With the Our Farmers initiative, Sanagro and other farmers want to show how extremely important they are to our economy.
Olga is a 50-something who has dedicated most of her life to one employer - the Food Farm company in Dolný Trhoviště. She has experienced a lot in the more than 30 years she has worked in the agribusiness sector. She knows what the post-revolutionary years were like, she has lived through the opening of the market and the liquidation of farmers by importing cheap food from abroad. Economically and, consequently, also in terms of personnel.
While in the past the cooperatives were full of young people, today people after school are more of a rarity here. But there are examples of this. Olga's colleague Michal is the youngest member of the "farming family" in Dolný Trhoviště. He is 20 years old and new to the agro sector. This young man takes care of the calves, and he arrived on the farm just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
"This crisis reveals many issues and problems in the agro-sector that are not talked about. In the beginning there was a desire to protect our people from COVID-19 and this later pushed us to the idea of an initiative that would highlight how important the agro-sector is, especially in times of crisis. That's why we launched the initiative Our farmerswhose primary idea is to draw attention to the importance of our industry and to show the public that there are heroes in the ranks of farmers," says Tomáš Kohút, CEO of the Slovak agricultural company SANAGRO.
It manages 10 teams in the west and centre of Slovakia.
SANAGRO: the agri-sector needs to be rejuvenated
One of the objectives of the initiative Our farmers is to point out that workers on cooperatives or farms are among the most vulnerable group of people. The virus is particularly dangerous for the older population, which is primarily represented on farms. According to official statistics, less than 4 per cent of people work there, with an average age of 47.
"Our aim is to gradually change people's minds through the initiative. Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of any country's economy. However, due to its low share in the employment of the country and hence weak voter base, as well as the policy of importing food from abroad and lack of financial resources and consequent investment, it has been marginalised not only by the state but also by the people. I dare say that nowadays the vast majority of farms have a problem with the lack of young people and how to attract them. However, if we want to be progressive, we need to gradually rejuvenate farms," says Tomáš Kohút from SANAGRA.
According to internal analyses of the company, which employs a total of 280 people, people of pre-retirement age account for up to half of the workforce, while young people aged 20-29 account for less than a fifth. European statistics even say that only 19 per cent of people under 40 work in the agribusiness sector in Slovakia, while the situation is similar across Europe. The average number of farmers of working age across the Union is just 10 per cent.
No fiction, but reality: there may not be enough food
However, the shortage of workers raises an even more acute problem - the threat of a shortage of production. It is important to realise that if some of the cooperative workers had to be quarantined, the entire work shift or farm would be at risk of being put into quarantine.
"It is not a fiction that with the advent of such a situation there is a real threat of food shortages on several farms in Slovakia at the same time. We could suffer food shortages in the autumn and especially next year due to food insecurity. We are aware of the seriousness of the situation, which, due to the pandemic, is becoming more and more real to people, regardless of when the pandemic will end. The problem is here to stay. We are not only aware of this fact, but the majority of primary producers in Slovakia," adds SANAGRO director Tomáš Kohút, while inviting competing companies or the public to join the initiative.
The first companies have supported the SANAGRA initiative
In just a few days of the initiative's existence Our farmers several big players have joined it. Corteva Agriscience, a leading player in agriculture in over 130 countries and dedicated to crop protection, was among the first to become a supporter of OUR FARMERS.
He argues that not only pests but also the current situation is now threatening the crop. "Our company prides itself on cooperation with Slovak farmers, whose products we distribute to our customers. We are aware that they are irreplaceable for all of us, so we decided to support the project Our farmers," said Lucia Kubincová, sales director of Freshbox, a company that focuses on bringing food directly to your home.
