Sergey Konin earthworms. Businessman Sergei Konin has retired from politics. Why vermicompost is better than manure

The most thoroughbred, voracious and titled earthworms in the world live in the city of Kovrov, Vladimir region. The number of medals, cups and international diplomas they received will be the envy of any Olympian. "Such Deeds" became interested in breeding earthworms and learned how worms turn manure into gold.

The definitions "elite" and "thoroughbred" in relation to a seemingly ordinary earthworm seem extremely strange in themselves. Well, who in childhood did not conduct experiments on worms, lazily crawling out from everywhere in rainy weather. More than seven thousand species of earthworms live in the world. In any garden near Moscow, you can dig up 14-15 different types of them. But, most likely, these will be the wrong worms, not gold-bearing ones.

This story is reminiscent of the plot with expensive sorts of coffee such as "Black Tusk" and "Luwak". Only coffee "golden" added value is given by elephants eating grains and funny palm martens. And the "golden" shine of the soil with manure and other food waste is given by special regular worms. The secret of the right worms is in lifestyle and endless consumption. What they eat turns into an excellent effective organic fertilizer vermicompost. That same gold. Relatives of other species cannot live permanently in the nutrient medium and die from a protein overdose. The right worm is the perfect biorobot. Doesn't get sick. Doesn't get tired. Eats and breeds.

The right worm is the perfect biorobot. Doesn't get sick. Doesn't get tired. Eats and breeds

Eight years ago, I accidentally came to a site where a cartoon worm was crawling around the screen merrily, and in the photographs a gray-haired gentleman with a beard was holding a handful of earth with red veins in his hands. The stories about the breeding of worms and the magical properties of the fertilizers they produced were so promising that I got stuck, read it and went to Kovrov to gaze at the worm. I expected to see a mad scientist-dreamer. But the worm-breeders unexpectedly turned out to be former military men, serious guys who believed the ideas of this very learned dreamer.

Sergey Konin and banana palms grown in a solar bio-vegetarian

Fantasy was grounded and turned into a highly profitable business. That my first trip to Kovrov was reminiscent of the king's walk from the fairy tale "Puss in Boots":

“Whose meadows are these? - Marquis of Karabas. - Whose fields? Land? Lock?"

There was a feeling that a quarter of the city was bought for gold worms: an asphalt plant and a fitness center, and a line for the production of dumplings, and an abandoned cinema, and the production of building blocks. In the treasury of assets of the "Green Peak" corporation there was so much. The company has matured in eight years. I got rid of non-core assets. And the cheerful worm was removed from the site. And the selection Vladimir worm since then has actively spread across Russia and has already reached China, crowding out the more famous overseas relative.

Tame the worm

Charles Darwin studied earthworms with enthusiasm and assigned them a special role in agriculture. But the American Thomas Barrett was the first to think about special selection and breeding of earthworms back in the mid-30s of the last century. His book, The Domestication of the Earthworm, became a bestseller. And the compost red worm bred by Barrett was called California. The scientist spent a lot of effort and eloquence convincing local gardeners and farmers of the usefulness of the Californian in the agricultural sector. Over time, Californians "spread" all over the world, except Soviet Union... There were no worm-addicted people in the Union. More precisely, there was one - a military medic Anatoly Igonin.


Vasily Kolotilov for TD

In 1983 he retired and headed the department of military medical training at the Vladimir State Pedagogical Institute. Naturally, the Vladimir professor had not heard of Barrett's work. Instead of a Californian, he worked out the technology of vermicultivation on a wild earthworm - a native of the Vladimir region. He experimented in the basements of the pedagogical institute with money allocated by the Ministry of Fisheries of the RFSFR. It is not difficult to imagine how the surrounding people felt about the old professor's basement experiments. But after a couple of years, having crossed a local northern lowland worm with a high-mountain southern inhabitant of the Chui Valley from Kyrgyzstan, he received a unique highly productive hybrid - voracious, prolific and active.

