took its first steps at the market of Ukraine. The use of that fertilizer is inexpensive; it brings good health and great taste. Our fertilizers got only positive reviews so they are destined to have success not only with agricultural holdings and farmers but also with mass consumers.

Oksana Korol’

Based on the Infoindustry web portal: http://infoindustria.com.ua/novaya-filosofiya-udobreniy-gumino-de-gallina/