Ternopil branch of the state institution “Institute of soil protection of Ukraine”

The Ternopil branch of the state institution “Institute of soil fertility protection” traces its history back to the creation of the Ternopil regional zonal agrochemical Laboratory in 1964. The first manager was Petro Stepanovych Shymkiv. Together with the newly created team, many efforts were made to introduce field agrochemical research, conduct high-quality laboratory measurements and cooperate with collective and state farms of the region. At the beginning, agrochemical studies were conducted only on three indicators – determination of exchange acidity, availability of mobile phosphorus and Exchange potassium. Over time, the number of soil fertility indicators has increased significantly.

The successors of P. S. Shimkov in different years were Dmytro Mokolayovych Bentsarovsky, Grigory Stepanovych Prokopchuk, Bogdan Ivanovych Orynyk, Bogdan Kuzmovych Yakubyshyn. Each of them was responsible for conducting agrochemical research of the region’s soils, quality control of agricultural raw materials and products, feed, production of design and technological documentation for Liming acidic soils and a number of other works related to increasing the productivity of agricultural land and protecting their fertility. D. M. Bentsarovsky, becoming the head of the National agrochemical service, raised it to the highest level, showed the content and significance of agrochemical certification for agricultural production.

Since 2006, the agrochemical service in the region has been headed by an experienced practitioner and a well-known agricultural scientist, candidate of agricultural sciences, Associate Professor, senior researcher Ivan Stanislavovych Broshchak. During his leadership, the level of implementation of agrochemical studies has significantly increased, new studies have been introduced – assessment of the suitability of agricultural land for growing perennial plantings, forecast of contamination of arable land and determination of the quality of raw sugar. The Ternopil branch of the SI “Derzhgruntokhorona” is the only one among related institutions in Ukraine that conducts the last two studies. With the support of I. S. Broshchak, close cooperation has been established with scientific institutions of Ukraine, scientific research is carried out by order of individual agricultural producers, as well as several enterprises of the food and processing industry.

The main task of the activity of TB SI “Derzhgruntokhorona” is the annual implementation of continuous agrochemical certification with the production of agrochemical passports of fields (land plots) in order to cover all agricultural land of the region within five years. Every year, such work is carried out on an area of more than 100 thousand hectares. Based on the results of agrochemical certification, design and technological documentation is developed for chemical reclamation of acidic soils, fertilizer systems for agricultural crops for the planned harvest, and nutrient and humus balances are calculated.

TBSI “Derzhgruntokhorona” also makes a lot of efforts to protect the natural environment. There are 35 stationary sites for monitoring the ecological state of soils and agricultural products in the region. Surface water and agricultural products are also monitored for nitrates, heavy metals, and pesticides.

Up-to-date assistance is provided to small land users on soil quality, fertilizer system, and other aspects of soil fertility and product quality.

Agrochemical certification is an integral part of scientific work on the rational use of soils. Over the past year, the branch has received a patent to reduce land contamination by growing specially selected grass mixtures and submitted an application for a useful invention to reduce the negative impact of processing industry waste on the environment, including the soil.

The Ternopil branch closely cooperates with many scientific institutions of Ukraine and advanced farms of the region. Managers and specialists often attend scientific conferences, seminars, field days, exhibitions, publish the results of their observations and research in scientific and periodicals, and speak in the mass media.

The Ternopil branch of the state institution “Institute of soil fertility Protection” maintains close relations with the state authorities of the Ternopil region and its institutions responsible for the natural Fund of the region in general and the soil in particular.