In 1991, Igonin received a patent for the invention of a method for producing technological (specialized) compost earthworm rocks. Wrote a couple of books on how to increase fertility with earthworms. But behind the walls of the basement, history was already raging: perestroika, the putsch, the collapse of the USSR. And so not the most popular topics of fertility and ecological farming were completely washed off the agenda. So Igonin, with his unique worm, would have sunk into obscurity if, after the 1998 default, another former military man who was badly burned out on deals with securities, was not looking for a more reliable down-to-earth occupation.

Perfect animal

Sergey Konin was not particularly eager to get into agribusiness. In 1989, after fifteen years of service in the ranks of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Konin retired and went into commerce. He founded the Pik cooperative in the city of Kovrov, which sewed overalls, tried his hand at furniture production, construction, and successfully played on the stock market. Things were going well until the default hit. New business, Konin decided, should be more reliable, productive and export-oriented. There were several criteria: a cheap source of raw materials, a growing market with a 20–30 year perspective, and a simple technology that allows for maximum added value.


Solar Bio Vegetarian View


View of the solar bio-vegetarian from the window of Sergey Konin's company building

Photo: Vasily Kolotilov for TD

At one of the exhibitions, Konin's attention was drawn to vermicompost - an organic fertilizer, a product of processing organic agricultural waste by earthworms. The idea seemed simple. And the entrance to the market was inexpensive: a kilogram of raw material (these same earthworms) cost only 30 rubles. He found out that the founder of Russian technology, Professor Igonin, also lives next door to him, in Vladimir. He invited Igonin to work in his corporation. And he bought the root patent for the earthworm breeding technology and the entire supply of worms in addition - all six kilograms. The professor dispelled fears that business might not go: "People let me down many times, worms never." And he didn’t deceive.

"People let me down many times, worms never"

In 2000, under new project created a biotechnological experimental laboratory, and then production using a technology called "Green Peak".

If the world used American container technology before, Green Peak came to the conclusion that even without containers and boxes, the worms would not leave the place where they were fed. Instead of containers, there are rows of ridges, in the top layer of which manure is regularly placed. Worms, like all living things, do not like their own waste, therefore they move for new food, leaving behind a finished product. About two centimeters pass per day. This reduced the production cycle from 140 to one or two days. And three times reduce the cost of vermicompost. And the worms really didn't go anywhere. Except for eternal travelers. Such 2%. The craving for changing places is genetically inherent in them, which ensures the growth of the population and the dispersal of the species.

Thoroughbred worm with light hand Horse meat was given the name Prospector. It seemed to him a good association with the hunters for gold, to whom the worm could also give a head start. Usually, two to three grams of gold are washed from a ton of gold-bearing soil. The worm is more efficient. From a ton of manure, it “eats up” a value equal to eight grams of gold in the domestic market and up to 50 grams in export. On the domestic Russian market the price of vermicompost is 200 dollars per ton, and in the world it reaches two thousand.


Vasily Kolotilov for TD

“A ton of composted manure costs 600 rubles, vermicompost at the exit - from 12 thousand rubles per ton. From one ton of manure, 600 kilograms of vermicompost and an increase of 10-15 kilograms of worm are obtained, - Sergey Konin reveals some simple arithmetic. - Worms reproduce well. Do not get sick. Do not tolerate infections. They feed on waste. They don't need electricity. Under the right conditions, one kilogram of the worm multiplies up to one and a half tons per year. " Indeed, they are ideal animals.

The horse meat is so convincing that you involuntarily begin to figure out where to settle a small herd of worms in the country. It seems not difficult at all. Indeed, it is the farms and subsidiary plots and summer residents who buy up a variety of organic fertilizers, experiment, and are primarily concerned with the purity and quality of products. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 80% of vegetables produced in Russia are grown on personal subsidiary plots and dachas.

Large agricultural producers still prefer a variety of chemicals to organic fertilizers.

Chinese footprint

The businessmen did not hide the technology and did not hide the Prospector from people. They willingly shared with those who were interested at first for free, and when they opened the School named after Professor Igonin (the progenitor of the “Prospector” died in 2005), more than 1300 people from 19 countries were trained. The largest group were comrades from China: 37 people, led by a party organizer and a spy from the competent authorities. The group consists entirely of heads of large farms and party leaders. The attentive meticulous Chinese wrote everything down, delved into everything. And then they bought the technology, a batch of "Prospectors" and transferred four large Chinese plants for the production of vermicompost to Russian technology.


