Many Kaliningraders are convinced that a Turkish imported berry is given out on the market for a local berry. But in this case it is not! We have conscientious business executives who produce a worthy and competitive product. Our strawberries cannot be compared with imported, plastic ones: even if they are smaller, the aroma and taste are excellent. It is immediately evident - the present!
Ours is real!
“I buy Prokhorovskaya strawberries every year and have never been disappointed: berry to berry,” says Kaliningrad citizen Svetlana Chibireva. - Immediately I take homemade natural cream, pour in all this beauty, sprinkle with sugar - and enjoy! And what kind of pies I bake with strawberries - the smell is on the whole entrance. All my household members are looking forward to the berry season. It's a pity it's so short! "
The sellers are not greedy: they give the berries a taste. This is the best way to convince a customer. The townspeople buy several kilograms of strawberries at once, they miss the red berry.
Magomed Mamedov and Igor Tsygulya took up strawberries (its official name is garden strawberries) three years ago. Old video footage remains in memory of that time. They depict in detail the process of erecting greenhouses in an open field. They built structures in winter, in the cold, but the enthusiasts were in a fighting mood, because they were starting their own business.
Igor Tsygulya and Magomed Mamedov created a farm from scratch. Photo: AiF / Alexander Matveev
By that time, Magomed had experience in growing cabbage and potatoes. But there was no warehouse, and without this the vegetables cannot be saved. Yes, and they had to be given below the cost price, so I decided to change the direction of activity. At home, in Azerbaijan, from childhood I saw how garden strawberries are grown. So I decided to stop at it. Igor, on the other hand, is an experienced salesman, he has been on the market for 18 years. Together we organized IP Linkite. Strawberry has become a new and successful experience for friends. Numerous relatives and acquaintances helped with the initial capital for the project, seedlings.
The berries are gaining strength. Photo: AiF / Alexander Matveev
Farmers still pay off their debts, but today Prokhorovka sounds like a strawberry brand. People from all over the region come here for the berry. People are attracted by excellent quality, taste and, of course, price. There was no frost this year, there was no stress for the plant, so the harvest is excellent and the prices are appropriate. A kilogram of strawberries is now sold for 200 rubles. - for 100 rubles. cheaper than last year. The first berries were removed this spring from the bushes on May 8 - just in time for Victory Day. But last year, as many remember, in May there was a fierce cold, it was snowing, the farmers lost half of the plantings. Now the weather is favorable: the berries are filled with the sun, they are gaining strength to please us.
Will have its own store
Magomed Mamedov shows us his possessions: greenhouses standing in a row of capital character. Each is twenty acres. The beds are well-groomed, like in your own garden. There is a black film under the bushes.
“This prevents the berries from touching the ground. The film protects them from decay, the development of gray rot, - says the farmer. - Berries one to one, all clean. Strawberry is a capricious plant. Sensitive to temperature changes. It takes a lot of care and financial investment. It is necessary to regularly trim the mustache, weed out, so as not to "drown out" the berry; plow the land in time, feed it with humus and, of course, remove strawberries from the garden. If you miss the whole day, the berry is not the same: it is overripe, it has given juice. "
The greenhouses are mainly occupied by young people. Photo: AiF / Alexander Matveev
It is not easy for pickers, because you have to bend over for each berry. The work is in full swing from early morning until late at night. Mainly young people, residents of nearby villages, work in greenhouses.They are grateful to the farmers for giving them the opportunity to earn extra money.
In the greenhouses of Prokhorovka, a total of up to a ton of strawberries are harvested per day. The shape of the strawberry resembles a heart. They are of medium size. Magomed Mammadov says that he could easily grow them to gigantic sizes, but for this it is necessary to feed the berries with harmful fertilizers, which will immediately affect the quality. In principle, farmers do not agree to this. Strawberries should remain an environmentally friendly product - we are convinced of IP Linkite, because they work for their fellow countrymen and eat the same berries themselves with pleasure. It is no coincidence that the greenhouses were set up in an open field, away from the gas-polluted highway.
And they do not water the strawberries with ordinary tap water, but specially laid hoses to the greenhouses from the well.
The farmers have many plans. The strawberries were born this year. Part of it will be frozen for further implementation. A store is being built in the Central Market of Kaliningrad where it will be possible to buy local berries - not only garden strawberries, but also blueberries and lingonberries. The outlet will appear next to the pavilion with dried fruits - almost immediately at the entrance, which is very convenient.
From June 10, the farm will use ground strawberries, sweeter and more aromatic. At the same time, contraband Polish strawberries usually appear on Kaliningrad counters, the import of which into the region is strictly prohibited. Shuttles bring in 200-300 kg each, earn on resale and bring down prices for real workers. Support a local manufacturer who pays taxes to the budget and employs local residents! You can wind up stewed fruit and make jam for a long winter. In addition to the Central Market, Prokhorovskaya garden strawberries can be bought in Kaliningrad at a mini-fair on the street. Port and Zakharovsky market.
