Garlic is one of the most popular products in Russian cuisine. Meanwhile, on the Tomsk counters, they mainly offer garlic from China, the Tomsk Garlic claims in the SSSPC and intend to rectify the situation.
The cooperative brought together entrepreneurs from Tomsk and the village of Kozhevnikovo, Tomsk Region. Novice farmers studied the Russian experience of the industrial cultivation of garlic. In Siberia, no one produces garlic on such a scale, but in the western part of the country, the volumes are quite large.
Two years ago, Kozhevnikovsky farmers planted half a hectare of garlic from seeds grown at home. Harvested by hand.
“When we went to the weekend markets with our product, no one believed that garlic was grown in Kozhevnikovo. Everyone was very surprised. The buyers were convinced that we were just reselling Chinese. But as a result, we sold almost the entire crop,” shares Maxim Karpachev, a member and one of the founders of the cooperative.
In 2022, entrepreneurs planted about 3 hectares of already varietal garlic - the winter variety Shadeika, resistant to low temperatures, with good preservation. They switched from manual methods of growing crops to mechanized ones: they bought a planter for garlic, a weed harrow for weed control, a cultivator for inter-row cultivation, a sprayer and a tiller. The plans are to purchase equipment for working garlic and harvesting.
This year, the cooperators plan to plant at least 10 hectares with garlic. A yield of about 5 t/ha is expected.
“Culture is new for us, no matter how strange it may sound,” Maxim Karpachev admits. — I mean industrial cultivation of garlic. We regularly communicate with producers from the western part of Russia - these are the Tula, Belgorod, Bryansk regions, where they not only grow garlic, but also produce equipment for growing and processing garlic. We keep in touch with Krasnodar residents. While our garlic rises, they are already starting to throw out the arrow. That is, there are territorial and climatic features. And it’s impossible to adopt the cultivation technology, being equal to them.”
In February, agrarians visited Tula at the all-Russian conference on garlic cultivation "Time of Garlic - 2023", where about 50 garlic growers gathered to exchange experience.
“Personally, we were interested in everything. For example, we studied the experience of industrial garlic drying, and we will introduce this technology in the future. We looked at how to properly store garlic so that it does not deteriorate. In general, the trip turned out to be both useful and interesting,” the entrepreneur shared.
The activities of Kozhevnikov's cooperators spurred other plant growers as well, and Tomsk Garlic had its first competitors. In 2022, the project "Industrial cultivation of winter garlic in the open field in the Voroninsky rural settlement of the Tomsk region" won the competition of entrepreneurial projects "Razvitie" and received state support. But Kozhevnikovites are not afraid of local competition.
“The garlic business in the Tomsk region is still in its infancy. And in order to create serious competition, huge volumes of its production are needed. Our main competitors are the Chinese, although the quality of their garlic leaves much to be desired,” notes Maksim Karpachev.
To oust Chinese garlic, producers from the Tomsk region plan to launch an online platform where everyone can purchase planting material, the final product, and even special agricultural equipment.
“First of all, we rely on processors. Our main consumers are sausage producers, manufacturers of ketchup, mayonnaise, etc. Some established contacts already exist, but they need volumes. For example, the need of Sava (specializes in the production and sale of food products from wild plants in Siberia and the Altai Territory - ed.) is about 50 tons of garlic per year. We are starting to work with Sibirskaya Pletka (produces fiber and healthy nutrition - ed.), we are negotiating with them, ”said the farmer.
In the longer term, the cooperative plans to engage in processing. For example, making garlic paste. According to Maxim Karpachev, they have already made a trial batch - everyone liked it.
Prepared by the Tomsk branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Center for Agroanalytics" based on the materials of the State Budgetary Institution "Agrarian Center of the Tomsk Region"