Peasant farms of the Krasnogvardeisky district of Adygea are successfully engaged in the cultivation of garden strawberries, increasing the area under this berry crop every year. Today, it occupies more than 100 hectares for local farmers, and even more – 1,800 hectares for private household plots.
On an industrial basis
One of these farmers is Vladimir Glukhoded. In total, strawberries occupy 6 hectares in his farm, including a greenhouse and open ground. He grows 5 varieties of sweet berries: early – “Alba”, middle – “Roxana”, “Asia” and “Clery” and late – “Florence”. This allows you to significantly increase the period of strawberry harvesting, which lasts about two months on the farm. With a yield of 15-20 tons per hectare, the gross harvest of strawberries last year amounted to 100 tons. This year, Vladimir Glukhoded predicts the volume of this collection from 80 to 100 tons.
— I have been growing strawberries for about 15 years. And he started by buying seedlings from his friends and planting them in a small area. Today, the production of sweet berries has become my main task. In this work, I am helped by the knowledge that I received while living in Bashkiria. There I first graduated from an agricultural technical school, and then from the Faculty of Biology and Chemistry of the Pedagogical Institute, I managed to work for 4 years as an agronomist on a collective farm, – says the farmer.
I believe that agricultural producers in Russia are quite capable of doing import substitution. In Adygea, Krasnodar Territory and Stavropol Territory, it is necessary to more actively create greenhouse complexes and provide the country with domestic vegetables and berries, refusing to import imported
Now the cultivation of berries on the farm has been put on an industrial basis.
In particular, the entire area is equipped with drip irrigation. For this, 7 wells 22 meters deep each were drilled on the farm, 5 generators with a capacity of up to 6.5 kilowatts and seven pumps are in operation. For the passage of heavy vehicles to the field, the farmer, together with his son, equipped a gravel road.
The farm also has its own equipment, in particular, two Kubota mini-tractors, two cutters, sprayers, and an MTZ-82 tractor. By the way, when buying this tractor, the farmer took advantage of a profitable leasing scheme, according to which he did not pay for the first six months, and then transferred 29 thousand rubles for equipment every quarter for five years. It was a small financial burden for his farm, but it would be expensive to buy a new tractor right away.
“Our farm has established close ties with laboratory No. 1 of the village of Dinskaya in the Krasnodar Territory, where recommendations on mineral nutrition are developed for us. At our request, laboratory specialists come to take an express analysis of the soil. And literally the next day they offer us certain modes of feeding strawberries. To do this, we use all approved drugs. Moreover, we use specific fertilizers for a certain stage of plant development,” Vladimir Glukhoded comments.
Today, 16 hired workers from the village of Bely work at the site. But this is not enough, so a team from Tikhoretsk, Krasnodar Territory, is also joining the work. The farmer has been cooperating with her for more than 10 years, the team members are engaged in planting strawberries, weeding, strawing, harvesting. By the way, since this year the farmer has been using euro containers to collect strawberries, which allows you to track the quality of all products placed in it.
The weather this year turned out to be unfavorable for strawberries: cold and rain contributed to the development of various diseases. Therefore, we regularly had to use plant protection products and carry out protective treatments. If these works are not done beforehand, then the plants may fall out and the fruits will rot.
— Greenhouses have to be monitored all year round. For example, so that they do not suffer from strong winds, the film had to be buried deep. And in winter, during heavy snow, constantly, including at night, clean the greenhouses. Thanks to this, we managed to avoid destruction,” says the farmer.
To Moscow and St. Petersburg
As for the sale of products, sweet berries from Adygea are sent to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga and Samara. When large volumes of strawberries are harvested on the farm – 6-7 tons per day or more, then regular customers pick up the harvest on their own. Varieties of strawberries that are grown on the farm are quite resistant to transportation over long distances, and they are delivered in complete safety.
According to Vladimir Glukhoded, there is a problem with the sale of strawberries on the market in Velikovechny because of buyers and resellers. Until the berry reaches the buyer, it passes through five or six hands. It also happens that resellers buy berries from producers, take them off the scales and immediately sell them to buyers at a much higher price.
As a result, the cost of strawberries increases by 70 percent. By the way, large producers like us suffer little – buyers come to us directly on the field and pick up the harvest. But for small households that grow strawberries in their gardens, this has a negative effect, – the farmer complains.
In Adygea, there are good weather conditions and fertile land, and nearby there are the sea and mountains where you can sell your products. Today, the production of berries – wild strawberries and raspberries – is starting to grow in the republic, and young people are also engaged in this
In matters of strawberry production, Vladimir Glukhoded constantly consults with the head of the Nika peasant farm in the Maykop region. From him, he learns about new promising varieties that are imported into the farm. However, experience in the industry taught the farmer to be extremely cautious about new products.
– More than once I tried to use new varieties, but later I returned to the old ones – Roxana, Asia and Alba. For example, if you take the “Asia” variety, then at the first, and at the second, and at the third harvest, the berry will be large, standard. At the same time, there are new modern varieties that give a large berry during the first harvest, and then a small one. The use of stimulants helps to avoid this. But we do not use them, because it is not known how this will affect the quality of products, – said Vladimir Glukhoded.
Not only berries, but also cereals
In total, the farmer has 75 hectares of arable land. In addition to strawberries, he grows wheat, barley and sunflowers in this area. There is also a seed plot with an area of 4 hectares, where a promising elite wheat variety “Count” is sown. Due to this site, Vladimir Glukhoded completely provides himself with seeds on an area of 60 hectares, and the yield of the main food crop reaches 62 centners per hectare.
Peasant farming regularly pays taxes. In the current year, it has paid income tax in the amount of 255 thousand rubles. And taking into account transport, land, social and pension taxes, the amount of payments will increase to 350 thousand rubles. For a small farm with only 75 hectares of arable land, this is a significant amount, which indicates efficient work and high income in the peasant farm.
The advanced farmer has his own dreams. In particular, he wants to build a refrigerator, produce frigo seedlings on his own, i.e. frozen seedlings, the yield of which in the first year of planting is similar to the second. He would also like to put a refrigerator near the field to cool the products.
In total, the farmer has 75 hectares of arable land. In addition to strawberries, he grows wheat, barley and sunflowers in this area. There is also a seed plot with an area of 4 hectares, where a promising elite wheat variety “Count” is sown.
— I think that agricultural producers in Russia are quite capable of doing import substitution. In my opinion, in Adygea, the Krasnodar Territory and Stavropol Territory, it is necessary to more actively create greenhouse complexes and provide the country with domestic vegetables and berries, refusing to import imported ones. I am glad that when I go to the mountains with my family, I meet a lot of young modern gardens, and the prices for products are reasonable,” the farmer said.
He believes that in Adygea there are good weather conditions and fertile land, and nearby there are the sea and mountains, where you can sell your products. You just need to work and not be lazy. And it is gratifying that today the production of berries – garden strawberries and raspberries – is starting to grow in the republic, and young people are also engaged in this. And the state provided support for them in the form of grants under the Agrostartup program.
