Towards the end of the field season, the peasants are trying to prepare as much as possible for the winter and lay a solid foundation for the next spring. Farmer Sergei Naldeev mows and rolls hay for livestock feed on leased areas.
Sergei Nikolaevich is a tough farmer, in Soviet times he worked as a machine operator at the Polyanka state farm in the Lukhovitsky region. He still has a lot of equipment today: 6 tractors (two new ones, already bought out on lease without interest), MAZ, KamAZ, baler, rake, tedders …
It would seem that with such strong rears, he is only engaged in animal husbandry. However, the farmer has only cows … 15.
“On TV, they only talk about the development of the village, about the need to organize family farms, which the state helps with preferential loans,” he says. – I would be happy to participate in such a project. What is not my family farm? The son and daughter help, they have their own families. Ready nominee for the award. But in order to receive a state grant for a family farm, I must have 12 million rubles on my account. Show me a peasant who has 12 million in his savings book. Besides manure, our brother has nothing on his account.
We calculate how much money is needed to build a livestock farm for 25 cows with a dairy shop. The cheapest option, a modular farm, costs 10 thousand rubles per square meter. An ordinary farmer can no longer afford it. And, of course, you also need a hay barn to feed the cows in winter. However, it costs no less than 12 million rubles.
The farmer has leased 500 hectares, since he has been cultivating them for 15 years, he can redeem them as property. But he is not in a hurry yet. The fact is that his rent per hectare is not high, for which he is grateful to the district administration. But buying the land is too expensive for a farmer.
In general, there are no problems with the land yet. But we desperately need a livestock farm with milk processing and a hay barn. Because in the spring and summer, his cows are in the fresh air around the clock, graze on herbs and give out milk of excellent quality. And at the end of the season, he transports them, so to speak, to winter apartments – they are located on the other side of the Oka. This ferry crossing is usually stressful for the livestock and loses productivity.
Both the farmer and his cows cannot understand why we have such agrarian laws: in order to receive a grant, you first need to have millions of rubles of your own funds.
Naldeev quite reasonably notes: if he had millions, he would not have turned to the state for help. I would have built it myself.
– Many Russians, having large sums on their accounts, would prefer not to work at all. Do you feel the difference?
“It’s all wrong!”
“I sell my milk to dealers,” he sighs. – In Beloomut, there is no way of selling it. Dealers buy from me at 20 rubles per liter, and in Lukhovitsy they sell at 60–70. But I can’t go to town every day! Where are the procurement offices that used to be? When our state farm “Polyanka” worked, we donated our surplus from the garden there. They fed schools and kindergartens with food and milk, it was like a government order. Today it is forbidden for me to supply my natural milk to children’s institutions, they have their own rules. If I had a farm, I would sell milk at 40 rubles per liter, and not 70, as in stores today.
Naldeev’s summer camp, where the cows are still nibbling the grass, includes haymaking machines and two household blocks. In one, seasonal helpers live (usually there are five of them), and in the other there is a kitchen with basic amenities and a stove for preparing meals.
In addition to his son and daughter, the local unemployed help the farmer. They usually work well. One thing is bad in Beloomut: the places here are very beautiful, all summer long on the banks of the Oka (it flows very close) townspeople and fishermen set up their camps. Where there is fishing, there is booze, it happens that one of Naldeev’s assistants is in the company of vacationers, and then everything is lost for several days. Today is just one of those days: not all professional personnel have gone out to harvest hay.
Naldeev (himself a former state farm machine operator) treats human weakness with understanding. “It happens that someone breaks down. But they know how to work, and they earn decent money for the season. Where else will they find such money? “
The more actively the domestic village has been developing in recent years, the more acute the accompanying problems become. Yes, it is being re-equipped, combines and modern tractors are largely replacing manual labor. But all the same, the village needs working hands.
– There are no young people, – says Sergey Nikolaevich, – everyone wants to earn a lot at once and leave for the city. Where, as a rule, they get a job as security guards in stores. All this is wrong!
Questions squarely for a startup
To make it easier to endure the difficulties that arise, here, in these very fields, the cooperation of farmers is planned. Natalya Golikova, a nurse by training, changed her Moscow registration and moved to Beloomut. She does not hide the fact that she “ran away” from everyday problems. Both she and her spouse were dismissed several years before retirement without any explanation. And try to find a job in our time …
But what years are they ?! Still full of energy and creative business plans. A direct road to farmers, especially since the profession of a peasant is respected and in demand. As soon as you express your desire, the authorities will immediately meet you halfway. And not just halfway, but also endowed with various benefits due to novice farmers.
In order to get closer to village life from a refined Muscovite (she lived in the center of Moscow, however!), Natalya Fedorovna received a zootechnical diploma in the capital. Therefore, it is not surprising that the first thing she did with her relative in Beloomut was a cow. It was five years ago.
Burenka gave birth to a calf, then another one appeared … Now Golikova has 9 black-and-white cows. And only … 15 acres of land – the same one that belongs to her relative. Thanks to Sergei Nikolaevich, who allows her cows to graze in his meadows.
All these years, the former Moscow veterinary nurse has been trying to transform her personal subsidiary farm into a private farm and professionally engage in animal husbandry.
We need land. But this is already a difficult question. Officials suggest to her: look for several hectares of vacant land in the region, measure the plot, create a cadastral plan and come to us. We’ll see what can be done.
As a rule, this “let’s see” always ends the same way. A person who has invested in the cadastral plan, on a general basis, becomes a participant in a land tender or auction for this site – without any privileges. Whether he will be able to win this auction is a big question. The prices there are unaffordable. This is the law. Thank God, the Moscow Region Duma volunteered to change this order and allow local authorities to allocate 10 acres of land to farmers without unnecessary conditions, without an order from the governor and without an auction. Farmers hope that this rule will work from 2022.
Golikova and her husband have plans to participate with their business plan in a start-up competition. The winners are entitled to a subsidy for the development of the economy of up to 6 million rubles.
Since the newly-minted villagers do not have land, they do not participate in the competition. But there are questions. Such subsidies cannot be used to build, for example, a livestock farm – such is the federal law. You can buy cows, but you can’t build them “housing”. Although everything should be exactly the opposite.
Why can’t you invest in building a farm? Due to the fact that building materials have risen in price, when drawing up an estimate for construction, an excess in prices may be allowed, which the prosecutor’s office can easily identify when checking. And the supervisory authority will definitely check the correctness of spending state subsidies.
And what will happen in the end? If the money was not used so effectively, “squandered”, then the farmer will be obliged to return these 6 million rubles. Otherwise, a criminal case for embezzlement will be brought against him. The check will certainly reveal flaws that will be regarded as theft.
Then, to participate in a startup, you need to have 3-5 years of experience. But if a person does not have a peasant farm and he has no right to open an LLC for the development of agriculture, then where does the experience of 5 years come from? And it is difficult to call such a person a novice farmer. Nonsense…
A vicious circle turns out. 15 acres of land and 9 cows. You cannot feed cows from such an area. It’s good in summer, cooperation with Naldeev and his pastures helps. And in winter, a very difficult period begins for Golikova’s cows.
In general, the ex-Muscovite has a desire to work on the land, but the land itself does not yet exist. And where – in Russia ?!
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