The face of Belarusian business. Ivan Grib 01.06.11
Earth worth its weight in gold
I now have 240 hectares of land, another 200 need to be reclaimed, - the head of the Olshany farm debunks Ivan Grib the idea of a farmer as a person "digging in the beds." - Approximately 100 hectares are allocated for an apple orchard and a nursery. The rest is cucumbers, cabbage, blueberries, a house, a parking lot, storage facilities for 20,000 tons of agricultural products, and there is also a bit of a swamp.
By Polissya standards, such a large allotment of land is real wealth. The fact is that more than half of the current farmland in Stolin district people received as a result of land reclamation. Previously, when swamps and regular floods of rivers dominated here, everyone had a shortage of land. Perhaps this is what taught the locals, as we would say now, to improve agricultural technologies and increase productivity.
There was a time when good hosts had to contend not only with difficult natural conditions, but also with the excesses of officials. AT Soviet years more than once attempts were made to knock out their “gaspadarlivas” from the Olshans. Either with bulldozers and saws they went to greenhouses, then they forbade the construction of greenhouses with a height of more than 70 centimeters, then they were allowed to cultivate no more than 1.5 hectares of land. But the Poleshuki survived.
If they give two hundred hectares of swampy land, then I will buy an excavator, a bulldozer and start work, - Ivan Grib shared his plans two years ago. - I was in Holland, I saw how they drain it.
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Allocated 300 hectares. True, the farmer admits, not the best land. He says that, probably, nothing was grown there for twenty years. You have to start almost from scratch. And this requires a lot of money.
A good experience is contagious
Susceptibility to the successful experience of others is also in the mentality of local residents. When you have a small piece of land and a large family, then, as they say, if you want to live, know how to work. Do like a neighbor, but better. Go to work in other districts, regions and even countries. Bring home money and experience.
Crimean Tatars, who had settled in the Stolin region since the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, taught the Poleshuks the tricks of floriculture and vegetable growing. Jews who settled here due to persecution in the central part Russian Empire, passed on a rich experience of handicraft activities. They say that at one time local craftsmen sewed boots for themselves Polish kings. These shoes, which are passed down from generation to generation, were very soft, sitting on the foot like a sock. But at the same time, for testing, it was possible to pour water into the boots, and they did not let it through.
The inhabitants of these places were also famous for the fact that even before the invention of refrigerators, they cooked ice cream and took it for sale even far away. Warsaw.
Ivan Grib once carried vegetables by car almost everywhere the USSR, seen a lot. Therefore, even now, although it works with the former Poleshuk grip, but according to advanced agricultural technologies - apple seedlings are Polish, blueberry seedlings are Dutch.
Family contract
Happiness depends on the family more than on money, - Ivan Grib shares his life philosophy. - It is important how a husband gets along with his wife. Let the house be not the best. Let there be little money - everything can be earned. But if there is no mutual understanding in the family, then money will not help anything. Sometimes it's better to be poorer, but for a person to have fun in his soul. And those who want a lot of money just have to work harder.
In the Stolin region, there are almost 2,000 large families for approximately 83,000 inhabitants. At Ivan Grib himself six children. This phenomenon, if you think about it, is easily explained. A child in a large peasant farm is an assistant from an early age. And to work in cucumber greenhouses, you need a lot of hands.
The first crop of cucumbers in Olshansky greenhouses is harvested by April 20 - May 1. The secret of such “early maturity” is in sound economic calculation: the sooner you offer the buyer, the more you earn.
And for this, seedlings have to be planted in February and with the help of firewood and potbelly stoves to heat large greenhouses. You can't do it without the help of children.
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- I go to bed right after the TV show of the evening news, and sometimes even earlier, - says Ivan Grib about his February-March life schedule. - I get up at three o'clock, replace one of the sons and throw firewood until the morning. Hired workers arrive at eight in the morning, and I meet with my sons on the spot already at seven - half past seven.
Ivan Vasilyevich's farm has grown over the years. Now even big family not manage. Therefore, the Mushroom is constantly working on 60-70 employees- local residents and from the neighboring Zhitkovichi region. Every day they are taken on a bus owned by the farmer. Some more are hired for seasonal work. They - money, the owner - profit.
True, some say that big money corrupts and spoils people. Therefore, some Olsha residents buy expensive cars and build large houses, while others drink and squander money.
