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Impact of the war
The war brought disaster to her dairy farm near Poltava, in eastern Ukraine. From one day to the next, the neighboring dairy stopped taking their milk. Other factories continued working but didn’t pay enough. Fuel costs skyrocketed, as did the prices of parts and equipment. Because the price of milk is regulated in Ukraine, it couldn’t be sold at a higher price. At the same time, her ten employees and the taxes had to be paid. “It was a disaster.”

A different approach
Kateryna gradually started giving away the milk. For example, to the four thousand refugees who arrived in the region. Many other people fled from her region. The vets too. On the first night of the war, one of the cows had a difficult birth, she remembers: after the calf was born, the animal could no longer stand. For the first time, she put in an IV herself. After a few hours of treatment, the cow stood on all fours again. “That moment gave me wings.” Since then, she has treated her animals herself.

Fortunately, Kateryna had bought a generator just before the war started. That turned out to be the best investment ever. In the first few months, the farm had to deal with periods of power outages. At the moment, electricity is still rationed: there is power for two hours, then no power for four hours. If there is shelling, the light can go out completely for two or three days. The refrigerators for storing milk need power; as does the equipment for milking the cows.

Adjusting to the new life
A period of major adjustments began. For example, Kateryna purchased a pasteurizer to keep the milk fresh for longer. It had to be small enough not to use too much power, and it had to have a connection for the car battery: if there was no electricity, the device would run on the car. She also bought a smaller refrigerator for the milk, which uses less power. Before the war, they milked the cows three times a day; now they only do that twice.

This way, they can use the generator for cheese and butter production. Because that is perhaps the biggest adjustment to the business process: Kateryna started making cheese. “That way, the milk didn’t go to waste.” The farmer leads us past a rack full of freshly made cheeses: she sells yellow cheese in all shapes and sizes, and brie-like cheese for drinks. Kateryna proudly lets us taste it. She serves it with coffee with milk she produced herself.

The business is now running properly again — albeit thanks to an enormous talent for improvisation. Kateryna’s husband is responsible for the technology. He buys tractors that have already been scrapped and repairs them into fully-fledged machines. They use them to plough their fields, on which they grow grain, and mow the grass. Both the grain and the hay are used as cattle feed. If necessary, they can even do without a tractor: when there was no petrol at the beginning of the war, they ploughed their land the old-fashioned way with horses.

Helping each other survive
So some help would be welcome. Thanks to a fund, Kateryna now supplies her milk for a fee to refugees, families of soldiers and families with disabled children. But there is still much to be desired. For example, Kateryna’s husband urgently needs a machine to make hay bales, so that storage is easier. He would also like to drill a water well, so that no electricity is needed to provide the animals with water. “Everything is connected. There are always worries.”

They would also like to expand their opportunities to work with children. She regularly invites children with disabilities and refugee children to the farm. “Our children are already reacting so strongly to the war. What does this situation mean for them?” The children pet the calves, help milk the cows, and are allowed to make cheese themselves. “We show them that they can do something themselves. That makes them feel better. And that gives me hope again.”

TGS business supported 60 farmers in 2023. We were involved in an aid project and deliverd seeds. We kept contact with the farmers and talked to them about the situation

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Starting her business
Valentina comes from the Donbas, where she worked for many years as a sales manager at a factory. In 2017, because of the war — which was already raging there — she had to move to Kharkiv. In this city, in the far northeast of Ukraine, she took a course in entrepreneurship. “That’s when I knew what I wanted most: to become a farmer. I love land,” the woman says, clenching her fist on her chest. “There’s nothing more beautiful than walking barefoot on the soft, wet, black earth. It gives me so much joy and energy.”

The problem: she now lived in a big city. And she didn’t own a meter of land. “Have you ever heard of microgreens?” one of the mentors asked her during the course. She discovered that seedlings were a trend in restaurants and supermarkets. And that very little of them were produced in Ukraine. Soon, the windowsill of her rented apartment was full of containers of minuscule greenery. She attended a conference of restaurant chefs. “Microgreens? “You don’t even have a farm,” they said. “After a year, they all bought my product.”

Russian invasion
When the Russian invasion came in February 2022, everything indicated that she would have to give up her now successful business — a fully automated greenhouse of three hundred square kilometers. The only thing in demand in the supermarket was basic food products such as carrots and potatoes. She brought the little that was still growing in the now unheated greenhouse to the soup kitchens. “This is my country. I have fled once and I will not do it again,” Valentina decided. “I want to help people here and rebuild the city.”

