The August company intends to expand its own land bank to 250 thousand hectares within five years. New areas for agriculture will be acquired mainly in the Volga region. It is assumed that agricultural firms managed by August-Agro, as a result of the development of the Agroproject project, will begin to generate income in the amount of up to half of the revenue of the main business of the August company - development, production and information and technological support for the use of chemical plant protection products. As part of this strategy, in 2020, the Agroproject included the Leninogorsk agricultural company with an area of farmland of more than 25 thousand hectares in the Republic of Tatarstan.
This year, the Agroproject of the August company included the Leninogorsk agricultural company in the Republic of Tatarstan with a land allotment of more than 25 thousand hectares. Previously, it belonged to Tatagroleasing JSC. At the beginning of 2020, the August farmland occupied an area of more than 70 thousand hectares and included 4 farms: August-Muslum in Tatarstan, the Sanary agricultural firm in the Republic of Chuvashia, the Zarya enterprise in the Tbilisi district of the Krasnodar Territory and Ak-Jer 2010 in the Republic of Kazakhstan. With the acquisition of another farm, the total area increased to almost 100 thousand ha.
“An agricultural company in the Leninogorsk region was offered to us for consideration in the fall,” says Aidar Galyautdinov, general director of the August-Agro management company. - We entered into a deal in February and are preparing to close it within six months. For the former owner, whose main activity is equipment leasing, the agricultural company was a non-core asset. However, this is a fairly strong economy, specializing in dairy farming and sugar beet cultivation. We reconstruct one of the two farms as part of the agricultural company with the transition to loose-milking and eventually update the number of cattle: we primarily consider the Holstein breed and, possibly, jersey. Instead of sugar beets, we will switch to our standard crop set in Tatarstan: approximately 10% of the area will be allocated to fodder corn and perennial grasses, the rest will be equally divided between grains and crops of legumes, rape and sunflower. ”
As noted in the Agroproject, existing farms already bring substantial profits. The effectiveness of August-Muslum and Ak-Jer 2010 agricultural firms, which became part of the Agroproject during 2017-2019, is consistent with plans for a five-year return on investment. Each year, within the framework of the Agroproject, about 10% of the land from the available land is brought into circulation due to old perennial grasses and fallow lands. Crop production of farms is bought by traders, and dairy goes directly to dairies.
“The main goal of Agroproject is business, making money,” says Aidar Galyautdinov. - In addition, which is also extremely important, Agroproject allows you to show the capabilities of the August products and technologies for plant protection not only in specialized plots, but in large areas. These goals are actually close to each other and these areas of business have a good synergy. Within 4-5 years, we plan to expand the land bank to 250 thousand hectares, as well as build several elevators and dairy complexes. According to the results of the implementation of this investment project, the annual revenue of our farms should total at least 12 billion rubles - up to half of the revenue that brings the core business of August. ”
The acquisition of new farms is planned mainly in the Volga region, in regions with the most favorable climatic conditions for agriculture. At the same time, the Agroproject emphasizes that the proximity of land to the August-Alabuga enterprise in the territory of the SEZ “Alabuga” in the Republic of Tatarstan does not play a decisive role: the areas will be considered, including in remote areas.
Material provided by the press service of the company "August"