If a person is reasonable, then his money will not spoil, - Ivan Grib does not agree. - I myself never gave them too much of great importance. There were no dreams: here I will earn a lot and I will be "king and god." I have never worn a tie in my life. I do not go on holiday to resorts, although I can afford it. So I decided to do agroecotourism better. I will put several houses on the banks of the Pripyat. I'll try what works. I don't spend money on nonsense. Earned - bought a car. If it doesn't work, I'll try to work better.
Trust in God, but don't make a mistake yourself
We are Baptists, - Ivan Vasilyevich explains one of the reasons for the special way of life in Olshany. - On Sunday we do not plant, even if the weather is fine. Water, if possible, try in advance.
Protestant community in Olshany - one of the largest in Belarus.
My father had eight children. On Sunday, my mother didn’t even allow me to go and cut a stick with a knife, ”recalls Ivan Grib. - In our village, one half is Baptist, the other is Orthodox. But there are no ardent ones, because everything is very intertwined.
And indeed. On the same street, not far from the Protestant prayer house, there is also an Orthodox church.
Faith brings a lot of good, - he believes. - In other villages, many have only one thought - how to drink. And our people in Olshany keep greenhouses. Some go to work. I also try to be stricter with the workers. If I see that a person can drink, I give money to his wife. Of course, many people don't like it. But I’m calmer: why should he drink for a week, break the tractor, and leave me without a worker? In general, most of our people are hard-working, non-drinking, non-stealing. Plant an onion in our area - no one will take it. And if you go somewhere in the direction of Russia, then there are five watchmen by the cabbage field.
However, in the extreme conditions of the swampy Polesye, over many centuries, religious faith, apparently, gave rise to something deeper. And it can be called faith in yourself, faith in their own strength.
So the farmer Ivan Grib met the recent global economic crisis without panic. Prior to that, he built storage facilities and began to expand the scope of his activities.
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Now, he says, it is even more profitable to deal with apples than hothouse cucumbers. He is going to deal more with cherries, blueberries, build a winter greenhouse with an area of up to 1 hectare and harvest cucumber crops in it twice a year. Competition is intensifying, he explains, in the same Russia there are more and more inexpensive vegetables grown in China. Therefore, you need to move.
Farmers or collective farms?
In the future, suggests Ivan Grib, his farm can expand by another 500 hectares. The district authorities offered to buy out the remains of the unfinished enterprise and, subject to the creation of new jobs, allocate five thousand hectares for agricultural purposes.
I want to plant an apple orchard there, and build a storage facility on the site of the remaining metal structures,” the farmer explains. “True, this land is very far away. From the center of the economy you have to get 80 kilometers.
The land issue has long been a stumbling block in the relationship between farmers and local representatives. state power.
The villagers have good arguments. In the midst of the cucumber season, visiting wholesalers from Belarus and Russia leave in the village every day million dollars. And this money is used to pay employees, buy plastic film, building materials, and food. Thus, the local budget indirectly receives good money. If people were given more land, they would bring even more, they would work more efficiently than the state "collective farms".
The district executive committee is pleased with such activity, but notes that farmers will grow only those types of products that can be profitably sold. If land is taken away from large agricultural organizations, who will fulfill the state order and ensure the country's food security? In addition, it is obvious that large agricultural enterprises also bear a great social burden: they equip roads, take care of pensioners.
One can endlessly speculate who is right in this situation. However, apparently, while farmers are not a priority for state officials, the inhabitants of Belarus will still have to rely not on Belarusian, but primarily on Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Turkish and other imported vegetables and fruits.
Importers benefit from this...
But is the average buyer happy with this arrangement?
Three associations of Ivan Grib on the word "businessman"
1. Strong owner.
2. A good family man.
3. Working person.
Ivan Grib with his brother Mikhail and sons are one of the most famous farmers of the Belarusian Polesie. Them family business located in the village of Olshany. Ivan GRIB talks about how to make money on vegetables, build an efficient farm, as well as about the difficulties and prospects for the development of farming in Belarus, in an interview with the Business News agency.
- Ivan Vasilyevich, how is your farm doing this year?
We are fine. We would like to add a little land, and nothing else interests us. Our apple crops are supernatural ...
- How supernatural?
