Irina BERG
Local farmers annually provide potatoes not only to the Tver region, but also to many other regions of Russia. Despite all the crisis phenomena, they do not reduce the area under crops and are ready to overcome the difficulties that arise. Potato growers, who have given the industry for many years, believe that in any case they must continue their work: to feed a large country and adequately provide for their families.
STRONG COMPETITORS
The head of the KFH, Vasily Volkov, from the Sandovsky municipal district, has been dealing with potatoes since the early 2000s and in recent years has kept the area under crops within 100-120 hectares.
In the village of Sandovo and the surrounding villages, today there are about a dozen farms that can be classified as strong and stable. The usual practice for farmers to grow a list of companion crops for crop rotation along with potatoes is unpopular here. Vasily Volkov cultivates only green manure, because there is simply nowhere to sell the crop of grain or legumes. Not a single large agricultural enterprise, not a single livestock farm remained on the territory of the district, and most of the fields were overgrown with forests.
The head of the KFH calls the low demand and the minimum selling price of tubers the main sign of the last season. Beginner farmers, who came to the industry in the hope of high profits received by potato growers in 2022, were unable to pay off their loans and found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy.
Vasily Volkov relied on the sale of large batches of potatoes at reduced prices. The lion's share of the harvest was sold through intermediaries, thanks to the activity of which the economy avoided serious difficulties.
Tver potato growers expected a rise in prices for their products at the beginning of 2023, but, on the contrary, it became cheaper. Back in January, the farmer received 17-18 rubles per kilogram of tubers, but in February the numbers on the price tags rushed down sharply. In the first half of May, he could hardly find buyers for 5+ fraction potatoes, good quality, at a price of 10 rubles per kilogram.
Between potato producers in the Tver region, according to Vasily Volkov, there is no tough competition. There are no large volumes of imported products here either. Rather, it is tveryaks that compete with their colleagues from other regions. Dealers come here for goods from the Rostov and Murmansk regions, from the Kuban and from central Russia. Large Tver potatoes grown on sandy loamy soils are in great demand by consumers, because after drying they look clean. For example, tubers dug out of the Bryansk chernozem are not inferior to Tver ones in quality, but lose to them in appearance.
THE MAIN PROBLEM IS HUMAN PERSONNEL
LLC "Potates-69" became the successor of the farm, which began its activities with an area of six hectares. In 2023, 200 hectares are occupied with potatoes on the fields of the enterprise in the Molokovskiy municipal district, 50 more than in the previous season.
Tver ware potato producers prefer varieties of foreign selection. General Director of Potates-69 LLC Andrey Fedotov said that today the priority in the region is Queen Anna and Colomba, for which high consumer demand remains, especially in the south of Russia. But Red Scarlett, although stable, but less productive, can be attributed to the outgoing varieties. According to the observations of the tveryaks, red potatoes have not been in trend lately, because the end buyer often chooses white ones.
The farm purchases seed material from official representatives of foreign companies in Russia. According to Andrei Fedotov, this guarantees the high quality of seeds and allows them to continue their reproduction in their own fields. About 40 tons of seed potatoes are required annually for the needs of the enterprise, but this year there is no need to purchase them.
The entrepreneur supports the desire of the authorities to develop domestic selection and popularize Russian varieties of crops. If in Russia everyone does their job conscientiously and produces only a quality product, then farms will be much more willing to buy agricultural machinery, crop seeds and plant protection products labeled “Made in Russia”.
Andrey Fedotov considers last year successful for his business. Potates-69 LLC did not notice either a collapse in prices or low demand for potatoes, and long-established business ties played a decisive role. Sales of products outside the Tver region went through intermediaries, primarily to the Krasnodar Territory, St. Petersburg, Moscow.
Speaking about the difficulties, the agrarian puts the personnel shortage in agriculture in the first place, where professional machine operators are most of all lacking. The village of Molokovo is small, and its population is constantly declining. Young people who do not want to work on the land tend to leave for large cities. It's not that they pay little here, because the same machine operator receives about 100 thousand rubles a month during the season. Russians tend to avoid hard work, and the expressions "man of work" and "rural worker", unfortunately, no longer sound proud.
UNDER THE POWER OF CIRCUMSTANCES
Your first potato Sergey Ershov planted in 1998, but for a long time worked as part of a personal subsidiary plot, and only at the end of 2007 became a farmer. In the new season, he increased the area under crops in the Sandovsky municipal district from last year's 130 to 150 hectares. When choosing potato varieties, the agrarian always relied on his experience and market demands. But there were also unexpected decisions that turned out to be good luck. Somehow, instead of the ordered Labella seeds, the farm was offered Red Lady. He took a chance, agreed and has been successfully cultivating this variety for seven years now. The head of the peasant farm used to buy seed material directly from foreign manufacturers. At first, among them were companies from Germany and Finland, but then the Finns stopped deliveries to our country.
This year Sergey Ershov decided to plant domestic potatoes for the first time. I bought 20 tons of seeds of the Prime variety in order to personally check how well domestic breeders worked. And at the same time compare the results of growing Russian and foreign potatoes.
