From the magazine: No. 3 2014
Category: First persons
“Bashmakovsky bread” is not a potato name. But the story about this farm did not appear in our magazine by mistake. Today this enterprise is one of the most advanced in the production of vegetables and potatoes in the Penza region. People come here to learn from farms from all over the region. And this despite the fact that potatoes have been growing on these lands for only the second year.
The head of the vegetable growing department of the agricultural enterprise, Sergei Shcheglov, talks about how the history of the enterprise began and how it is developing at this stage.
– Initially, the Bashmakovsky Bread enterprise was part of a holding company that provided Penza with bread. In the early 2000s, the agricultural enterprise supplied raw materials (wheat) to two large bakeries. But he gradually mastered the technology of growing other crops, choosing the most profitable ones: beets, malting barley, corn and, of course, potatoes.
– When did the “potato stage” begin on your farm?
The first time potatoes were planted was in 2013. Result (yield - 500 c/ha) pleased us; we were clearly convinced that the investment pays off in a short time. This year, the farm has already occupied 400 hectares for potatoes. It’s too early to talk about the next one, but we think that we will allocate about 1,5 thousand hectares.
– Do you grow potatoes using intensive technology, using irrigation?
– The Penza region is not one of the arid territories, but it has climatic features: during the growing season there is not enough moisture, which greatly affects the yield and quality of the product. Watering avoids these risks, so we plan to water everything we plant. Currently, documentation is being prepared for a project to install a reclamation system on an area of 1,43 thousand hectares, and in the future - on an area of 5 thousand hectares.
– What kind of potatoes do you produce?
– The kind the consumer wants to receive. Requests are easy to find out; the results of customer surveys are regularly published on the Internet. Average housewives prefer washed potatoes in small (2-3-4 kg) beautiful packaging. Some people choose tubers with pink skin, others with white skin; some need potatoes for frying, others for mashing. But this is a question of the assortment that we provide. For wholesalers who are more comfortable working with 25 kg bags, we also supply what they need.
– Do you work with retail chains?
– Yes, this is a reliable sales channel. Part of the new harvest, for example, will go to the Magnit chain of stores of the company ZAO Tander (at the beginning of the year they signed a contract for the supply of up to 5 thousand tons of potatoes). In addition, starting this year we are growing chip varieties for the Frito Lay company. This is a pilot project, but very interesting for us.
– Obviously, you are able to grow high quality potatoes! You work for such demanding partners.
– When the market is oversaturated with goods, all buyers choose the best, everyone has serious requirements, even wholesale resellers. We try to match them.
Those manufacturers who have a different level of quality also find their buyers, but the profit margin is different.
– Where do you store the grown crops?
“We immediately realized that there would be no return on the “wild” market, and in 2013 we built a vegetable storage facility with a capacity of 2,5 thousand tons. Then two more hangars of the same volume.
Equipped with sorting, washing, packaging equipment: the appearance of the product is very important!
We are currently working on implementing a project to build a logistics center with a capacity of 180 thousand tons of one-time storage.
The logistics center will consist of 12 modules, each of which is designed for 15,0 thousand tons of simultaneous storage of potatoes and consists of six storage facilities united by a gallery, which will house technological equipment for storing potatoes for storage and a line for washing and packaging potatoes.
– Apparently, the scale of potato production will change?
– By 2018, we are going to increase the production of commercial potatoes to 212 thousand tons (on an area of 5,3 thousand hectares).
In addition, we will try to grow our own seeds: propagate the elite until the first reproduction. Minimum program: provide your farm with seed material. But if we get a harvest of decent quality, and there is a demand for our seeds, we will be happy to offer them to other enterprises. If we talk about numbers, the project provides that we can grow up to 17,5 thousand tons of seed potatoes on an area of 700 hectares.
-Aren't you going to change the name? At least for “Bashmakovsky Second Bread”?
– This is already a well-known brand. In addition, other areas of our work will also develop. We want to supply a wide range of vegetables: beets, onions, carrots - the classic “borscht set”. We have all the capabilities for this.
Yulia Zamulina, Press Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Penza Region
– CJSC “Bashmakovsky Bread” is implementing a large-scale and very important project for the region - “Creation of a logistics center and organization of potato production in the Penza region.”
The estimated cost of the project is 5,47 billion rubles (these are own and borrowed funds). The total investment in the implementation of this project as of August 28, 2014 is 55 million rubles.
The project is developing at a good pace, and we believe that the experience of Bashmakovsky Bread should definitely be used in other enterprises in the region. In mid-May of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Penza Region decided to hold a master class for agricultural producers on the basis of this enterprise on the topic: “Production of potatoes using intensive technologies.” The master class took place in the field, with a demonstration of agricultural machinery and methods of conducting field work. Guests of the event received full information about how the soil is processed, when potatoes are planted, how watering is carried out, what fertilizers are applied and what plant protection products are used. Representatives of the farm noted that the enterprise does not save on agricultural machinery, fertilizers - that is, on proper adherence to technology. And he considers the most important and effective investment of financial resources to be investment in personnel: “Since everything is serviced by people, by human labor.”
The average salary at the enterprise last year was 25 thousand rubles; as part of the project “Creation of a logistics center and organization of potato production in the Penza region,” the company plans to create 2018 new jobs by 336. And this is a social effect, ensuring employment of the population, development of rural areas.