Starting over again
In July of that year, the phone rang for the first time. “Are you in Kharkiv and working?” asked a customer from a former supermarket. “Will you take my product again?” she countered. “Yes, of course. The customers are asking for it,” was the answer. “Then I will start again.” Her greenhouse still lacked electricity. So she started over in a large basement under an apartment building. There is little light there, but the climate is right because of the central heating.

Now, two years later, Valentina is at thirty percent of the pre-war yield. But her company is profitable again. “I won’t get rich from it: after paying the rent and my employee, there’s not much left. But it’s going well,” she says with satisfaction. Of the three employees, one remains: a woman with two children who lost her husband in the war. The supply of light, air and water is automatic. The planting and cutting is done by hand.

She demonstrates: first she puts the seeds in a layer of cotton. She lets them germinate for two days in a warm, dark room. After another two days of growing in the rack, she cuts the plants, then packages them and takes them to the customer in cool boxes. In the summer, the microgreens are outcompeted by salads and seasonal fruits; in the winter, around Christmas and New Year, the demand is high. “Last year, a restaurant bought ten kilos from me. That is twice what fits in these statements.”

Dreams
The time to dream has come. She would like to have children again, just like before the war. “That is how they learn. You plant now, and in a few days you have a nice result.” In addition to her company, she organizes activities for women who are in trouble because of the war. Her wish is to establish a small farm and a training center on her own piece of land, where she teaches women to grow vegetables and to do business. She keeps her eyes on the end of the war. “Men are fighting now. Women will have to rebuild everything later.”

She can still manage in the underground plantation for a while; she does not want a greenhouse, because it could be damaged by shelling of the city. She compensates for the risk of a power outage with a large battery. She asks for help with receiving seeds. “It is very difficult to find good seeds,” she sighs. She used to know exactly which farmer sells good seeds; now many farmers are bankrupt, have left or are in the army. Or they do not grow anything because their land is mined. Another wish is to improve her own knowledge. For example, she would love to follow a training course to grow Dutch salad.

TGS business supported 60 farmers in 2023. We were involved in an aid project and deliverd seeds. We kept contact with the farmers and talked to them about the situation

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Farmer and poultry farmer Vitaliy (61) owns about a hundred hectares of land in the Kharkiv region. He grows grain, corn and potatoes on it. He feeds his animals with the harvest. He makes cheese and cottage cheese with the milk from his cows; he keeps his sheep and pigs for meat. He uses the sales to maintain the ‘eco-village’ that his farm has grown into in recent years. However, the harvest was poor this year. “We expected a new attack from the Russians,” Vitaliy explains. “That’s why we started sowing and planting too late.” It was also too dry. The last rain was in May. After that, not a single drop fell.

Poultry shelter
Vitaliy’s great specialty is poultry. The farmer keeps more than two thousand chickens, ducks and geese on his land: the coops and aviaries are full of cackling, cackling, quacking and fluttering. His farm used to be a tourist attraction, but now it mainly serves as a shelter for animals. Most of the birds have been evacuated from the war zone, the farmer explains. For example, there are turkeys roaming around, originating from a front village. There are swans bathing, which can no longer fly after being injured by shelling.

And there are especially many chickens, in all shapes and sizes, and of the most beautiful breeds. Farmer Vitaliy points to a red-and-white-feathered family. The owner’s house burned down. The man then sent his family to Europe, put the chickens on transport to the ecovillage, and reported to the army. “We never heard from him again.” Another group of chickens, black-feathered, comes from a refugee family whose man of the house is also a soldier. “He calls me every week from the front to ask how his birds are doing.” There is also a snow-white duck, with yellow, fluffy offspring. After the flight, the animal had laid eggs. The chicks are radiantly healthy.

Rescueing animals
Most of the animals are brought by animal rights activists, who evacuate them from the war zone. Sometimes Vitaliy also goes out himself. For example, a while ago he drove with a friend to a front village, where a group of ponies was supposed to be among the ruins. It took a whole day to convince the soldiers to grant them access to the area. They managed to capture the animals, but on the way back they were caught in a bombardment. They had to leave the cars with the trailers on the road and hid in the verge. The shells hit close by; the horses screamed. They are doing well now. One couple even had a foal.

