JSC Volga expands its activities and prepares for import substitution In February 2022, the press service of the Investigative Committee for the Saratov Region announced the initiation of a criminal case against one of the employees of JSC Volga greenhouse complex, who was suspected of receiving bribes from the contractors of the plant. Is this way of earning money possible for employees of the enterprise? I managed to talk about this and many other things with the General Director Alexey Alexandrovich Popov, who has been working as a manager since July 2020. As Alexey Popov assures, he simply loves his work and treats the matter with all his heart. “I left the “collective farm” a little,” he declares with conviction and says that a person should earn money by continuing to talk about the difficulties and successes in work. In total, 324 people work at the enterprise, including 200 vegetable growers. The entire farm consists of 18 hectares of greenhouses and 127 hectares of young orchards. So there is room for expansion. Employees are delivered free of charge by the transport facilities of the organization, they are fed inexpensively in the canteen, deducting the cost of meals from wages. Employees are compensated 40% of the cost of payment for kindergartens, 90% of the cost of children’s vouchers to pioneer camps. Twice a week, each employee can purchase the company’s products at cost, and these are cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and even watermelons and melons. The average salary reaches 39 thousand rubles. But despite this, 40% of the staff remain vacant. Workers are required. The team is mostly female. Senior agronomist Oksana and foremen of vegetable growers Natalya and Irina said that they have been working here for more than 10 years, showing a corporate spirit in everything. They care about product quality and performance. Looking at the huge and well-groomed workshops of greenhouses, you really believe in their sincere attitude to their work. The economy receives heat from a nuclear power plant in the neighborhood, but it does not get cheap electricity. Market. The fixed amount of heat supplied by the nuclear industry does not allow the expansion of the greenhouse sector, and therefore it is necessary to expand other areas of activity. Fish farming, gardening, floriculture, there are plans to obtain fruit and wood mulch, growing seedlings. Such perspectives. Before making contact with the general director, I wanted to make sure of the quality and safety of the products, not from his words, but with my own eyes. To do this, she handed over cucumbers for laboratory research. The results were a pleasant surprise. All indicators were well below the established limit. Balakovo cucumber turned out to be completely safe in terms of the content of chemical elements and nitrates. Apparently, this is why this local product is so loved by everyone. But, unfortunately, only a small part of it is sold locally by the Balakovo Farmer trading network. Knowing this, many sellers of vegetables, in order to quickly sell their goods, often pass off other products as Balakovo. In turn, Balakovsky Farmer sells the products of the Volga greenhouse complex at one price, despite the fact that the latter sells it at prices according to the grade. Maybe that’s why such a marketing move by the seller does not lead to an increase in its sales. There are also claims from counterparties selling products outside the region. There are constant disputes about giant cucumbers offered for sale. Some say that the plant obligatory imposes this product at a second-rate price. Although Aleksey Popov assured that this was not the case, that such a non-standard product is sold at a price of 10 rubles per kg, he did not show invoices confirming this. Immediately in block No. 1, the stacker explained that about 8-10% of the total volume of a one-time assembly is assembled of such giants and large specimens, this is just a human factor. To taste, she assures, all cucumbers are the same. More than 9 kilometers along the perimeter spread young gardens, occupying 127 hectares. Apple juice is made from the harvest of apples. Unfortunately, not many residents of Balakovo know about this product, a three-liter box of which costs 180 rubles for an enterprise at cost. In a conversation, Alexey Popov complains that it is very difficult to promote goods on the shelves of networkers who dictate their terms. The difficulty is negotiating with leading purchasing managers. The owner himself is unreachable. Maybe he would be ready to make a decision, because local products are much more profitable in terms of logistics in their region. That’s why she’s local. There are many advantages to both parties and, most importantly, to the end buyer, both in terms of price and freshness. The terms of implementation are reduced – the key to an increase in the turnover of goods. There is a need to consider at the legislative level the issue of a mandatory quota for a local manufacturer by type of goods in the share of sales of chain stores. We tried to deal with this problem with the help of the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development. But as it turned out, this also lacks a legislative framework, the CEO believes. Local merchants i.e. small entrepreneurs do not want to work systematically. They immediately set a “cosmic” price, which repels the buyer, who for this reason does not go to them and does not return even if it is reduced. For example, one entrepreneur, according to Alexei Popov, bought cucumbers in the winter before the New Year at a price of 200 rubles/kg and tried to sell them at a price of 360 rubles/kg. Here is how to work with it? So I stopped taking the product. I was surprised by the agrochemical measures applied by the enterprise according to the latest methods. Pollination is done by purchased bumblebees and bees. Biological protection of plants is carried out. Entomophages (ambliseius, phytoseiulus, gall midge) are grown right on the territory of the greenhouse; parasites that kill pests (mites, caterpillars, thrips), using the latter as a source of nutrition for their offspring. At the same time, entomophages have a remarkable quality – they are completely indifferent, i.e. indifferent, indifferent to agricultural plants. All this once again speaks of the desire to improve the environmental friendliness of our products. We also discussed issues of supporting the development of the enterprise at the federal and regional levels. “We, as agricultural producers, enjoy all the preferences for this category of enterprises. According to applications, we receive appropriate loans, passing selections on a common basis. There are no exceptions for us. When some write in the media that we are a state-owned enterprise and enjoy appropriate benefits, this is not true. 100% of the shares belong to the government of the Saratov region,” explained Alexey Popov. As the CEO assures, the trouble is that there is no stability in the market situation. And this affects the results of work. For example, last year at this time cucumber and tomato cost 95 rubles/kg and 140 rubles/kg, respectively. Today their price is 60 rubles and 110 rubles. The required volume of fertilizers and chemicals was purchased by the enterprise ahead of time at the old price by the end of the year. And the price of fertilizers has already risen 6 times. For example, last year one type of fertilizer was purchased for 300 thousand rubles/ton, and this year, when a commercial offer was requested, the price for it soared to 1 million 800 thousand rubles. What caused it? How to keep the price for the consumer in this situation? And how much to sell those cucumbers and tomatoes? Here is a question for the enterprise. Returning to the beginning of the topic, Alexei Popov said that he believes in his team. He strengthens his corporate spirit with all his might. Introduced the 13th salary. The workers loved it. For the summer, he invites schoolchildren to work, cooperates with the agricultural university. Students willingly undergo industrial practice. At the expense of honesty and trust, he told a funny story, over which we laughed a little. It turns out that it is not enough for particularly savvy workers to buy cucumbers at cost. Let’s move on. Cut them into pieces and put them in a thermos for tea. Carry home almost ready salad. Don’t go empty. These are the methods that especially gifted nesuns have. The greenhouse farm grows 7-7.5 thousand tons of vegetable products and one thousand tons of apples per year. The company’s revenue for 2021 amounted to 520 million rubles. As a joint stock company, 50% of the net profit of the Volga greenhouse complex transfers to the regional budget. For 2021, 15 million rubles will be transferred in due time. Modernization of old greenhouses is required. We need personnel, specialized specialists. The company is ready to train those who want to work and is waiting for applications for employment. But people should understand that the work of an agricultural worker is quite difficult. The greenhouse industry is no exception. The management of the enterprise is working to ensure that the work of employees is easier, paid adequately, and the products are affordable for the buyer in sale and price.
