On December 16, on the basis of the logistics center of the agricultural consumer supply and sales cooperative "Novgorodsky Agrariy", a new shop for shock freezing of crop products began work.
The production facilities of the cooperative are located in the village of Lesnoy. There is also organized pre-sale preparation of vegetable products - washing, cleaning, packing and storage.
The new line of shock freezing was created with the participation of state support. Novgorod Agrarian won the regional grant competition among cooperatives in 2018 and received almost 27,5 million rubles for the implementation of the business plan, which is 60% of the project cost of the facility.
The launch of the workshop was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Novgorod Region Timofey Gusev, Minister of Agriculture of the region Elena Pokrovskaya, Head of the Novgorod District Oleg Shakhov and farmers - members of the cooperative.
According to the chairman of the cooperative Denis Pavlyuk, for the cooperative this is a new project, a new market. While everything is going on in test mode, the technology is being worked out on carrots, but then all vegetables of the "borsch" group will be put into shock freezing. In the future, they expect to use wild plants - berries, mushrooms for freezing.
“Now we are looking for buyers of these products. We plan that our main partners in this project will be producers of frozen mixes. We plan that we will produce 300 kg per hour of finished product on this line, ”Denis Pavlyuk said.
Oleg Shakhov emphasized the importance of the new facility for the region's economy.
“It's good that we are opening such production facilities, new storage areas. This is, first of all, the added value of the products of our farmers, as well as always fresh and high-quality products, delivered to the consumer on time. Plus, these are additional taxes and new jobs. This means that people stay in the village, ”said the head of the district.
Elena Pokrovskaya noted that there are three modern, well-equipped logistics centers for the pre-sale preparation of agricultural products in the region - in the Novgorod and Borovichi regions. But such a workshop is the first experience in the field of small business. The Minister emphasized that the producers of vegetables and potatoes in the region fully meet the needs of the population: in this area, our region ranks first in the North-West.
“Colleagues from other regions ask the question of how Novgorod farmers manage to work together so harmoniously and effectively. The cooperative “Novgorodsky Agrarian” demonstrates this at every stage of development. The first stage - on the pre-sale preparation of products before delivery to retail chains - has been completed, the next is the processing of products. I am sure that you will go further: you need your own sales network and work for export. All this shows that not only big business, but also small business can achieve great results. This deserves respect, ”said Timofey Gusev.