People shelter
The poultry farmer also takes in people. Under a canopy, thirty pensioners are enjoying a tasty and healthy lunch. They live on the property. Now that the economy is in shambles, many people are extra vulnerable, Vitaliy explains. Now that the war is intensifying, he expects a new wave of refugees. They come from villages to the big city. It’s hard to get used to it there; they miss their vegetable garden and there’s no government support. So Vitaliy brings some of the food he produces to the city. “By feeding them, they can focus on building a new life.”

Lack of electricity
The biggest obstacle for farmer Vitaliy is the chronic lack of electricity. At this moment — it is two o’clock in the afternoon — there has been no electricity all day. Without electricity, the cows cannot be milked. Cottage cheese, cheese and meat cannot be produced. Moreover, the production cannot be cooled. The residents lack heating and running water. “There has been no power all day today. When will it be back? No idea.” When there is electricity, it is often rationed.

Of course, Vitaliy has alternatives. If the oven does not work, the cook resorts to the traditional Ukrainian wood oven. This is hard work: the pan has to be pushed in and out with a long stick. “This was purely a tourist attraction. Now this oven saves us.” A generator can solve many of the inconveniences, but the diesel required makes the device expensive to run. He constantly drives the one generator he has back and forth across the yard: to milk cows, pump water, turn on the lights somewhere, etc. “There is a big shortage, because all of Ukraine needs generators. They are expensive.” The winter will be difficult for people and animals, the poultry farmer expects. “Let’s just hope that God gives us a mild winter.”

TGS business supported 60 farmers in 2023. We were involved in an aid project and deliverd seeds. We kept contact with the farmers and talked to them about the situation

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Soybeans don’t yield much, but at least they don’t need much fertilizer or insecticide. The harvest was disappointing, but that was mainly due to the lack of rain. “We feared war, but water shortages turned out to be a bigger problem.” Now, just after the harvest, the beans don’t yield much. In January, he will try to sell his products.

Jevgen was a refugee once
War was not new to Yevgen. In 2014, when he was 23, he fled the eastern Ukrainian province of Luhansk, his native region, where there was already war — albeit on a smaller scale than now. “I had to leave everything behind: my job, my house and my parents.” He had work experience in construction, but his friends convinced him to try farming. As is the case in Ukraine, he leases plots of land from the residents. He grows his crops there: corn, sunflowers and soybeans. Over the past decade, his company has grown to 120 hectares of land around the village of Nedryhajliv. After the invasion in February 2022, Russian tanks were already driving through the main street. Fortunately, they retreated.

Nevertheless, the war is hard on the farmers. The sowing, planting, fertilizing and harvesting fell mainly on Yevgen’s shoulders this season. The majority of his permanent and seasonal workers were called up for the army: of his three ‘tractor drivers’, one is now fighting in the border region; another is at the front in the Donbas. Villagers are popular for recruitment, Yevgen knows: they are strong, handy and often know how to handle machines well. “We are losing our workforce. That makes the situation difficult.” Not to mention the risk that the farmer himself will have to join the army.”Fortunately, everyone understands that someone has to be left to produce food.”

Not only a farmer, but also a baker
Since the invasion, Yevgen has also been a linchpin in local humanitarian work. “I am religious. I see it as my duty not only to do business, but also to help people,” he explains. For example, he recently set up a bakery. He distributes freshly baked bread to residents of the border region. The need is great: there is no work, and many houses have been destroyed. Most of the bakery’s employees are refugees from that region themselves. By working in the bakery, the farmer gives them the opportunity to rebuild their lives.”Having been a refugee myself, I know what it’s like to start over somewhere else with only one bag of belongings.”

Technical challenges
As far as farming is concerned, the challenge lies in the technology, Yevgen believes. Like most farmers in the area, he only owns a few old tractors; during harvest time, he rents the necessary machines and works with his own old ploughs — which is actually no longer possible with too few men. He shows a video of his tractor driver repairing the wheel of his plough in the middle of a field. “This is extremely physically demanding work. If you are not used to it, you will not be able to do it.” He sees the solution in more powerful and modern agricultural machinery, so that he can sow and harvest more efficiently with fewer people. Then women, who are exempt from military service, can also help out.”My wife dreams of driving a combiner.”

