LÄÄNE-VIRU, Estonia – Cutting the middle out of the market is working for some European farmers.
Those producers say European Union agricultural legislation applying to countries that most recently entered the EU does not encourage more efficient farms.
Hillar Pulk operates a large and successful dairy farm in eastern Estonia, about 100 kilometres from the Russian border.
Trained as a large animal veterinarian, he practised his profession for several years in Estonia while it was part of the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. fell apart in 1993 and as an independent country Estonia returned to a market-driven capitalist economy.
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Despite being located at nearly 60 degrees north latitude it has growing seasons and terrain similar to the Prairies due to the moderating influence of the surrounding Baltic Sea.
Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Pulk had provided veterinary support to the country’s large but inefficient collective farms.
“Those cows were fat. They were of good Soviet era genetics. Crappy at best. They were inefficient with their feed and the feed was poor,” said Pulk.
“We squeezed about 3,400 kilograms (of annual milk production) out of them.”
As a veterinarian, Pulk knew what was being done in the rest of the world when it came to production.
“When the government changed, I borrowed all the money I could and bought a small collective dairy farm.”
A decade later and Pulk has been the Baltic country’s top Holstein breeder and now milks 400 cows with average yields of 9,000 kg. His dairy operation has reached its peak in size.
The fully free market allowed his farm to flourish. But new rules and the cost of the new milk quota that is part of the EU package have meant that Pulk no longer sees a profitable future in dairy expansion.
Instead, the Estonian farmer is building on his 140 head Black Angus beef cattle herd and 250-ewe sheep operation by direct marketing the products those animals produce.
“We have wool from the sheep and it goes into traditional, handmade Estonian pillows covered with (regionally grown) milled flax linen,” he said.
“There is meat from the Angus cattle too.”
His beef is processed at an EU licensed abattoir and he sells it directly from his farm to eager buyers not accustomed to the well marbled North American style of beef that Pulk produces.
“I don’t wish to hand over any of those profits to wholesalers. Tallinn (the capital city of Estonia) and its 400,000 people are less than two hours away. I know we will always have a market.”
To draw attention to his farm, Pulk has also assembled the largest herd of North American bison in northern Europe.
The 23 head of bison are startling in a countryside that contains 15th century windmills and 18th century stone barns scattered among the abandoned remains of collective farms.
The bison attract Estonians to a “model farm” that Pulk has built.
In its second year, the little 25 acre farm’s displays of pigs, chickens, rabbits, cattle, sheep, greenhouses, berry orchards and flower gardens draws groups of urban Estonians for a country experience.
Rüf Pulk said her husband’s “business doings” are keeping them and their more than 20 workers busy.
“We host family gatherings, birthdays, reunions and with our new (commercial) kitchen we can cater their food with fresh ingredients raised right here,” she said.
This past summer the Pulks opened a North American style, western-themed special event hall and conference centre in a 150-year-old barn located on the model farm.
The new facility is booked steadily. With seating for about 50, a meeting area is located in the loft and below it is an open bison pen where people can sit on Holstein hide stools and enjoy a drink near animals they would have seen only on television. A steel barbecue large enough to prepare a side of beef is in the corner of the dining hall.
Hillar Pulk said the model farm and its facilities are profitable, but more importantly, they advertise the meat, produce and other value-added products that the rest of his farm offers.
In 2005, the Pulks added an executive retreat built from a 200-year-old, traditional log farmhouse for urban businesspeople to hold weekend meetings.
The small, rustic lodge has a gourmet kitchen and a cedar hot tub along with a meeting area and a couple of small bedrooms.
The Pulks have expanded their forage production to complement the farm’s need for feed and provide custom baling and bale wrapping for smaller producers within 50 km.
This fall they will complete construction of a new, state of the art milking parlour and barn facility.
Wages that were in the $3 to $5 per hour range are rising rapidly as Estonians leave the country, moving to higher paying jobs in other EU countries. The shortage of workers puts pressure on the Pulks to become more efficient and to keep margins that might otherwise go to wholesalers and retailers.
“I can’t see adding (dairy) cattle, but we will become more efficient with the ones we have. The rest of our growth will be in areas that aren’t restricted by regulations.”
Pulk said the EU system for agriculture fails to foster expansion of traditional agricultural businesses.
“But maybe they did cause a few us to look around and find something else that wasn’t being done by someone else,” he said.
