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Prinevskoye Pedigree Farm

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Events / All about visit

In 1931, the Krasny Oktyabr (Red October) thermal power station set up its own part-time farm on the outskirts of St Petersburg. In 75 years of dynamic development the farm has turned into one of the largest in the Leningrad Region. Following reorganisation and merger the farm has taken in other nearby farms.

In 1992, the state farm Krasny Oktyabr was restructured into the agricultural joint stock company PRINEVSKOYE, and in 1993 it received the status of a pedigree farm and was named PRINEVSKOYE Pedigree Farm.

Today this is a large agricultural enterprise and is among the ten leading agricultural farms in the Leningrad Region. By the results of 2000-2002, it was listed among the AGRO-300 club of Russia's best agricultural businesses.

These achievements are the result of the implementation of high technology, introduction of the latest equipment, the construction of new facilities and reconstruction of existing facilities.

In the early 1990s, jointly with the Leningrad Sea Port, an effort was launched to introduce latest technology in cooperation with foreign firms such as potato producer Agrico, vegetable producer Beio Zaden and Finnish cabbage container seedling producer Ljannen Tehtaat.

In 1998-99, with support from the government of the Leningrad Region and the Swedish government, the farm installed new dairy equipment with a capacity for 200 cattle. With assistance from the Swedish firm Alfa Laval Agri the farm initiated a mini dairy plant capable of processing up to 30 tonnes of milk a day.

We have created the Prinevskoye trademark and at present under the trademark the plant produces the following products: packed milk of various fat contents, kefir, cream packaged in glass, sour cream of various fat contents, yogurt with natural ingredients, cottage cheese, cake cheese, butter and Adygea cheese. New varieties of Suluguni cheese and Moldavsky cheese are being developed.

The quality of the dairy products is appreciated by both the people of St Petersburg and dairy specialists alike. At the Interfood 2005 exhibition the Prinevskoye Farm was awarded a certificate of achievement and the gold medal for its dairy products and won in the nomination New Food Products of St Petersburg. The farm has received more than 40 awards in the past few years. (Supplement 1).

PRINEVSKOYE continues to improve milk production. In April 2004, a new cattle farm opened. It includes capacity for 330 cattle with free-stall housing and a milk house for 800 cows with synchronized milking equipment for 28 cows at a time, produced by the Danish firm SAC. In March 2005, the dairy reopened after rebuilding another facility to accommodate 400 cattle, equipped with modern cattle-feeders Gentile MVV 10C, which increased the productivity of labour considerably. The number of machine milking operators was reduced from 35 to six.

To improve the feeding of cattle, in 2002 the farm began to grow grain using modern technology and to harvest it using the high efficiency combine harvesters, SAMPO ROSENLEW and MEGA-360 produced by the KLAAS Company (Germany). The farm uses a new breaking machine, MURSKA-1400, that transfers rolled grain into storage using the AIV-2000 preserving agent. Farming its own grain makes it possible to reduce the purchase of compound feed and prevent the growth of milk production prime cost at a time when the prices of energy and feed continue to go up.

To improve quality and conserve sugar in feed, early storage of wilted grass silage uses a preserving agent made by Biotrof. Storage capacity is more than 24,000 tonnes.

For the first time in 2006 the farm planted 46 hectares of corn of which 1,000 tonnes of high quality silage was produced with the use of BIOTAL's preserving agent.

The farm also makes hay in vacuum packaging using the roll method.

Each year more than 4,200 kilograms per head of livestock are stored.

A great deal of work continues in growing vegetables in the open. Introducing the latest methods, breeds, hybrids and contemporary equipment guarantees a heavy yield. The farm carries out state testing for new breeds of vegetables and new types of equipment.

In order to reduce the labour force in vegetable harvesting and to carry out harvesting on time the farm acquired three single-row and one double-row carrot harvesters. As a result, this latest equipment has reduced the cost of harvesting one hectare of carrots by more than 80%.

To conserve the harvest the farm has reconstructed vegetable storage facilities with a capacity of 2,000 tonnes, including refrigerated capacities for 1,200 tonnes, capacities with active ventilation for 1,200 tonnes, and commissioned a new storage with refrigerators for 3,000 tonnes. Today the farm has a 10,000 tonne storage capacity.

With due account of the demands of trade organizations, the farm has introduced additional methods to process vegetables and potatoes. In 2005, the farm acquired a Finnish processing line to wash and pack carrots up to 15,000 packages, 1 kilogram each, in one shift. There are seven packaging options for carrots depending on the length and size of the root plant. Washed carrots can also be packed in net packaging up to 25 kilograms. The line is serviced by eight people.

