Entrepreneurs in former Soviet countries show pride of ownership
Aug. 24, 1991, was the day the Soviet Union came to its end. In its aftermath, farmers are finding different ways of handling freedom.
This was the report from Tom and Helen Norris, a couple who recently spent three weeks in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus in a farmer-to-farmer program.
They shared their experiences Saturday with the more than 80 people who attended the Marion County Farm Bureau annual meeting.
According to the Norrises, both countries have modern capital cities in which most residents live in high-rise apartments. Minsk, the capital of Belarus, has a population of two million. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine has 2,900,000 residents. Mass transit is the general means of transportation.
People who live off the land aren't as well off as their city cousins. Many of them remain on state-run collective farms and live in collective villages. Rural electricity and running water aren't readily available.
However, they take pride in owning their homes, modest as they are, and each house has a fence around it.
After the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, some farmers were moved to a different section of the country and were given resources to begin new operations.
Laws have been passed allowing farmers to own land. How they go about acquiring it isn't fully understood, but about 580 private farms have been established in the past four or five years. Farms range in size from 10 acres to 1,600 acres or more and produce many different commodities such as greenhouse plants, pork, milk, crops, and vegetable oil.
Some products are not used by the farmers themselves but are shipped to the cities or to other countries.
Helen visited numerous small private farms in Ukraine while Tom visited wealthier farmers in Belarus.
One man was a rabbit farmer who sells 9,000 rabbits per year. He has a walk-in cooler. He also has 300 acres of crops.
Another man was a potato farmer. The potatoes are stored in trenches piled high with dirt and later are shipped to McDonald's restaurants in Moscow.
Grain farming isn't as profitable for private farmers as is vegetable farming. The grain has to be sold through state-owned elevators for a set price.
Garden produce is sold at popular farmers' markets, where it can be purchased cheaper than at supermarkets and grocery stores. It also is exported.
Displaying a pride of ownership, some farmers have constructed homes (not much more than shacks) on their land. Others live in villages.
The Norrisses said state-run farms aren't as well-managed as privately-owned enterprises. They were there to teach farmers how to keep records of their operations and to give them ideas about additional products that can be made from the commodities they produce.
Although country folks have little money, they don't lack for food. Everywhere the Norrisses went, they were served delicious meals on impeccable place settings of beautiful china and crystal.
Farmers often suffer losses from thievery. In one instance, a woman had a pork production of four sows. One night, someone stole three of them, butchered them, and sold the meat.
Although fertilizer is produced in Belarus and Ukraine, most of it is exported. Local farmers use manure to keep the soil fertile.
State-run banking systems do not encourage borrowing by farmers. The concept is foreign to them. With a current interest rate of 35 percent, they maybe wouldn't be interested anyway.
In Belarus, Tom visited a concrete memorial which was constructed to honor the 2,280,000 people (out of a 10 million population) who were killed by the Germans in World War II.
He told of one incident where the men of a village hid in a woods and sniped at the Germans when they approached. The Germans then herded all the women and children into one building and burned them alive. They then burned all the other buildings in the village and went on to destroy more than 400 other villages.
Helen received a coffee cup in Ukraine which carries the slogan, "Never give up!"
Despite continuing hardships, those with an entrepreneurial spirit are rising from the ashes of communism and war to produce a proud, independent people.