We will harvest 3-4 thousand tons of apples. Last year there were 3 thousand tons. We do not yet know what the harvest will be, because now we are harvesting. But more than 20 trucks have already been sent to Russia. Now I'm picking apples, and we put almost the entire crop into the chambers.
- How long have you been gardening?
I have somewhere around 70-80 hectares of a large garden. There are young trees on another 40 hectares. Already in 2-3 years, all 120 hectares will produce a crop.
We also grew seedlings. We started with 1 million plants, then moved on to 600,000 plants, then 400,000 plants, and this year we planted 200,000 plants. There are implementation issues. Previously, the budget allocated money for gardens, but now it does not, and if it does, it is small amounts. If we sell seedlings, then many buyers do not pay: both collective farms and farmers. I am already reducing the number of seedlings, next year I will plant only 100 thousand.
I don't understand such a thing. We are fighting for budget money, which eventually goes to the collective farms. Billions of rubles for seedlings. And here you can use seedlings yourself, grow gardens, but they don’t give you land. For the last three years I have been handing out seedlings, and this year I started burning them, just specially dried the seedlings, and then burned them, because there was nowhere to plant them.
Now many collective farms are engaged in orchards, but with the huge areas of the orchard, they get a very poor harvest. Their gardens are not profitable. And so it is in many collective farms. No one does tree pruning, no one cares for gardens. They grow their gardens using outdated technologies; for the development of horticulture, it is necessary to switch to new technologies.
Last winter I removed 5 thousand tons of manure from collective farms and fertilized the garden. I bought two fertilizer distributors that constantly deliver manure under the apple trees. And there is an effect.
- Did the Russian embargo help you?
It didn't feel like that last year. As the tree of fruits went to Belarus, so it remained. And this year it is not yet clear whether it will help or not.
- And if you compare your apples with Polish ones, will they be competitive?
I strive for it. I have only Polish varieties, Polish technology. I hired professors from the Netherlands and Poland to teach how to care for trees. Over the years, we have more or less learned this.
Our institutes need to travel around the world, see what varieties are being bred there. Otherwise, we are used to working with old varieties that become uncompetitive. Farmers do not need such varieties.
- What is more profitable to grow: apples or cucumbers?
For a garden, you need to have a good start-up capital. I was the first person in the area to build a garden. Planted 50 hectares. After that I was brought into state program development of horticulture, and after a while we were given funding to fence the garden.
For the first three years you have no income from the garden.
- What share of products do you sell in Belarus, and what share - for export?
I sell everything in Belarus. Everything that goes to Russia, I sell here. I am paid in Belarusian rubles. And buyers are already moving on.
Conditions of Russian networks - settlements in 40 days. But I already have experience in retail. I have been deceived more than once both in Belarus and in Russia. I'd rather give it cheaper for 1,000 per kg, but I'll get the money right away.
In Belarus, we supply a lot of products to Minsk at Unitary Enterprise Partizanskoye. Everything else goes to Russia.
- Do you still have a juice factory?
Yes, we produce virgin juices in 3 and 5 liter PET packaging with a tap. We take the packaging in Minsk.
Have you planned to work with a local cannery to process your products and release them under your brand?
I don't want to be associated with them. Often you supply them with vegetables, they have no money, and they offer to pay with their products. But the price is so high that it turns out to be unprofitable.
It is very difficult to deal with such organizations. They still owe me a lot for juices, the stores pay poorly.
Now in many cases I give away products cheaply, if only they took and gave the money. Sometimes they come and ask for apples for kindergarten, and in this case I am ready to give for as much as I am willing to pay. Now the main thing is not to give out from the storage, but to get a client who can pay.
- On the this moment growing shipments to Russia?
So far it's hard to say. I sell products through resellers because we don't have the ability to sell direct. I mainly rely on winter varieties of apples, which can be sold all winter from October. But there are also varieties that can be sold from the end of August, otherwise you can stop work. It is necessary that the work was all year round, otherwise a lot of money is needed for cleaning.
Now I am building glass greenhouses for vegetables. I have a 2 MW boiler house, designed to heat a greenhouse on 70 acres of land. Now I am finishing the construction of a boiler house for the second greenhouse. I take a loan for the frame of the greenhouse itself. I bring pipes for heating in the greenhouse from Russia. I need about 300 tons of pipe for the greenhouse. I sell apples, buy Russian rubles on the stock exchange and transfer them for pipes.
- Did the devaluation of the Russian ruble affect the cost of the pipe?
