From 2.9 hectares to our own technology
How it all started
Our first harvests came from our parents’ plot — 2.9 hectares. We grew wheat and oats, mostly for our own livestock. Later we began renting land plots from fellow villagers, and in 2017 the farm was officially registered as a sole proprietorship: FOP Yevhen Ivanovych Shekhovtsov.
Today we farm 37 hectares: 10 of our own and 27 leased from local land share owners.
Where the name comes from
The name Ingenta (In-Zhen-Ta in Ukrainian) is made of three names: Inna, Zhenya, Tanya. Wife, husband and daughter. A family farm not just in name, but in substance: decisions are made around one table.
Who runs the farm
Yevhen Ivanovych Shekhovtsov is a trained agronomist and a graduate of Lypkovativka Agricultural College. In the field since 2016. War veteran.
The family works on the farm full time, and two more workers join us in season.
Why we switched to No-Till
Recent years have changed our working conditions: longer droughts and less predictable weather. Traditional ploughing increased soil erosion, dried out moisture and reduced fertility — together with rising tillage costs, this hurt the farm’s economics.
Our answer was to switch to No-Till and binary sowing. The soil stays unploughed and covered, moisture stays in the field, and the soil structure is not destroyed.
A seed drill rebuilt with our own hands
At the start we had only one machine — an MTZ-80 tractor and a plough. We expanded our machinery step by step: a trailer, a seed drill, a winnowing machine, press rollers. Yevhen does much of the upgrading himself.
The most important upgrade is the conversion of the SZ-3.6 grain seed drill for No-Till: we fitted turbo discs and openers with individual press wheels. The result is up to five field operations in a single pass: less fuel, fewer engine hours, less wear on the machinery and more precise seeding.
The upgrade was financed with our own funds and a Helvetas grant in 2024.
Recognition
The farm’s experience was included in the national collection of case studies “Syla Ahrozmin” (The Power of Agri-Change) — an AgroPortal project supported by USAID — in the category “Responses to climate challenges”.
In 2025 the farm received another grant — from a Danish partner.
Where we are heading
A storage hangar for the harvest. Right now we sell straight from the field, and at harvest time prices are always at their lowest. Our own storage will let us sell when it pays off.
Processing our own produce — oil, meal and livestock feed. This means added value, several sources of income instead of one, and resilience to grain price swings.