10 observations of an American farmer in Russia

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

1) No land! Given that Russia is the largest country on Earth, getting your own piece of land on which you could build a house for your family and grow food is very difficult. In theory, the Russian government has several options for providing unused land to people who need it, but my four years of farming have proven that this "allocation" is extremely difficult. I now have land, but it belongs to me, as they say, "on bird rights."

2) Food prices are just what you need! Currently, the average Russian family spends 30 to 40% of their monthly income on food. In the United States, for example, the figure is about 8%. This means that a farmer in Russia can earn enough even with a small farm. The main reason why a relatively small percentage of people are engaged in farming in Russia is paragraph 1. An average family here can get a good income with only 6-8 cows. Tell American and European farmers about this - they will think you are kidding!

3) The toad effect. Anyone who has traveled to Russia, or at least dropped by here, who had a chance to meet “real” Russians, will tell you that Russians are mostly kind, generous and hospitable people. I myself am fully convinced of this. Unfortunately, the Russians also have a big toad. When we moved to Takuchet village and started building our small farm, we had some problems with other residents of this village during the first year. It seems that many have convinced themselves that they will not be able to succeed in life, so when someone starts trying, and even more so if someone succeeds in achieving something, they naturally try to stop someone else's success. so as not to be disappointed in their pessimistic beliefs. This is a very sad but very real problem in many Russian cities and villages. Almost every farmer I spoke to told me the story of "pests" who destroy everything simply because they are "crushed by the toad." A sad but real fact of rural Russia. A fact that only time and success can change.

4) Freedom! It is ridiculous to imagine that in some way farmers in Russia are much freer than farmers in the United States or Europe. Looks like irony, so let me explain everything. In Russia, for example, you can have 10 cows and not be registered as a dairy producer. In the States, in my home state of Idaho, you can only have three cows, and if you want more, you have to go through the same process as large corporations, which can have 10,000 cows. Almost everywhere in the USA and Europe, you cannot trade, for example, fresh milk or meat from your farm without a bunch of papers, inspections, regulations, etc. Over the past 20 years, almost 100,000 small farms in the United States have been closed because of this. In Russia, all you need is a veterinarian's certificate that your animals are healthy. When the Russian government tries to “develop” agriculture, I hope they will remember to leave room for the most important part of this industry - family farms.

5) It's cheap to start here. IF you can get land - and this is a big IF - then opening your own farm in Russia will require much less investment than in the United States. Remember, too, that food prices are higher here and your investment returns faster. I created a small farm to support my family. and in the future, maybe I will hire one worker. I spent about 1,200,000 rubles on everything: a house, a barn, livestock, a tractor, the necessary equipment, a car, etc. At that time it was about $ 40,000. If I wanted to create the same farm in the States, I would have to spend about $ 360,000. Most of the apartments in the cities of Russia cost more than I spent on building my entire farm.

6) Thank God for the Chinese! Almost every day I curse Russian import tariffs for passenger transport. But the Russian government allowed the import of agricultural equipment from all over the world, especially from China. And the Chinese have a long tradition of plowing small areas. I bought an all-wheel drive tractor with 24 horsepower for 180,000 rubles. You will not look at an American tractor for such a sum without tears. This Chinese tractor has served me faithfully, it is very easy to use and easy to repair. And it is very economical. I can work on my little Chinese tractor for 8-9 hours on just 10 liters of diesel. Not all Chinese goods are good, I have bought bad things, but in general, having inexpensive equipment in Russia means a lot. If only I could get an old American pickup truck!

7) Fermer.ru and google.com. Sometimes people ask me where I learned how to make cheese and run my household. I'm kidding that it's in my blood, it's our family secret! I say this because the truth is much less interesting. Nowadays, you can learn anything just by doing a good internet search. Fermer.ru is the site that I constantly read and where other farmers share their experiences. This does not mean that you are not making mistakes, it means that you have a place where you can look for answers to your questions, and most likely you will find them. It's incredible how much time people are wasting on the internet. The Internet has changed absolutely everything: you can learn anything, which means you can do anything! This is the main freedom of our time, which everyone should enjoy.

8) Winter rest. When you mentally imagine Russia, and especially Siberia, snow fields, frozen rivers and very cold weather appear before you. But the long winter is one of the main reasons why I decided to become a farmer in Siberia. Of course, a short summer means that you have to work like a regular from 4 am to 11 pm, but that also means that when winter comes, my work for five months is 5 hours a day. This means that I can spend the rest of my time with the church and my family. My wife Rebecca and I spend many winter evenings reading books aloud. We can read up to twenty books in a winter. Farming allows for a similar lifestyle. Perhaps I cannot go to Thailand or Egypt to “rest”, but I can spend the whole winter in a warm house with my family.

9) The crisis of the village. I have lived in Russia for almost 20 years. I grew up here. As a farmer, I see the sad trend of "running away from the village and back to life." This is sad for many reasons, but the main one is that the village provides a better atmosphere for the family than the city. Children who grew up “in nature” are healthier, more resilient and psychologically stable. This is partly because the parents in the village have their usual routines and spend most of their time at home, rather than outside of it, as in the city. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years, the laws have changed not in favor of those who live in the countryside. Due to the shift of power from local to regional and even federal, the life of a villager is becoming more difficult. More and more often people think that there are no prospects in the village. In fact, this is not the case. Land Code Reform”would easily change the situation. After all, it is not so difficult to allow the use of 100 hectares of land for families who are ready to do this. Of course, not all families are able to properly use the land, but many would begin to cultivate it, reviving rural life. Many city dwellers are tired of the hustle and bustle and want their property, peace and stability. Let's do this before it's too late.

10) Help is only good when it helps! I hear so much “how to raise the Russian agroindustry” from “experts” who have never driven a tractor or milked a goat at least once. I'm tired of listening to stupid decisions: we need to introduce “protective tariffs”, new government loan programs, provide subsidies, give grants, make diesel cheaper, and so on and so forth. So many times they called me from government agencies and offered "help", but this "help" has never been provided with the necessary help.

This is all about how the West, especially the United States, is destroying the glorious history of flourishing agriculture - an economy based on small family farms. Russian agriculture is at a very low level of development today, although it should be number one in the world. But we Russians must ask ourselves what we want for ourselves in the future. A modern corporate property and a chemistry-based economy that destroys the environment, causes cancer, and causes a host of other modern health problems? An agriculture that has high technology, high yields, high costs, and highly volatile? Or do we want humane farming where you know where your food was grown, where the people who plow the land benefit from it, where families can work the land together and eventually hand over the business to their children?

We can choose. The "help" of the government most reliably reaches the big impersonal corporations, since the big inevitably deals with the big. We ask for laws that would allow us to receive subsidies, but who will receive these subsidies? Not Andrey with 6 cows, not Rustam with 10 goats, and not Alexey with 10 hectares of hayfields. We don't need this kind of help that hits small farms.

The only "help" that is needed is a competent land policy that does not restrict the use of land, but encourages it. Land policy that allows you to own large plots and does not punish for this. Land policies similar to those in the United States from 1862 to the 1970s. Land policy with a low level of bureaucracy and a high level of work. Land policy, which would be beneficial for every good man, and which would exclude the interference of lawyers - little hands. Let's look to the West, take good historical experience from there from their history and leave them agro-industrial experiments.