Last year we bought a pipe for USD 800, and now it costs USD 500 per ton. But still, each machine with pipes costs USD 10,000.
I am going to build a greenhouse on 6 hectares. Now we are building a greenhouse on 2 hectares. Poles came to us and taught us the technology. We will have a greenhouse for cucumbers and tomatoes 7 meters high. We were frightened by the fact that we would not make money on gas. I already have a gas greenhouse running and I don't see it being overly expensive.
- How do you finance the construction of the boiler house?
Mainly for own funds. A Polish bank gives us a loan for EUR 550 thousand at 4%. But at the same time, the Belarusian bank takes another 3% for the guarantee. In addition, the Belarusian bank took a vault for EUR 1 million as collateral.
- How difficult is it to carry out the Polish loan that you take for a greenhouse?
If the financial position of the enterprise is stable, then it is not difficult. But a lot depends on the Belarusian bank - on collateral, the cost of the guarantee.
- According to your calculations, how long will this project pay off?
According to our calculations, for four years. Another USD 3 million needs to be invested in the project. All products will be grown year-round: cucumber - two rotations, tomato - one rotation, but it grows 10 months a year.
I used to have wooden greenhouses that were heated with wood. But timber is getting more expensive, gas is more profitable. Furthermore, modern technologies allow you not to waste gas in vain: as soon as the sun comes out, the heating is turned off or reduced, if the sun disappears, the temperature automatically reaches the desired level.
If we are not given land, we will build greenhouses and develop. It is possible, like collective farms, to have 13 thousand hectares of land, but I have 260 hectares, and in time I will be able to have the same income as theirs. Now it is not important to occupy the land. The main thing is to use it effectively. Grass was sown on many collective farms, the first mowing was still done, but then no one takes care of it, no one mows, no one re-mows. And the land is gone.
- Does the fact that there is no private ownership of land greatly hinder your work?
I would say that nothing is stopping us. The authorities do not find fault, and we live normally now. Just a little more space so that you can plant something else, for example, bigger potatoes or something else. I buy land now at auctions.
- You have a family business in Olshany. Is it easier to work with a large family?
Olshany are working people. I have no watchmen anywhere, and hardly anything is stolen from the fields.
My sons are farmers, my son-in-law is a farmer, some relatives work on the farm. We have early age know how to water or tear cucumbers, apples. Everyone understands that you need to help and work. If you hire people to work even to do simple operations, then the whole business will end. That is why we have large families.
Farming is not the easiest kind of business. Many farmers went bankrupt. Many do not succeed when either drought or other factors are at work. They don't have a constant flow of money. I have a cucumber in February, in March-June it provides revenue, then apples. Somewhere you can sell seedlings, sell cabbage, carrots. The work must be done without interruption. Then you can work and develop.
Interviewed by Ales SERZHANOVYCH and Irina YUZVAK.
Photo by Ales Serzhanovich.
Last Tuesday, Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Makei held a reception of citizens on personal matters in the village of Olshany, Stolin District. He came to the outback of Polesie to check how the instructions given by the president during his visit to Olshany this spring are being carried out, as well as to listen to the requests and complaints of the local population.
About forty people came to the reception to a high-ranking official. Some were interested in the prospects for gasification and improvement locality, for others, a dispute with neighbors regarding the boundaries of land plots turned out to be unresolvable at the local level. Brothers-farmers Ivan and Mikhail Grib once again asked to give them land.
My brother and I have more than one million seedlings of fruit trees and shrubs, - Ivan Vasilyevich, the eldest of the brothers, begins to state the essence of the issue. - They need to be planted already - but there is nowhere. We ask for land a little higher, suitable for the development of gardening, if not in Olshany, then at least on the territory of neighboring village councils. One hundred, two hundred, maybe three hundred hectares. There are not enough apples in the country, they are imported from Poland, but we can solve this problem. Just give us land!
According to the land management service of the Stolin District Executive Committee, as of January 1 of this year, the total area of land in the Olshany farm headed by Ivan Grib is 175 hectares, in Mikhail Grib's Brodka - 234 hectares. On the eve of the arrival of the President of the country in Olshany, the brothers were allocated another 123 hectares for two. In addition, Ivan Vasilievich won an auction for the right to build a vegetable store on the territory of the neighboring Velemichsky village council. According to the terms of the auction, the new object is accompanied by land plot area of 31 hectares.
