MEDA member Fred Wall grew up in Manitoba, but his families’ roots are in Ukraine. On a recent information-gathering trip for MEDA, Fred once again felt those roots under his feet as he visited, for a third time, the home villages of his parents in Crimea and Zaporizhia Volost, two areas where MEDA is looking at the prospects of new projects.
“I was lucky enough to know both sets of my grandparents and many uncles and aunts, so had heard stories about their homesteads and life there. From my father, I heard endless stories of about the beautiful Crimea and their wonderful farm. He said if he never got to heaven, he wouldn’t be worried, because he’d already lived there.
“In past years, I’ve also interviewed relatives to write family histories, so it is special to me. Going back there, being in that place where they had lived, worked and raised their families before the Russian Revolution uprooted many Mennonite families in the 1920s gave me a nostalgic, tingly feeling – thinking about what they had then and lost.
“They came to Canada in search of a new home and land to farm, and were fortunate to create new lives for themselves here. They may be able to relate to the Tatars now trying to return to Crimea, also wanting to rebuild their lives, but in their former homeland. The Tatars were exiled across the Soviet Union after the Second World War by a government who saw them as being sympathetic to the Germans during their occupation of Crimea.”
In today’s Ukraine, the large collective farms established during the Soviet era have been broken up into mostly smaller than ten hectare-sized pieces for small landholders. And like the Mennonites who came to Canada, they are trying to earn a living on a subsistence-sized acreage.
“I saw changes for the better compared to my first Ukraine trip in 1985. Then, some land was not in crops, but now, all of it is. They are coming along – some faster and better than others, of course, as you would find anywhere.
“Agriculturally,” says Fred, “it’s like going back in time – they are mixed farmers, subsisting on small acreages. They’re looking for ways to scratch a living out of a small area.
“They need to start over and evolve into a new system, develop technology relevant to their crops and capital to buy assets. They need about $15,000 per hectare to grow table grapes, as an example, and it takes three years to establish a full income.
“In addition to capital, they need information. Here in Canada, farmers have the free technological advice and expertise of government agricultural reps and agri business companies to learn about the best seeds and fertilizer to use.
“The next need will be a market for their crops. In Canada, we have sophisticated systems, both private and co-operative, for marketing and processing. That element is very weak and primitive in Ukraine, where they rely on roadside markets and informal agreements with wholesalers for distribution of their products.”
Fred saw tremendous opportunities for the small landholders in Ukraine. “There is terrific agricultural potential. There, they measure topsoil in meters, whereas here in Canada, we consider 15-20 cm good. So they have excellent soil, and a great climate – they can grow greenhouse vegetables 10 months of the year without heat in Crimea, which has a moderate climate, so there is fantastic potential.”
Most importantly, Fred notes, is the “get on with it” attitude that he saw. “It was moving to see. They are impatient to get going, but they need capital and information, so there is a sense of frustration at times. They are anxious to get to the next step.”
Stay tuned for more on Ukraine as MEDA is in the process of preparing a proposal to submit to CIDA to conduct a project in the country focused on the fruit and vegetable sector. For more on Mennonites’ link to Ukraine, read Wally Kroeker’s Ukraine: Husks of faded glory, at http://www.mbconf.ca/historian/03-06/feature-1.en.html, in which Wally reflects on his trip to the area as part of the Mennonite Heritage Cruise.