In 2004, the farm opened a section of cabbage fermentation and in that year the farm produced 105 tonnes of sour cabbage, in 2005 - 348 tonnes, in 2008 the farm plans to produce 1,000 tonnes. The section produces 11 types of sour cabbage - with apples, cranberries, caraway seeds, fennel and other additives. Nine people work in this section and their duties include all types of work from cleaning cabbage and carrots to dispatching finished products to distributors.

In 2005-2006, the PRINEVSKOYE Farm opened a department of flower cultivation and a meristematic laboratory, an investment of 15 million roubles.

The laboratory has begun to cultivate prepared planting material for potatoes which guarantees heavy yield for the farm itself and later for distribution to other farms. The laboratory also cultivates planting material of flowers including chrysanthemums which have undergone testing and will blossom in greenhouses already this year.

As part of the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex priority national project, in December 2005 the farm began to build a goat-breeding complex with a 2,000-goat capacity.

The implementation of this project will make it possible to produce up to 3,000 tonnes of goat milk annually. Goat milk is claimed to have miraculous therapeutic effects which enhance recovery after serious diseases. Doctors recognize the medical properties of goat milk and use it in treating cold and lung illnesses. Goat milk fat contains a great deal of unsaturated acids which raise the body's immunity against infection. The milk's high nutritional value and easy digestibility are important for children.

By acquiring the latest technology for goat-breeding and goat milk production we plan to produce high quality milk with medical and hypoallergenic properties and to supply the milk to medical institutions, kindergartens, schools and shops in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.

The project is worth 54 million roubles of which 40 million is a loan. The loan was taken at 14% and the refinancing rate with the Bank of Russia is 12%. Two thirds of the subsidies come from the federal budget and a third from the regional budget. The goats are imported from the Netherlands, 332 goats, and from Germany, 500 goats.

The profit of the project is expected to reach 46 million roubles a year, and payback period is 33 months.

On November 1, 2008 the farm began selling high quality goat milk in 1 liter and 0.5 liter Pure-Pak containers.

In April 2006, the farm began to build a champignon complex. The project is expected to produce 1,200 tonnes of mushrooms a year for domestic sale.

As the harvest of wild mushrooms declines from year to year because of adverse conditions caused by worsening pollution, the cultivation of mushrooms becomes increasingly important.

Champignon is a valuable nutritious product that can satisfy the body's need for protein and vitamins of various groups. There are good prospects for the market development of cultivated mushrooms in Russia: only 8,000 tons of champignons are produced in the country each year while the European Union countries produce more than 800,000 tonnes and Poland alone produces 130,000 tonnes.

An analysis of the Russian market in the past few years shows constantly growing demand for this product which can be seen in rising prices and the lack of sharp price fluctuations, plus a recurrent deficit of mushrooms especially on holidays and religions fasting.

St Petersburg does not have enough fresh mushrooms. The Leto farm, the only champignon complex in North-West Russia, was closed in May 2007. Mushrooms are imported from Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands.

The project is worth 220 million roubles of which 80 million is on loan. The annual interest rate is 12.5%.

The construction of the complex was completed in October 2007 and the first harvest of mushrooms was gathered in January 2008. In 2008, 50 million roubles worth of mushrooms were sold. The payback period is 46 months and the annual profit from the sale of the mushrooms is expected to be more than 40 million roubles.

From 2001 to 2007 the farm invested nearly 300 million roubles in the modernisation of production and purchase of equipment.

The farm has acquired automobiles, Valtra and John Deere tractors of 175 to 280 horsepower, fodder choppers, grain and potato combine harvesters, the latest agricultural equipment (the Kverneland spinner plow, the RSF-2000, Smaragd and other cultivators).

The farm has reconstructed welfare spaces, built a gas heating station for cattle-breeding and the dairy plant and restored the roads in the central farm area, on the livestock farm and the dairy plant.

The farm pays great attention to its retired workers, holds concerts on holidays, and provides birthday gifts plus free vegetables and potatoes.

The farm supplies its products to nearly 200 organisations and businesses. These include plants and factories, supermarkets and shops, restaurants and cafes, bakeries, hospitals, kindergartens and schools. The largest customers are Russkiye Samotsvety, Nevo-Tabak, the supermarkets Aleksandrovsky, Nevsky, Suzdalsky, the Hospital of War Veterans, the machine-building plant, the Russkiye Bliny fast food chain, the Leningrad regional hospital and the children's hospital, the Nakhimov naval school, the Frunze Naval Institute and the Diamed company producing dairy products for children.