It would seem that the Mushrooms are not offended by the earth. However, they have their own logic in this regard.
Why grow sugar beet in a local farm, if you can grow cucumbers, cabbage, apples? - Ivan Grib asks the chairman of the regional executive committee Konstantin Sumar, who took part in their conversation with the head of the presidential administration. - Give the land to the farmers, and it will be ten times more useful.
The governor, in turn, reminded the farmers that the SEC is not only sugar beets, but also milk and meat, and jobs, and contributions to the local budget and the social insurance fund. And farmers in Olshany give out their salaries even without envelopes, forgetting about deductions and transferring income tax to the budget, not thinking about social guarantees for hired workers who are brought to their fields in whole buses from Stolin, Rechitsa and other settlements remote from Olshany.
You should be grateful to the state for having the opportunity to work in such greenhouse conditions, and not demand more, - concluded Konstantin Sumar. - It's time to make changes to the legislation and put you in the same framework with agricultural cooperatives.
Chairman of the Stolin District Executive Committee Grigory Protosovitsky informed Volodymyr Makey that Hrybami farmers are being offered hundreds of hectares of land suitable for cultivating crops on the territory of the Plotnitsky and Vidiborsky village councils, but they are demanding that land be allocated to them closer to Olshany. There is no free land here. It is for this reason that only fifty acres are allocated to the local population for growing vegetables in the field today. If allocated per hectare, then it is necessary to liquidate the SEC. The number of people living in Olshany is approaching eight thousand people.
The mushrooms were offered to rent a whole agricultural cooperative with a center in the village of Olmany, which is 75 kilometers from Olshan. Produce milk and meat, grow vegetables and fruits, pay taxes to the state and contributions to the social security fund! Ivan Vasilyevich agreed and even set to work, and then refused.
Land in Olshany, the chairman of the district executive committee continued, is demanded not only by Mushrooms, but also by beginning farmers. How to be with them?
So let them start in Vidibor and Plotnitsa, - Ivan Grib concluded, - and we have a powerful base in Olshany. I have a garden of 90 hectares, a refrigerator, and I plan to build a fruit juice production workshop. We need to develop here.
The conversation, sometimes in raised tones by the farmers, lasted at least half an hour. The head of the presidential administration calmly listened to everyone, after which he gave the applicants a preliminary answer. The state will not take away land from agricultural cooperatives and transfer it to farmers, as Mushrooms are proposing today. At the same time, it is necessary to make an inventory of all unused lands in the region and, if the legislation allows, transfer them to farmers. A special commission will begin work in the near future.
Not far off is October and the arrival of the President of the country in Olshany. Vladimir Makei promised Gribam to organize a dialogue with the head of state for them, so that the farmers would personally hear from him the answer to the land issue that concerns them.
Mikhail Ivanovich Grib is one of six children of the Olshany farmer Ivan Vasilyevich Grib, the head of the Olshany farm. He started his business under the guidance of his father. His working day starts at sunrise and ends late in the evening. Often the work week lasts seven days. Winter is just the time when it is best to plan those things that can be started with the onset of heat.
REFERENCE “MP”
Mikhail registered his own farm at the age of 25, in 2002. Grows cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and gives preference to apple orchards. Married, has three sons.
So this is what it is, a farm yard
Upon arrival at the territory of the Polesie-GMI farm, the head of the farm, Mikhail Ivanovich, was not immediately found: I was met by his assistant, who for the next hour and a half became a guide to the gardens of the young Mushroom. “The farmer does a good job. From eight in the morning until five in the evening I am on a farm, there is a day off, - the young gorodchuk shares at the end of the "excursion", returning to the main entrance. - Both the attitude of the owner and the salary suits me. Just work hard, don’t drink, don’t skip, and everything will be fine.”
The gardens of Mikhail Grib impress with a huge area, many bottom trees. They occupy about 34 hectares of land. Almost all, with the exception of a small garden in Lisovichi, are located here, not far from David-Gorodok. In one span (row) 500 trees grow, and the number of rows cannot be counted.
All apple trees are supplied with drip irrigation: it is enough to turn on the motor and the system will water the trees by itself. It is very convenient and does not require many workers. On the other side of the reclamation canal is the garden of the farmer's father, Ivan Vasilyevich.
