Besides the practical training on farms in the South of Germany, inter-farm training in the form of excursions is an important part of AKI's trainee programmes. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AKI organised the first of the two annually planned excursions in a digital form. Thus, online seminars took place on 28.06. and 02.07.2021, both of which were held in English and simultaneously translated into Russian.

Seminar on 28.06.2021

After the welcome by AKI Managing Director Mr. Falk Kullen, Mr. Josef Thoma welcomed the interns on behalf of BayWa AG. On this day, Mr Thoma provided the interns an insight into the two BayWa AG systems "VariableRain" for irrigation management and "Next Farming - Agriculture of the Future" for digital farm management.

After a lunch break, Ms Olga Diakonova, psychologist and business coach from Nizhny Novgorod, held a lecture on "Time Management". Afterwards, the interns tested their knowledge of the German language and facts about Germany in a quiz. Finally, the interns reported on their experiences on the farms in an open dialogue and the AKI team answered all questions that arose about the internship.

Seminar on 02.07.2021

In the second online seminar, a virtual factory tour of John Deere took place. After the interns were welcomed by the manager of the John Deere Forum Mr. Heiner Ehmer and the director of the Sales & Marketing Department of John Deere Mr. Csaba Lejko, they could learn more about the production of modern agricultural machinery.

After a lunch break, the interns were divided into four groups according to their regional locations for better interaction and to get to know each other.

The AKI team was pleased with the positive reports of the trainees' experiences on the farms and their joy and motivation in their work. Due to the active participation and the final evaluation by the interns, the AKI team was able to draw a positive balance of the two online seminars.

We would like to express our gratitude once again to BayWa AG and John Deere GmbH & Co. KG for their great support.

AKI is looking forward to probably being able to organise multi-day professional excursions and cultural trips for all interns in autumn 2021.