Commenting on the situation with sales at the end of the 2022 season, the farmer noted that small producers could not influence it. Weak players in the potato market depend on the circumstances, on dealers, on the prices they set. Everyone hoped for the best, but farmers, who froze sales in the fall, were seriously affected. In the spring, the cost of tubers was even lower. The head of the KFH did not wait, he sold without stopping, and by the beginning of May he completely emptied his storages.
The sale of tubers was hampered by the remoteness of the economy from large cities. It is about 500 kilometers to both Russian capitals, 255 kilometers to Tver, but it is not possible to sell the harvest in the region. The main part, about 70%, went to the Krasnodar Territory, the rest to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk.
Until last year, the farmer provided local kindergartens and secondary schools with potatoes. But according to the new rules, deliveries to educational institutions are possible only on specialized vehicles that have a passport for the transportation of agricultural products. The farmer had an ordinary GAZelle and an old UAZ adapted for these purposes, so this distribution channel seems to have been lost.
Sergey Yershov expressed the common opinion of many of his colleagues about the state support intended for the industry. There are profitable programs, including those that provide compensation for the cost of purchasing seed material. The problem is that the subsidies given against the background of the total costs of potato growers are cheap. Every year we have to collect more and more documents to obtain them. Constant trips to Tver, to the regional Ministry of Agriculture, take a lot of time. If the farm buys small volumes of elite seeds, all these efforts do not make sense. In addition, varieties of potatoes for which support is available are not always suitable for cultivation in the region.
STRENGTH IN STABILITY
In Duet LLC, the first crop of potatoes was harvested in 2000 from an area of 60 acres, and today tubers are planted here already on two hundred hectares. The brothers Artem and Dmitry Gusev manage the enterprise in the Kesovogorsky district of the region.
On the fields of the farm there are varieties Koroleva Anna, Red Lady, Aluet, and seed material of the “elite” category is annually delivered to the farm from Europe. Dmitry Gusev, Executive Director of Duet LLC, notes that Tver potato growers are accustomed to growing potatoes bred abroad. Perhaps Russian breeders have interesting replacement options, but no one offers them, does not actively promote them on the market.
According to the agrarian, it is necessary to try to cultivate domestic varieties in order to evaluate their advantages. But such experiments are more affordable for large agricultural holdings. Medium-sized farms need to focus on getting a stable profit. Therefore, potatoes are chosen for production, which are already loved by consumers and are well bought up by them.
Dmitry Gusev described the past season as normal, of course, adjusted for lower prices than in the previous year. The enterprise managed to sell the entire crop crop, working with resellers, including those who send tubers for washing. The selling price for white potatoes did not fall below 20 rubles per kilogram. But red, which is usually endowed with additional useful properties, was sold for 25 rubles.
As the entrepreneur explained, over the years there has been a circle of regular customers who are accustomed to the fact that Tver potatoes are large and of good quality. The product has become in demand in different parts of the country, and there are especially many of its admirers in Russian megacities. This allows the manufacturer to survive even in difficult years for the industry.
Assistance from the state is called upon to add confidence to the farmers in the future. One of the largest items of expenditure is agricultural equipment, and the farms that purchase it usually hope to recover part of the costs from the funds of the regions. But Dmitry Gusev learned from his own experience how unpleasant it is to find out that your company did not have enough money in the budget. Such a policy in the field of state support cannot be called effective.
PROFESSIONALISM IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
As is customary with farmers, tveryakov do not give any forecasts at the beginning of the season. But they look to the future calmly, one might say, with moderate optimism.
Sergey Ershov believes that much will depend on nature, which almost always makes its own adjustments. The last two summers in the region turned out to be dry, but the soils here are mostly initially waterlogged, and there were no serious losses. In autumn, on the contrary, there was no shortage of rainfall, which interfered with the harvesting process. According to the farmer, if in 2023 at least several large producers are truly “dry” or flooded, the increase in the cost of potatoes is ensured.
Dmitry Gusev hopes that such a number of new players on the market as a year ago will not appear. And those who took up potato growing in pursuit of easy profits will return to their former business. These people did not calculate the consequences of their decisions, did not think about what could cause a collapse in prices for a new crop throughout the country.
Whatever the next year, Vasily Volkov is sure that experienced potato growers will not be broken by any difficulties. Let 2022 turn out to be difficult, and some plans had to be abandoned. Tveryaki did not remain in the red and were able to fully prepare for the new season. We bought everything we needed: seeds, fertilizers, plant protection products, diesel fuel.
Andrey Fedotov suggested that the current year could become more "tough" than the previous one. The global economy continues to storm, problems tend to accumulate, and the resources of potato growers are depleted. But the entrepreneur pays attention to something else. In the Tver region, they have learned how to grow decent potatoes, use high-quality seed material, and constantly increase crop yields. The high level of production made local farmers less receptive to hardship. And their professionalism will be the best guarantee of a successful agricultural season.