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The issue of disseminating industry knowledge among the population was raised by specialists and scientists constantly. So, at the evening meeting of the agronomic conference on February 28, 1902 at the Poltava Society of Agriculture, a report was heard by the county agronomist of the Berdyansk zemstvo S.K. Oleksenko. In his opinion, the main method for the dissemination of agricultural knowledge should be associated with the approval of the position of a zemstvo agronomist. Along with this, it would also be desirable to organize an agricultural council to collegially discuss various agricultural activities. The county zemstvo agronomist should be able to disseminate knowledge among the population both orally and in print, in particular, through the provision of consultations, clarification of various current practical issues in private conversation with individual owners and rural communities, meetings, the formation and distribution of printed sheets and brochures. It is clear that the competence of an agronomist should have a more practical basis, since the practical side is more important for the population, the scientific quintessence, and not theoretical details. In addition, in order to increase efficiency, this activity should take into account not only the area where the farm is located, but also the psychological state of the owner. The county agronomist also noted that the arrangement of experimental fields is extremely important for the agronomic organization. As a result, the activities of the latter can lead to important practical conclusions. He also drew the attention of those present to the importance of additional agricultural departments at the public schools, which should be organized in such a way that their teaching program is elementary and meets the needs of practical owners. At the fourth meeting of the agronomic meeting, held on March 2, 1902, the report of the vice-president of the Poltava Society of Agriculture P.M. Dubrovsky. Without denying the importance of demonstration fields, distribution of brochures, leaflets on the dissemination of industry knowledge, Pavel Mikhailovich believed that the first steps in this direction should be taken with the organization of agricultural readings. In his speech, he also reported on the organization of the readings. On March 2, 1902, the fifth meeting of the agronomical congress was held. Opening the meeting P.M. Dubrovsky said that the time has come to discuss the issue of providing assistance in organizing readings by representatives of research fields and lower agricultural schools, as well as who can additionally be involved in the readings as lecturers. At the sixth meeting of the agronomical congress, held on March 3, 1902, Pavel Mikhailovich suggested starting a discussion of resolutions on the report of S.K. Oleksenko, which were as follows: 1) to improve local agriculture, the zemstvo should invite at least one agronomist to the county, and it is also desirable to organize agricultural and economic councils under the zemstvo councils; 2) the primary task of agronomists in the Poltava province should be to disseminate agricultural knowledge among the population by organizing public readings and conversations on agriculture. From the publication prepared on the basis of the results of the work of the III Agronomical Congress of the Kiev Provincial Council on Zemstvo Affairs, which took place on February 23 – March 2, 1911, we learn that a number of measures were taken, in particular: 1) the main task of the agronomists' activity was to teach the rational management of agriculture and, as a result, to receive the highest income from their farms for the owners; 2) to assign the following duties to the agronomists of the precinct and county regions: a) the organization of agricultural talks, readings and demonstration fields, as well as the management of agriculture in the assigned territory; c) participation in the organization of exhibitions; d) organization of field pest control; d) consulting on all agricultural issues for both peasants and private owners; e) distribution of popular agricultural literature, etc. Having listened to the report of M.G. Mostitsky Agronomical Congress considered it possible in 1911 to organize courses for peasants at agricultural schools in the provinces. The management of the courses should be put on the manager of the agricultural school, if the courses are organized with them, otherwise – on the county agronomist. In addition, it was decided to organize a workshop of visual aids at the Provincial Agricultural Museum at the expense of funds allocated according to the 1911 estimate for the publication and purchase of manuals for agricultural readings. The members of the Kiev Provincial Agronomic Congress decided: to expand the heading agriculture in the Zemskaya Gazeta; agronomists and specialists should be more active on the ground in writing information on agricultural issues in the Gazeta; to start the Kiev Agronomical Department to publish popular industry literature. At the Kiev provincial zemstvo council of the III Agronomical Congress, issues of the state and further development of certain branches of agriculture were also heard and ways to improve their activities were proposed, among them issues of information support were also important. Thus, the study carried out indicates that at the beginning of the twentieth century agronomic conferences at the Poltava Society of Agriculture and the Kiev Provincial Zemstvo Council paid considerable attention to the issue of disseminating industry knowledge, since scientific achievements and their practical application played the role of the main source of economic growth of the population.
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