Somewhere surrounded by gardens there is a planter in which a farmer breeds carps. On the central platform farms, where there are garages and equipment, workers are building storage for apples and vegetables. There is no other storage like this in the region. It is made of metallic zinc, the materials were specially purchased in Poland. The frame of the building is already ready. The height of the wall of the storage under construction is 9 m, the height of its central part is 11.5 m. Its capacity is up to 1,500 tons, which means that more than 2,000 containers of apples and cabbage can easily fit into it.
A truck drives into the courtyard, loaded with building materials for the manufacture of boxes in the storage. A door opens on the driver's side, and Mikhail Grib jumps out of the car to the ground. Short, thin, fair-haired, in a shirt and trousers, in polished boots. “The delay came when the building materials were being loaded. There were no workers, so I had to do a lot myself. So I was late, - the farmer makes excuses and is immediately interested. How are the gardens? Already looked? You look at them from a helicopter - beauty, and nothing more! One summer, my son called me to the computer and said: “Dad, and the satellite shows that we still have greenhouses here.” ( Auth. - the farmer laughs) Like this: our gardens have been growing for the fourth year, but the satellite has not been updated yet.”
Mikhail Grib works in the garden every day from early morning until late at night. “From eight in the morning until six in the morning of a new day, my working day can continue, especially at a time when the gardens need to be sprinkled. I fell down, lived here, I don’t remember how I went to bed. It happened, people got drunk, and I did everything myself. Now it’s easier: there are two tractor drivers.”
Why exactly apples?
The farm "Polesie-GMI" was registered in 2002. At first, its head was engaged in the cultivation of vegetables, in last years the emphasis is on gardening. “I try to plant a little of everything. We are totally dependent. Everything that God gives will be, - says the farmer. – On my farm, three hectares of ground tomatoes, about ten hectares of cabbage, two hectares of potatoes and carrots are grown, about thirty-four hectares are occupied by apple trees. By the way, he took up gardening due to the fact that due to bureaucratic delays it was impossible to hire workers to work in greenhouses. Didn't manage it myself. And the gardens do not need a lot of people. Yes, and I can do a lot in the garden, - explains the farmer. – On pruning last year, only four people were involved. Now I have eleven permanent employees. They work nine hours with a lunch break. Salary - three and a half million rubles.
Mikhail did not immediately come up with the idea to engage in gardening. "How? Yes, simple. I was interested in what is in demand, what is more or less easier to grow, - says the farmer. - For example, blueberries, while they grow, it will take a long time to wait. Tomatoes and cucumbers require a lot of care. Apple is good because workers are practically not required. Basically, only people are needed for cleaning. In winter, if possible, I do the pruning of the garden myself.
Without planning, you cannot do anything sensible, and even more so you cannot create a farm. To deal with apples, Mikhail Grib did not specifically develop a detailed marketing plan, although he planned a lot, made certain calculations. “My parents had trucks, with the help of which our family was engaged in the transportation of goods from Moldova to Belarus, to Russia. From Poland to Russia were transported, including apples. That's how my father and brother, and then I and my brothers, their sons, watched how people abroad are engaged in farming and how well they do it, - says Mikhail Grib. – So we adopted the experience, found out how the business is going there. My father was the first to start farming in Olshany.”
The young farmer did not have free land near Olshan to grow anything on it. Mikhail planted his first garden near Lisovichi: “I gathered seven tons of winter apples there in a season. Now I don't need it. Now everything is here. The only thing that I will pass on to the children as they grow up is the garden.”
A good apple tree is the key to a great harvest
“My younger brother Nikolai is very good at gardening. He and his father often travel to Poland for exhibitions, bring literature from there, read a lot, study on their own and teach me, - talks about how Mikhail gains knowledge about gardening. “My garden will be about four years old.”
At first, the farmer bought apple tree seedlings abroad, mainly in Poland. Now they grow them here. For one apple bud he paid half an American cent. Plus one year should grow wild. Before grafting, the crown of a young game must be cut off, after which only the stem will remain. In autumn, a bud is grafted onto a wild game, and it must be accepted: the buds must bloom. For grafting, the rootstock (trunk cut) must be split 2-3 cm with a knife, inserting it in the middle. Insert the wedge of the scion into the split. Then they are wrapped with a special thin film. It can also be used as an ordinary plastic film or plumbing tape. The upper cut of the scion (above the kidney) must be covered with garden pitch so that the cutting does not dry out. Vaccination completed.
