The beginning of the current agricultural season for the Kuzbass agrarians was mixed. On the one hand, the sowing campaign started earlier than usual. On the other hand, the coronavirus pandemic leaves a negative imprint, due to which the villagers suffer significant losses. In these conditions, the regional authorities came to the aid of farms.
As one of the leading farms of the Kuzbass agro-industrial complex, the Beregovoi agricultural production cooperative, is going through a difficult season, the correspondent of the Kuzbass newspaper learned.
Conflicting spring
Usually the late Siberian spring, with snow and rains, does not pamper the Kuzbass villagers. However, this year warm dry weather in April-May was a pleasant surprise. Taking advantage of the fine days, the employees of the Beregovoi agricultural complex started the current sowing campaign earlier - from ten days to two weeks, depending on the crop.
To date, the area under cereal (1460 hectares) is completely sown. Wheat, soy, barley and oats are already preparing to shoot in the fields. They didn’t rush into the planting of vegetables, which the agricultural production cooperative is famous for, and Beregovoy knows for sure how to correctly arrange the sowing work - the enterprise has the best indicators for the yield of vegetables and potatoes in the region. Last year, 15,8 thousand and 11 thousand tons were harvested here, respectively.
Sowing follows the traditional calendar. It is necessary that the earth warms up properly (or, as the agrarians themselves say, “matured”). At the same time, the plan for onions and carrots has been completely fulfilled, cabbage has been planted since May 12, more than 30% has been planted, and beets are a later crop, they will start working at the end of this month. In total, more than 250 hectares of arable land are occupied by vegetables. Another 350 ha is reserved for potatoes. They started planting it in early May, five days earlier than last year, to date, work has been completed by more than 70%.
To make the productivity of “Siberian bread”, as potatoes are often called, even better, this spring for the first time they started using liquid phosphate fertilizers. In addition, today they have modernized the landing technology itself. Sometimes potato planters during field work deviate relative to the movement of the tractor, planting occurs not in the center of the earthen ridge, but from the side. This leads to the fact that during the harvesting campaign, combines with knives damage the tubers. Every year, because of this, the company lost up to 15% of the crop. By the current sowing campaign, all the potato equipment was equipped with a navigation system with automatic steering, which allows you to smoothly drive the machine - with a maximum displacement of only two centimeters. Also, before the start of this growing season, the CLAAS tractor and GRIMME planter were purchased.
This spring also presented an unpleasant surprise in the form of a coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 hit hard on agriculture.
“Now is the period when the sale of vegetables of the previous crop grown in the open field should have ended. However, due to the pandemic situation, the consumption of our vegetables and potatoes decreased. We still have 800 tons of cabbage and the same amount of potatoes in our warehouse, whereas in previous years we had practically sold everything by that time, ”explains Sergey Polikov, director of Beregovoi SEC. - And now almost all restaurants and cafes do not work. The situation is the same with schools and partly with kindergartens, where we also deliver our products. It would seem that ordinary consumers who eat at home should be activated, but we do not feel this. This is probably due to the fact that many people stopped cooking themselves, often they order food via the Internet with home delivery. There is another problem: the prices of our products have fallen. By this time, they should be an order of magnitude higher. Losses are obvious - the costs of storing vegetables and potatoes are the same, plus waste in the form of spoiled products for the winter reaches 50%, and current prices are lower than usual. For example, cabbage should cost more than twelve rubles, that is, higher than the cost, but we sell for ten, because they simply do not charge for more, and do not even take for 10. And if you rest and keep the price at least at cost, as a result, the products will remain unclaimed, and you just have to dispose of it. ”
With lower prices for agricultural products, production costs increase in parallel. So, over the year, the cost of fuel and lubricants increased by about 30%, the prices of herbicides and insecticides also increased by 20-30%, and electricity is becoming more expensive every month.
Tangible regional support and intractable retail chains
In the current difficult conditions, Beregovoi does not intend to reduce the sown area. The current situation is force majeure, and the overproduction seems to be local in time and not chronic. Moreover, there is support in the form of the so-called hectare subsidies. True, in 2020, federal payments are provided only for small farms. However, by order of the governor of Kuzbass, Sergei Tsivilev, 45 million rubles were allocated from the regional budget to support medium and large agricultural producers who did not fall into the federal program. SEC "Beregovoi" was among the 14 enterprises that received regional financial assistance.
“Due to the regional budget, the support is quite tangible. This year we were allocated a little more than five million rubles, that is, 10% of the costs of plant growing were reimbursed to us. For comparison, in previous years we received only 1-1,5 million rubles under the federal program, ”says Sergey Polikov.
Promising is the expansion of sales markets. SEC “Beregovoi” supplies products to neighboring regions, however, there is considerable potential here in Kuzbass. For this, it is necessary to develop cooperation of local agricultural enterprises with large retail chains. But the parties cannot find a common language in matters of pricing and supply conditions. For example, it’s more convenient for Sergei Polikov to work with resellers who themselves pack vegetables and potatoes and then deliver the goods to networkers. Due to this, the price increases by several rubles. However, retail chains want manufacturers to take care of the presentation of products, which implies additional costs for the latter. At the same time, purchase prices should be initial, that is, the same for which farms work with intermediaries. And this is extremely disadvantageous for manufacturers.
In addition, networkers negotiate prices with dealers every week, and they want to conclude agreements with agricultural enterprises that specify fixed prices throughout the quarter. Factors such as changes in the market situation (for example, a decrease in demand in a pandemic) and an increase in waste during long periods of storage are not taken into account. Given that in the logistics centers a truck with products can be deployed without any explanation, and in the appendage they can also impose penalties (about 50 thousand rubles for each truck), the wide cooperation of manufacturers with networks seems unrealistic.
This topic was discussed during the governor’s working visit to Beregovoi. Sergey Tsivilev praised the quality of grain, vegetables, potatoes, meat and milk (the cooperative is also one of the leaders of the Kuzbass dairy cattle breeding) and promised to help establish normal interaction with retail chains.
“Products - even now at the exhibition of achievements of the national economy! Such affordable and high-quality products should come primarily to the tables of Kuzbass residents. Direct deliveries to retail chains are beneficial for manufacturers, customers and shops. We are ready to assist farmers and livestock breeders, to help establish cooperation with large retail chains, ”said the head of the region.
Despite the difficulties that domestic agriculture abounds, Beregovoi SEC stands firmly on its feet and finds funds to help its employees, including in solving the housing problem. According to the federal target program “Sustainable Development of Rural Territories” in the village of Beregovaya, the company built a whole street of 26 private houses - Lilac. In addition, at the end of last year, two residential buildings were commissioned and the construction of two more houses continues.
Sergey Ismagambetov