The best Lithuanian tractor driver of 2024 has been announced, with 11 participants from all over Lithuania competing for the title in the final round in Dotnuva. This is the second time such a competition has been held in our country, and this year the title of best tractor driver went to the Biržai district after the final round.

No farm is unimaginable without a tractor, and the development of machinery requires not only knowledge and skills, but also quick orientation and speed. This was demonstrated for the second time in a row by the competition for the best tractor driver organised by „Dotnuva Baltic“. The organisers stressed that professionalism is the most important characteristic when it comes to operating a farm and modern machinery. This is why the competition was created, to allow tractor drivers to demonstrate their skills and to draw public attention to the competences of agricultural professionals.

Arijus Mušauskis won first place in the second edition of the Best Lithuanian Tractor Driver competition, taking the honourable title back to Biržai district. After the first round, which took place over three days during the "Agrovizija 2024" exhibition, the best tractor drivers were selected for the final round, and the best of the best were chosen in the second round, which took place in Dotnuva, after a series of challenging tasks.

Arijus Mušauskis

Mindaugas Vaišnys from Marijampolė, the winner of the first edition two years ago, took part in this year's competition, but failed to defend his title for the second time. However, Vaišnys came in a respectable third place.

Arijus Mušauskis, named Lithuania's Best Tractor Driver 2024 Arijus runs a small farm himself, and his main job also involves working with tractors of different capacities and manufacturers. The tractor driver who took the symbolic podium for first place was also awarded the company's main prize – a €1,000 gift for a trip to the country of his choice.

After the announcement of the winner A. Mušauskis did not hide his joy and sincerely said that he did not expect to become the winner. By the way, Arijus also took part in the 2022 Best Tractor Driver competition in Dotnuva. That time, he missed the final by a few tenths of a second. But this year, the winner by a wide margin over the rest of the field felt confident in every task, and his experience was a major help. As Arijus said, some of the tasks – hitching up the implement, setting up the tractor and driving it - are just a daily routine. Overall, the excitement was a bit of a hindrance, but in the theoretical task, the questions had to be read carefully. He said that winning is a good thing, but to be selected as one of the 11 best in Lithuania is already a great achievement. For every achievement, just like for every dream, you have to work hard and work hard.

Arijus, who has been learning to drive a tractor since he was 12 years old and took over his grandparents' farm, says that working with a tractor has changed a lot in recent years. It feels like a hobby instead of a job - it's a pleasure to work, the working conditions are comfortable and everything is automated. At the same time, Arijus warns those who are considering a career or thinking about farming that working in agriculture is not that easy, because there is a lot of work to do and you have to keep up to date with the latest innovations in technology.

The second prize went to Vytautas Leckas from Birštonas, who was joined in the competition by his son Vilius. By the way, among the participants were also one more relative – cousins Gintautas Mackus and Laurynas Mackus, who came from Rokiškis district to participate. The prize winners were also awarded valuable prizes. Those participants who were unlucky this time were not left without gifts.

The event attracted great interest

The Best Lithuanian Tractor Driver competition is organised by „Dotnuva Baltic“ in Lithuania for the second time, the first time in 2022 at „Agrovision“. The 11 best performers (shortest time to complete the tasks and lowest number of mistakes) were selected from the 11 participants who took part in the first stage. The participants had to perform 2 main tasks: to drive a Case IH Puma 140 tractor with a Wielton PRC-2/W14 semi-trailer backwards into the garage without touching any obstacles, and to move three water tanks in a pyramid shape from one place to another with a Schäffer 2630 SLT articulated forklift truck.

The tractor drivers who completed the manoeuvring, parking and load transfer tasks the fastest and made the fewest mistakes made the top 11 tractor drivers.

The main winners and Dotnuva Baltic representatives.

In the second stage, theoretical questions and a practical task were to be answered - to change the cabin air filters on a Case IH Magnum 200 tractor. The other two practical events took place on the site – you had to drive a Case IH Puma 185 tractor from the back of the starting line to the implement, hitch up a Kverneland Enduro cultivator and park it in the marked area, unhitch the implement and drive the tractor to the starting point. The last part of the competition was to set up the navigation on the Case IH Optum 250 tractor and drive along the set lines. Each task was scored, timed, penalties were given for obstacles broken and the overall results were calculated.

According to the organisers, the driving event was designed to make the theoretical knowledge test and the practical task of changing air filters more difficult, as a good tractor driver must not only be able to drive and control well, but also to look after his/her machinery.

The challenges were not so easy to overcome

The overall results of the final competition showed that the most difficult part of the competition was the theoretical questions, where none of the participants scored maximum points. The highest score was 10 points. The practical task (changing the air filter) was also not easy. Two participants achieved 10 points. In the last two practical tasks of driving and attaching the tool, one participant managed to score 11 points. The maximum score for each of the three tasks was 15 points.

Accumulating the results of the three tasks, the fourth place was taken by Dalius Stasaitis from Joniškis, the fifth place was taken by Lukas Jocius from Tauragė, the sixth place was taken by Gintautas Mackus from Rokiskė, and the seventh place was taken by Linas Kvietkauskas from the Kupiškis region. Edgaras Piniauskas (Kelmė) and Laurynas Mackus (Rokiškis) shared the eighth – ninth place. Tenth and eleventh place Vilius Leckas from Kaunas and Domantas Žiobakas from Kretinga were among the strongest in the third practical event on the tractor site.

An opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism

Dangis Valaitis, Managing Director of the company, was delighted that this year, as soon as the first stage of the competition was announced at the exhibition, „Dotnuva Baltic“ received a lot of interest from customers. Professionalism is a key success factor both in agriculture and in the machinery trade. Continuous learning and development helps to achieve better results and to optimise the potential of the machinery. „Dotnuva Baltic“ also strives for professionalism in sales, service and spare parts to achieve higher productivity and better results together with our customers. It is hoped that this competition will continue to grow in the future and will continue to provide an opportunity for Lithuanian tractor builders to showcase their knowledge, skills and abilities.