Foreword EkoNiva News Edition No. 75

The events at the end of February launched rapid and profound changes in the global balance and order. None of us could have foreseen the current developments. In the time of sanctions and countersanctions, dairy production as well as other businesses are facing grave challenges.

Devaluation of ruble, sharp growth of the key rate of the Central Bank of Russia, soaring prices, limited access to materials, breaks in supply chains, unwillingness of some contractors to deliver paid goods to Russia have caused a large number of issues businessmen have to handle on the go now.

Nevertheless, we, agricultural producers, bear a huge responsibility to ensure uninterrupted availability of food at the most affordable prices. Therefore, we invest all our efforts in maintaining continuous operation of our enterprises. At a car factory, you can stop the conveyor and place the workers on leave. On a farm, however, you can’t stop a cow or place it on leave, it expects its feed to be distributed on time every day.

So, we keep on feeding and milking our cows to produce tasty dairy products. In late March, we started the spring field work with fertilizing the autumn‑sown crops. Currently, we are planting spring crops to assure that our cows have something to eat next year. As they say, one spring day feeds you for the rest of the year, so mistakes in agriculture are extremely costly. I am genuinely grateful to EkoNiva team for their hard work and constant loyalty to the company even in the toughest times.

We live our lives and do our job; at the same time, we can’t but feel heart‑broken about the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the anguish and sufferings it inflicts on millions of people.

For almost 30 years, EkoNiva has been a symbol of successful cooperation and constructive dialogue between Germany and Russia and also a platform for knowledge and experience exchange between these countries. Unfortunately, this dialogue has been suspended, hopefully, for the time being.

The recent events have definitively proven that the world is a fragile substance, especially today’s world which is based on interaction, international cooperation and dialogue. We are so much integrated and interdependent, that a breach in our relations is equally distressing for all sides.

Therefore, I firmly believe that resuming our dialogue as soon as possible is what we all need to find the solution to the current situation.

Stefan Duerr, Ekosem-Agrar Group President