“This work is mainly done by Olshansky girls,” says Mikhail Grib. “They are very easy to train than, for example, urban ones, since Olshansky girls are immersed in work from childhood.” Then everything grows for another year. After all, you can replant the tree. It also happened that the seedlings grew for two years.
“The root system in the apple trees here is riding. Rainy weather and strong winds uproot the trees. To prevent this from happening, we install poles at the beginning and at the end of the row at an angle, stretch the wire and tie each trunk with a special elastic band. The apple tree grows, the trunk becomes wider - the elastic band stretches and in no way interferes with the growth of the plant. Such gum is produced in Grodno,” Mikhail adds.
This season, about 40 tons of apples of early and early-medium varieties (for example, "Glory of the Winner") were harvested, together with late varieties ("Ligol", "Aydaret"), about 110 tons are obtained. In total, the farmer grows ten varieties of apple trees: five varieties in a young garden, five more in a garden near the central courtyard. Mikhail Grib says that he prefers the Glory to the Winners variety: he likes the way these apple trees grow, and they taste pretty good.
garden care
Of the diseases of apple trees, the most unpleasant is porsha. On an apple, it can be identified by a brown spot. Mikhail's father, Ivan Grib, plans to install a special laboratory in his garden to fight this disease. The work of the laboratory is that the equipment catches the piston in the air and transmits the results directly to the research center in Poland. Based on the results obtained, a remedy is selected to combat it in the early stages of the disease. Farmers near Brest already have a similar laboratory.
In the meantime, treating it with chemicals helps to save the garden from pests. “The first time I sprinkle the garden right after winter, when the buds on the branches have not yet swelled. Before flowering, gardens are sprinkled two or three times, mainly with copper sulphate. This is done so that there are no pests in the bud, so that the plants do not deteriorate,” the farmer explains. He is sure that there are fewer chemicals in his apples than, for example, in Polish ones. He explains this by the fact that he treats his gardens from diseases and pests up to 14 times a year. Polish gardeners do this 25-30 times a year.
“Under the gardens, it is imperative to put poison for mice, as these rodents spoil root system trees,” adds Michael. - And in the garden, be sure to do pruning. It is also necessary to mow the garden so that it does not overgrow.
There are many living creatures in the gardens: partridges, hares. The latter also do a lot of harm. Especially often hares visit the garden in cold weather. So the dogs guard the farmlands. By the way, there are seven of them: four adults and three puppies. When poison for mice is placed under the trees, the dogs are not allowed into the garden, they are kept on a leash. The dogs are purebred and good for hunting.
Three years ago, the farmer installed video surveillance on the farm: “Thanks to four cameras, everything can be seen. And guards better than any watchman. One of the cameras is aimed at the central gate and the road leading from Davyd-Haradok. So the traffic police even asked that, just in case, it would be possible to review the recordings from this camera.
Where and how to sell apples
Mikhail Grib notes that basically all apples are now sold only in Belarus: “If there is a good harvest in all the orchards of Olshansky farmers taken at once, then in three years there will be as many apples in Belarus as there are cucumbers. I can say with confidence that Belarus has not yet had enough of apples. Due to the fact that there are not enough of their own, they are brought to us from abroad.”
The farmer believes that apples are imported to Belarus from neighboring countries precisely because horticulture is poorly developed in the country, and there are few orchards.
“The price this year for all apples is good. Our buyers come from Belarusian bases. Many apples for subsequent sale are purchased by the Pervomaiskaya base in the capital. If we talk about Minsk, Olshany almost completely supplies its markets with apples,” says Mikhail Grib.
To the question: “What will you do if it is impossible to sell all the apples in Belarus?” Mikhail Grib gives an unambiguous answer. “If there is no client here, then you will have to look for new market sales abroad and bring apples there,” he says.
They brought apples for sale near Slutsk, where they make jam. The farmer does not plan to launch his own apple processing line yet, although he does not exclude such a possibility if things go well. In this regard, there is a sad example: in 2013, hail destroyed the entire crop of a farmer. There were many apples. And those who more or less survived had to put pressure on the juice in the father's farm. By the way, the line for processing apples into juice at the Olshany farm of Ivan Grib was opened not so long ago. Directly squeezed apple juice without added sugar and water is poured into packages of 3 and 5 liters and sold to the public through retail chains and at fairs.
