YOUNG ENGINEER TEODORA (24) DRIVES A TRACTOR LIKE A LIMOUSINE! She loves her native village and would never move to the city, proud that she inherited the estate from her father! (PHOTO)

At the entrance to the southern Banat village of Ilandža, travelers’ attention is inevitably drawn to the tall nests. Storks are more than birds here; they are guardians of tradition who, despite their long migrations, always return to the same place.

That same thread of an unbreakable bond with roots has also marked the life of the twenty-four-year-old Teodora Jovanov. While her peers see their village only in the rearview mirror on the way to the city, Teodora decided during her studies in Novi Sad that her address would remain in Ilandža. She never returned, because she never really left—she is the one who welcomes the storks every year, taking care of a hundred hectares of family land.

Today, with a master’s degree in engineering management in agribusiness, Teodora does not sit in an office but in the cabin of a modern tractor. Her choice is a blend of higher education and hard work in the plains.

Although a degree in engineering management opens many doors, I knew my path from the very beginning. Working in agriculture fulfills me much more than office work, and for that reason I decided to stay here and build something of my own. It is difficult because there is a great responsibility and you do everything yourself, but I think that in the end it gives a much greater sense of achievement when you know you succeeded on your own, of course with the help of your family. When you love what you do, it is not hard to do it – says Teodora.

Her father Miloš Jovanov has, in his daughter, gained an heir who thinks a step ahead of the times. While he knows every furrow through decades of experience, Teodora brings digitalization. For Miloš, she is proof that the strength of a farm no longer lies in muscle, but in knowledge and dedication.

Teodora means a lot to me at every moment, day or night I can rely on her and her help. Anyone who has a daughter and claims she cannot replace a son, I claim there is 100 percent equality between a son and a daughter – the father proudly emphasizes.

For Teodora, the tractor is not just a working machine but a space of personal freedom. Although she operates a powerful combine harvester that she “tames” with light hands, in the tractor cabin she feels, as she says, like in her own room.

Honestly, it is easy to handle the machinery because the technology is newer and easy to operate. I really like being my own boss, I don’t have working hours from 8 to 4 and I don’t endure authority. I am not afraid of work and I manage well. In the tractor I feel somehow free but focused on my work; I know exactly what and why I am doing it there. I have been riding in tractors my whole life, so my friends are not surprised at all when they see me in a machine. On the other hand, I also like money, and when the agricultural year is good, I also have a good income in the end – she explains.

However, life in Ilandža is not just a film-like idyll. Teodora faces the same problems as all Serbian farmers, from low purchase prices to the uncertainty brought by each sowing season. As a young entrepreneur, she is not only fighting in the fields but also through the “Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Serbia,” trying to secure more stable working conditions.

I think that the prices of some of our products should be set in advance so that we would know at the end of the year what our income will be before we invest in inputs. Working in the field is not always like in movies where people sing. It is not really like that, especially if there are breakdowns or if purchase prices are low. But if everything goes well and if we are satisfied with the price, then there can also be singing – Teodora is honest.

Innovation is her field. Thanks to the IPARD fund, they acquired a new tractor, and introducing navigation systems to the fields was a real revelation for her father Miloš. Teodora now plans to purchase machines for direct sowing and build irrigation systems, aware that without modernization there is no survival.

I am improving the technology. Last year we acquired navigation; dad did not have it and encountered it for the first time now. We plan to get a machine for direct sowing. I hope that in 10 years I will be even more successful here and that I will approach agriculture in an even more modern way – she says.

Teodora dreams that in ten years she will still be in the village and even more successful, but she is concerned about the problems brought by an unstable market.

The situation in agriculture in Serbia is currently very challenging and difficult in all sectors, both in crop production and in fruit, vegetable, and livestock production. Purchase prices are low, and yields in recent years are often below expectations due to unfavorable weather conditions, plant diseases, and pests. Subsidies provided by the state often do not even cover basic production costs and land rent, so producers practically have no money left for living and maintaining their farms. This situation does not depend directly on the government, but on the overall structure of agriculture and market conditions, from low purchasing power of buyers to the cost of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and fuel. Because of this, many producers work with minimal profit or even lose money, which directly threatens their existence. Agriculture in Serbia is of great importance for the country, but in order for producers to live and work with dignity, urgent solutions are necessary, from more stable purchase prices, better organized subsidies and support, to improved market infrastructure. Without that, even hardworking and dedicated producers who invest knowledge, effort, and years of work can hardly survive and plan their future – said Teodora.

Although she sometimes misses a more “urban” spirit of the place and more space for going out, Teodora finds her peace in the familiar environment. Her emotional life is also tied to Ilandža, where her boyfriend lives as well. For her, success is not in leaving, but in staying and fighting for her village to become a place where others will also want to put down roots.

Just like the storks from the beginning of the story, which do not seek a new sky but guard their old nest, Teodora Jovanov shows through her example that the most beautiful flight is where the roots are deepest. She did not leave in order to return—she stayed in order to endure.