Fresh milk and eggs from free-range hens. The inhabitants of Senicko from the Sanagro cooperatives also have this "on hand".
The cooperatives in Senica, Sobotiště, Častkov and Vrbovce support the improvement of the Senica region. They give priority to local people in the offer of vacancies and contribute above-standard amounts annually to the budgets of the municipalities. The cooperatives pay their land rent properly and on time, and the milk from their cows is always 'on hand' in the local milk vending machine.
Agriculture has been traditionally practiced in "Senicko" since time immemorial. Although many local people have moved to bigger cities for work in the past decade, the "corona crisis" and changes in the economy may gradually bring them back. While the current crisis has brought job cuts across industries, work in the fields and with animals has remained stable. However, the key issues here remain mainly who owns the cooperative, how it is looked after, how much it invests in production and, not least, in employees.
Farms Sanagro Senica, Samuel Jurkovič Peasant Cooperative in Sobotiště, Častkov Peasant Cooperative and Euroagro Senica Ecofarm based in Vrbovce, have a common owner - the Slovak company Sanagro. They are an example of professional management, which benefits not only the employees, but also the municipalities and local residents.
How can this be done? Let's take a look at some interesting facts together.
ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE REGION COMES FIRST
Farms can be considered a stable employer in the region, providing employment and livelihoods for dozens of families, mostly local. They make all payments on behalf of their people to the state, properly and on time, which are used for health care or future pensions. In addition, not only the employees, but also the inhabitants of the surrounding villages have regular access to fresh milk directly from the cooperative, which they can buy from milk vending machines. They also have access to fresh eggs from free-range hens.
The municipalities where Sanagra farms are located also benefit from the farms, in the form of funding for municipal budgets. Each farm is obliged to pay tax on the real estate it uses. This can then be used by the town or municipality to improve the quality of life of its citizens. By way of illustration, from 2017 until last year, the four cooperatives mentioned above have paid almost 400 thousand euros.
A CHANCE FOR EMPLOYMENT GROWTH
That is far from all. The cooperatives in the Senica region manage an impressive 6 thousand hectares of agricultural land, on which wheat, barley, oats, corn, rape and sunflowers are grown. In the coming seasons, production will be supplemented by onions, potatoes, carrots, parsley, beetroot and sugar beet, which could increase the number of jobs directly in the region. Production on the farm in Sobotist has also been expanded to include free-range laying hens.
In order for these cooperatives to continue to function and thrive, they need a firm hand, a responsible but also understanding owner. This is what they have found in Sanagro, as evidenced not only by the increase in production and the investments made, but especially by the positive development of employment and the permanent improvement of the cooperatives.
LEASEHOLD LAND IS PROFESSIONALLY TAKEN CARE OF
Soil care remains a key issue. The owner of the cooperatives in Senica, Sobotište, Vrbovce and Častkov takes good care of its quality. He regularly balances it and fertilises it with manure, thus supplying it with the necessary organic component - i.e. the highest quality nutrients. The Euroagro farm in Vrbovce even operates under an organic regime, which has a more favourable impact on the local environment and also produces healthy food for the inhabitants. Most of the agricultural land is rented by the cooperatives from local residents. They can therefore be sure that their land is very well and professionally looked after.
NUMBERS THAT THE REGION'S RESIDENTS SHOULD KNOW:
- 74 is the average number of employees for the last 5 years, which are given work by farms in Senica, Sobotište, Častkov and Vrbovce belonging to Sanagro
- Until 93 % of which are made up of local residents
- 3 million 334 thousand litres of raw cow's milk produced last year local farm in Sobotiště
- 25 thousand tonnes of crops produced by the aforementioned farms in the Senica/Myjava region
- 177 thousand EUR paid in 2020 by farms to landlords for the land they use
- 628 thousand EUR invested by the cooperatives in the last 2 years to improve their operations
- 105 thousand EUR has been paid to the budget of the municipalities in the cadastre where these farms operate in the form of local taxes
Sanagro and its farms want to continuously change things for the better and to be permanently a leader among the field production companies.