P. S.
“My father taught me to work since childhood. And so that interest in it was shown. I knew every cucumber in my father's greenhouse, where and when it should grow. I have three sons. The elder Vitaly is passionate about computers, and the younger Dima too. Average Vanya helps me a lot. The son checks the work. If everything is done, he calls and asks what else to charge the workers? There is no such trust in strangers as in a son. When Vanya is on a farm, I rest.
Mikhail Grib says that he never has extra money. The profit is enough. With the money earned from the farm, he not only thoroughly bought agricultural equipment, but also built an auto parts store in Olshany, and at the beginning of this year he opened another one: an auto parts and building materials store in Bolshoi Maleshevo.
Why did the head of Olshany farm reorient his cucumber business?
For the family of the Belarusian farmer Ivan Grib, now is the hottest time. In his farm "Olshany" in the Brest region - the peak of the blueberry collection. An enterprising owner grows it on an industrial scale.
Last year, the harvest of Ivan Grib pulled 80 tons. More are expected in this. In general, more than a hundred farms across the country specialize in blueberries today.
Blueberries appeared on the fields of Belarus in the late 70s of the last century. First in the botanical garden and experimental areas, then in small areas in the villages. During this time, Belarusian farmers have "tamed" more than sixty varieties of berries.
Although the farmer, like many in this region, started his business with cucumbers. Everyone grows them here and sells them mainly to Russia. But, realizing that there were too many competitors in the cucumber field, Grib decided to reorient his farm to another type of activity.
It was precisely on the fact that blueberries do not grow very well in the district that Ivan Grib made a bet, planting the first bushes for testing seven years ago. The berry plant has taken root, and today more than ten hectares of land have been allocated for it on the fields of Olshan - this is about fifteen football fields. Last year, about eighty tons of crops were harvested on these plantations, most of which was taken to Russia. Olshansky berries fell in love with the residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and even Anapa. Now blueberries are the visiting card of the farm.
The benefit justifies the choice
The "smart" berry feeds not only the farmer, but the whole district. To harvest in such an area, you need a lot of people. There is enough work for everyone during the season. Both old and young go to the plantations: for pensioners this is a tangible increase in pensions, for schoolchildren - the first personal money.
But picking berries only at first glance seems light work. Although "industrial" bushes do not have to be searched for in forests and swamps, they are here, on a farmer's plantation. But the fragile berry of blue blood must be carefully removed from the branches, and then carefully placed in a bucket.
The collection of small sweet fruits is in full swing. But if blueberries, which are abundant in the forests of the republic, are already beginning to retreat, then it's time for blueberries. True, to collect enough of it in the wild - consider it a miracle. An amazing thing: despite the fact that Polesie, for example, is famous for its swamps, blueberries are not common here. But there are man-made farming places in Blue-eyed, where it’s not a problem to get at least a bucket, at least a whole truck.
Today, blueberries are one of the most expensive products on the shelves of the capital's markets. For example, imported watermelons and grapes are ten times cheaper at Komarovka, the capital's largest bazaar. And such prices are explained by the laboriousness of harvesting. How not to remember the saying: “I take one berry, look at another, note the third ...”. It is especially relevant these days.
A new type of agritourism: blueberry therapy
If Ivan Grib, as a rule, hires fellow villagers for seasonal work, then in other farms of Belarus anyone can plunge into the blue sea. The owner of one of these plantations in the Brest region, Yuriy Sharets, believes that this is a great opportunity to escape from the bustle of the city. A kind of therapy. Seven years ago, a Moscow doctor of medical sciences traded the noise of the capital for blueberry farming spaces in Belarus. And he didn't regret it for a second.
We spent most of our lives in Moscow, quietly eating food from the supermarket. Everything changed when they themselves began to work on the ground. We understood what really high-quality vegetables, fruits and berries are, what is their real price. For this understanding, we invite you to our farm, - says Yuri's wife Nina Andreeva.
Everyone can get to the farm to Dr. Shartz. Here you will be told about useful properties blueberries, show you how to grow them and give you the opportunity to pick berries "for yourself." And you have to pay only for the berries themselves. The price compared to the market is simply ridiculous - about three hundred Russian rubles per kilo. This type of agritourism is gaining more and more popularity in recent years. Especially among residents of megacities trying to escape into nature.