Fundamentally new opportunities for small agricultural producers and owners of private household plots are opened by association in cooperatives. One of the Volgograd agricultural enterprises became a grant recipient, now it will be able to provide school canteens with fresh vegetables.
An agricultural cooperative in the Svetloyarsk District specializes in the sale of vacuum-packed borscht vegetables: cabbage, carrots, onions and potatoes.
According to the chairman of the association Vyacheslav Plushenko, such products have a lot of advantages. The vegetables are washed, peeled and packaged and have a shelf life of 7 days. Two months ago, vegetables from the SEC have already begun to arrive in the canteens of educational institutions in the region.
The requirements for the supplied products are very high. Despite the fact that the organization has been operating for only the second year, 36 farms have already been united into a cooperative - both personal subsidiary and peasant farms.
In 2021, it was possible to reach a production volume of 100 tons, and over the next four years this figure is planned to be increased to 280 tons. A special regional commission approved the cooperative's application for a grant. The grant funds were used to purchase equipment for cleaning vegetables, an industrial vacuum and a truck for delivering products.