Ideal for weight loss (100 g of berries only 32 kilocalories). Strawberries are packed with vitamins. It contains more vitamin C than lemons. In addition, the berry contains a lot of folic acid, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc and copper. Just a storehouse of useful microelements!
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The project of year-round cultivation of strawberries on an industrial scale is being implemented in the Gvardeisky urban district. Here, in the village of Zvenyevoye, the company "Orbita-Agro", which is engaged in crop production, in addition to the existing greenhouses, has equipped a new one - especially for growing berries.
This is the first experience of establishing an industrial strawberry plantation in the region. The agricultural enterprise, with the support of the regional government, equipped a greenhouse with an area of 1.35 hectares. In the spring, 60 thousand remontant strawberry bushes were planted in the greenhouse complex. The first harvest has begun this week.
“The uniqueness lies in the fact that we can grow strawberries at temperatures no lower than 15-16 degrees until November. That is, we will harvest constantly: up to 500 kilograms per day. So far, in the Kaliningrad region, strawberries generally yield a harvest within a month, ”said General Director of the company Shaig Mammadov.
According to him, 400 kilograms of berries have already been delivered to retail chains.
LLC "Orbita-Agro" is one of the dynamically developing enterprises of the agro-industrial complex of the Kaliningrad region. The main products of the company are wheat, rapeseed, potatoes. Since 2010, it has expanded its production by growing vegetables in open field, in 2014 by growing vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes) in a greenhouse complex.
The 2.2 hectare winter greenhouse, opened in the spring of 2014, has become the largest in the region. It is planned that more than 550 tons of cucumbers and over 500 tons of tomatoes will be grown here annually.
The company's project for the construction of a greenhouse complex was approved by the investment placement council under the governor of the region. The regional government supported the greenhouse project by subsidizing interest rates.This is the largest investment project in the region in the field of vegetable growing (a complex with a total area of 2.2 hectares and a height of 6 meters consists of two separate greenhouses), a modern, well-equipped industrial production (lighting, temperature, watering - everything is selected automatically).
This year, 20 million rubles are provided from the regional budget to reimburse part of the costs in the construction and equipping of greenhouse complexes for year-round cultivation of products, 20% of the costs incurred, including infrastructure facilities, are compensated to farmers.
Strawberries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries - with the beginning of the new season, the assortment of berries on the Kaliningrad counters has noticeably increased. However, for now, prices are scaring off buyers. found out whether to wait for cheaper berries.
How much do berries cost?
There is a real berry boom on the market - cups and jars with bright blue and red fruits flicker before your eyes every now and then. Most of all on the shelves of currants: red costs an average of 100 rubles per liter jar. Included in such a container is about 500 grams of berries.
And if you walk closer to the dairy department, you can buy a glass of red currants from grandmothers for 50, or even 30 rubles.
“In the evening we give it almost for free, the product deteriorates quickly, it's a pity, my family, the children collect themselves. Therefore, we try to sell everything in a day, ”says Galina Stepanovna from the village of Zheleznodorozhny.
Black currants are more expensive - for a liter jar, traders in the market take from 150 to 200 rubles. White is extremely rare, but costs like red - 100 rubles per "liter". The green gooseberry has the same cost. Sellers say that it is a little sour, therefore it is cheaper. But its pink counterpart tastes sweeter and more juicy, besides, the berry itself is larger, so this kind of gooseberry costs an average of 150 rubles per liter jar.
Raspberry is a priority for buyers, people ask it most often. Only now, having learned the price of this berry, they turn away with annoyance and leave. A plastic cup that holds 200-250 grams of wild raspberries costs 100 rubles almost everywhere. A liter can is 250, and a two-liter bucket is 400-500 rubles. Home garden raspberries are cheaper, local gardeners ask for 150 rubles per liter.
On average, blueberries now cost 100-150 rubles per liter jar. Here and there you can find cherries - from 100 rubles per liter.
The most expensive on the market are strawberries. To enjoy such a berry, you will have to pay from 400 to 750 rubles for a liter jar.
But the price for strawberries has stabilized, sellers say. “400 rubles is now the standard price. Almost everyone here sells strawberries like that, ”the traders assure. If you look, you can find strawberries on the market for 350 rubles, and in some places - even for 260. However, in the latter case, sellers refuse to comment on where the goods come from.
One field of berries
Among the sellers there are both resellers and those who grow berries themselves in their garden. The price tags for the products are not very different - only 20-30 rubles for the same type of berry. Not all sellers speak about its origin. Some do not hide that they offer imported berries. Others shy away from answering, and most of the merchants say aloud: the berry is local, there is no stranger!
