INTERNATIONAL TRIO
INTERNATIONAL TRIO GROUP, LIPEZK, RUSSIA A LOGISTICAL CH Krone and editorial staff from profi magazine travelled together into the Russian “black earth belt” to film for a video DVD. Part of the itinerary involved visiting a farm in the Lipezk region. Impressions of a huge country. One of the farms that the film crew calls on during the one-week research trip belongs to the Trio Group. Founded in 1997, this company farms 90,000 ha on several locations around the city of Lipezk in the Oblast of the same name. The farm we visit, some 460 km south of Moscow, covers 19,000 ha, all of it cultivated without ploughing or use of powered implements. The long-year average precipitation is some 400 mm, so irrigation is necessary. Around Straw bale collection on the huge fields is a challenge. The logistics have to work. 44
ALLENGE 2,500 ha has irrigation circles in position and these apply an additional 350 mm, although only potatoes and sugar beet are irrigated. Also in the rotation: winter and spring barley, winter wheat, forage and grain maize with grass and rye grown as seed multiplication crops. Peas, lucerne and white cabbage round the cropping off. Potato yield on this farm is around 40 t/ha with almost all ware delivered to crisp manufacturer Frito-Lay (PepsiCo). Year-round storage capacity is on hand for 30,000 t ware potatoes. The crop is an important earner for Trio, contributing around 6% of the firm’s turnover. HIGH NVESTMENT Sugar beet is a similarly important crop for the Trio Group here. The company has its own sugar factory with over 100 m € invested at the location in recent years to boost processing capacity to a daily 10,000 t beet. Additionally, energy efficiency of the plant has been improved and losses reduced. The harvest from 24,000 ha of sugar beet is processed here. Long-term aim is a pure sugar yield of 7 t/ha. This is still being worked towards, but quality targets have already been reached: Coca-Cola buys a good proportion of the output for production of caffeine-content refreshment drinks. West European and American makes predominate in the machinery fleet, which has had 25 m € invested in it over the last years, 45