He doesn’t dare take out a loan to buy machinery because of the war. “Suppose I have to flee. How will I pay off that loan?” He knows fellow farmers who have been struggling for years for equipment that has been destroyed through no fault of their own, as a result of the war.

Second-hand agricultural machinery from the Netherlands would be a solution: even though they are cast-offs, Ukrainians know how to repair technology, Yevgen thinks. “We will be able to get started with that.” The generator on his farm, which was donated to him, is also used pragmatically. As soon as the power goes out, that one generator keeps the pumps of the water supply of the entire village going. “I don’t really want to think about winter yet. Let’s hope it will be a mild winter.”

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Tiny Houses to Rebuild Ukraine

Wageningen, October 2022

Due to the war in Ukraine, many people have suffered great losses, as already over 800.000 Ukrainian families have lost their homes. This is a problem not only now, but for the coming years. As the estmimated time to rebuild these houses will be more than 10 years. There will be many challenges, as there is a lack of job for Ukrainians, and supply chains of materials have been disrupted or destroyed. TGS is working on a solution for many of these challenges; a Tiny House, to tackle large challenges.

Prefab: Efficient & Effective

TGS cooperates with a factory in Moldova, only 30km from the Ukrainian border. This factory produces turnkey prefab (pre-fabricated) wall panels using a Dutch patented technology. These wall panels have many benefits. For example, because of the LEGO-type assembly of the houses, mounting time per complete house is limited to 2 or 3 days. Furthermore, the quality of the panels ensure high energy efficiency. As the wood and rockwool material are 6x more energy efficient than conventional brick. The panels could be easily stacked and transported to the location of construction.

Mounting of Tiny House

Three houses a week

The Moldovan facotry currently has the capacity to produce 3 houses per week. The costs of a complete house including kitchen, bathroom, underfloor heating, electricity and water connection start around €35,000. The houses are currently available in three different sizes.

Moreover, after the panels have been produced and shipped, the mounting, assembly, and finishing could be done by Ukrainian workers. Boosting local employment and economy.

Tiny House Kitchen

Tiny House Interior

Tiny House Bathroom

Trial in Irpin

 

As trial, one Tiny house has already been placed in Irpin, a village in which almost 1,500 private homes have been destroyed due to the war. One of the destroyed houses belonged to Petro and Lilia. They recently got a new ‘tiny house’. Their house was set up as a headquarters by the occupiers because it was located on a main road. When Russian troops were forces to leave Irpin on moment of Ukrainian recapturing of the town, their home was set on fire, burned and was left behind as a ruin.

In cooperation with sponsors and partners, a tiny house with 32 m2 of living space was built for the couple. A crane lifted the housing parts into place on the foundation. In early September, the key transfer was held and Petro and Lilla moved in. TGS aims to rebuild dozens of these types of houses because it is quick and cheap and the residents are well protected into the winter, because of the high insulation value of their new compact home.

Petro and Lilla posing happily in front of their new home

 

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Expanding our agricultural activities to North Africa

For a long time TGS wanted to expand her activities to North-Africa. Why North-Africa? You might ask. Well, we see a lot of potential in this beautiful part of the world. North-Africa has a very rich culture, but also stunning nature with a variety of flora and fauna and a lot of agricultural opportunities. Unfortunately, we all know that the countries in this region have suffered under a lot of political upheaval the last years. This has also weakened the agricultural sector. We believe that precisely for that reason we can have a positive impact on the agricultural sector. And while Tunisia is one of the most stable countries in this region on the field of politics and economics, we want to start our work there.

From last year on, we have looked for a person who was willing to move to Tunisia to expand TGS TUNISIA. And we are very happy that we found Tijmen! Tijmen grew up in Spain. He came back to the Netherlands to study business administration and to do several language studies. St this moment he is learning Arabic. He is looking forward to his time abroad!

Click to here for more information about our all the services we offer.

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გაიყიდა!

 

ბრენდი	Hassia
მიოდელი:	DK 300/35
წარმოებულია:	გერმანიაში
მდგომარეობა:	ძალიან კარგი
ტექნიკური მახასიათებლები:	საჭიროა 50Hp /37Kw, სამუშაო სიგანე: 3მ, მილები 29
გასაყიდი ფასი:	SOLD
ახლის ფასი:	€8250

 

დაგვიკავშირდით:

ტელ: +31(0)317311212

მეილი: info(@)tgsbusiness.com

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