Strawberries, as a rule, are all brought from the Gvardeisky district. Let us remind you that last year the company "Orbita-Agro" equipped there, in the village of Zvenyevoye, a greenhouse complex for growing strawberries.
From there, the berries also go to supermarket shelves: they are packed in a plastic container, the label of which says "Dessert strawberry 500 g". In supermarkets, such a package costs 148 rubles.
“In the Zelenograd region, in the village of Muromskoye, we grow strawberries. Harvesting is easy - it's harder to sell. We have to buy something extra from farmers and resell it, ”says Elya Khomenko, who sells berries and vegetables at the market.
Eli has foreign berries on the counter and raspberries from Poland.“Our local raspberries are even more expensive,” she says.
In general, there were not so many imported berries on the market - mostly cherries. Serbian berries cost from 120 to 160 rubles, and Azerbaijani cherries are sold for 250 rubles per kilogram.
"Going to zero"
The main question that worries buyers so much is whether the berries will become cheaper? The sellers themselves say that they try to adapt to the buyers as much as possible - they make discounts if they take a lot. In the evening they sell for half the price, or even less.
“And if you can't sell everything, we take it with us, don't waste the good! We make jam at home, compotes. We do not put the spoiled on the shelves, this is our reputation, we will sell the bad - and then they will not come to us, ”says saleswoman Lyudmila.
The main reason for the high cost, according to the sellers, is the rather high rent for the retail space.
“Now the purchase price of the same strawberries is 300 rubles, but you also have to pay for transportation, buy buckets-glasses, umbrellas from the rain. At the exit, we ourselves do not always come out on top, ”says Gulya.
“Now the season has just opened, later the berry, maybe it will be cheaper,” says saleswoman Nina.
For the benefit - to Poland
By tradition, many Kaliningraders go to their neighbors to buy food. Berries are no exception. Indeed, in Poland, according to tourists, the same strawberries at the beginning of the season could be bought at a price equivalent to 70 rubles per kilo.
Today, in the Polish supermarket Biedronka, a kilogram of strawberries can be bought for a share price for 4.99 zlotys, which is about 80 rubles.
Despite this, at the end of last month the prices for strawberries in Poland have increased markedly, according to Strefa Agro. According to them, the cost of berries in some regions of the country has increased from 2 zlotys to 8.
Last year, in the midst of the strawberry season, Polish underground berries in Kaliningrad could be found everywhere in small grocery stores, in the market and at grandmothers with jars. Moreover, its price was lower than products from other countries.
Self-collecting
This method involves a trip to the farm. By paying the owner a certain amount, you can pick berries directly from the field yourself.
Last year, a farm in the Zelenograd region allowed for 600-700 rubles on its own land to collect a five-liter bucket of strawberries - about 4 kg. Raspberries could be harvested at a price of 100 to 200 rubles per kilogram.
“This year we have no self-collection,” said the farm. - We recruited local residents and gave them the opportunity to work. We decided to help the population and collect raspberries in a more organized way. But next year we will definitely declare self-collection, because our plantation will increase by 10-15 hectares, respectively, and we will need more people. "
Kaliningraders gather berries in the forests near Ladushkin, where blueberries and raspberries grow. Others talk about blueberry plantations outside the city cemetery on the way to Baltiysk. “In an hour you can collect 1-1.5 liters by hand, and 5 liters with a combine harvester,” the townspeople write in social networks.
Users write that on the way to Mamonovo, not far from the village of Ushakovo, there is a forest where blueberries grow. There is also talk about the Zelenogradsk region - around the turn to the Curonian Spit there is a forest, where, according to local berry pickers, there is always something to profit from.
06/25/2015 at 09:18, views: 957
In the Gvardeisky urban district, a project of year-round strawberry cultivation is being implemented on an industrial scale. As writes, in the village of Zvenyevoy, the company "Orbita-Agro", engaged in crop production, in addition to the existing greenhouses, equipped a new one - specifically for growing berries.
This is the first experience of establishing an industrial strawberry plantation in the region. The agricultural enterprise, with the support of the regional government, equipped a greenhouse with an area of 1.35 hectares. In the spring, 60 thousand remontant strawberry bushes were planted in the greenhouse complex.The first harvest has begun this week.
“The uniqueness lies in the fact that we can grow strawberries at temperatures no lower than 15-16 degrees until November. That is, we will harvest constantly: up to 500 kilograms a day. So far, in the Kaliningrad region, strawberries generally yield a harvest within a month, ”said General Director of the company Shaig Mammadov.
According to him, 400 kilograms of berries have already been received in trade networks.
“Each strawberry weighs about 40 grams. The berry is one to one - not too sweet, not too sour, that's what you need, ”the head of the agricultural company said.