Photo: Vasily Kolotilov for TD


Experimental solar bio-vegetarian where vegetables are grown on vermicompost

Konin does not believe that he is breeding competitors for himself. On the contrary, he assures that this was the only way to create a market. Even 20 years ago in Russia nobody heard about biohumus. And now all together the idea of ​​pure organic fertilizers has been promoted. “Vermicompost is of different quality. Someone adds peat, we know some manufacturers who boast that they are feeding the worm with rotted cardboard. I would like to raise the bar for quality. As it happened, for example, in the taxi market. There are various companies Uber, Gett, Yandex and others, they began to work according to standards and practically removed the bombings from the market. When ordering such a taxi, you have a rough idea of ​​what service you will receive. I would like something similar to happen in the biohumus market, ”says Sergey Konin.

The largest exporter of vermicompost today is India. Consumers are Arab countries. “Palm trees grow well on biohumus,” says Konin. "We are currently growing an experimental batch of banana palms in our Solar Bio Vegetarian."

the task of the year is to achieve the inclusion of the earthworm in the register of farm animals

The solar bio-vegan is another local miracle. A sort of greenhouse of the future. A high-tech greenhouse of a continuous cycle that uses the Sun, among other things, for energy storage in heat accumulators.

From frost through the vestibule you get to the tropics. Palm trees, tomatoes, various greens and seedlings, outlandish momordica, funny kale - kale, which, after a raid of hungry guests who ate the lower branches, also looks like a palm tree. All are grown, naturally, on biohumus. An experienced farm and at the same time an exhibition of achievements, and at the same time a green supermarket. Collect what you like, suspension and buy.

Konin tells how the Chinese, with the help of their vegetarians and with the support of the government that eliminated the tax on farmers, has made a vegetable revolution in 25 years. They provided themselves with vegetables and became the largest exporter of vegetables in the world, and thousands of families got jobs. Konin also dreams of something similar for Russia, talking about the project of farming clusters and eco-parks. But for now, the task of the year is to finally achieve the addition of the earthworm to the register of farm animals. Bees, for example, have been there for a long time.

The tax inspector came and asked:

So how many worms do you have?

Thanks for reading to the end!

Every day we write about the most important issues in our country. We are confident that they can be overcome only by talking about what is really happening. Therefore, we send correspondents on business trips, publish reports and interviews, photo stories and expert opinions. We raise money for many funds - and we do not take any interest from them for our work.

But "Such Deeds" themselves exist thanks to donations. And we ask you to make a monthly donation to support the project. Any help, especially if it is regular, helps us to work. Fifty, one hundred, five hundred rubles is our ability to plan work.

Please sign up for any donation to our benefit. Thank you.

If you want, we will send the best texts of "Such Deeds" to you at email? Subscribe

Few people know that earthworms are domestic animals that play a colossal role in production cycle food products. Only 100 gr. vermicompost is required to grow 1 kg. real organic vegetables, berries, herbs or fruits of exceptional quality. Vermicompost is ideal food for plants. Where to get vermicompost? Earthworms eat manure (compost), digest it and produce vermicompost. It is known that only 1 kg. earthworm, eats 1 kg every day. food waste, and 1 sq. meter lives and works up to 10 kg. earthworm.

Earthworms don't run anywhere. If they are fed and watered (moistening the ridge), they quickly multiply (cocoons), grow in total mass and quantity, eat and create vermicompost.

Breeding an earthworm is a great business.

Compare an earthworm to a cow, for example. The cow eats quality food that costs money. The earthworm eats the waste. From one cow in a year there will be "only 2 cows", and from 1 earthworm there will be 1,500 pieces. The earthworm does not get sick and does not transmit infections to humans. The cow is sick, including terrible diseases such as tuberculosis, rabies and even smallpox. The cow confidently gives 10,000 kg per year. manure, but whether she will give so much milk is "a very big question."

Vermicompost is calculated in liters (as powder). The prime cost of vermicompost is 5 rubles. liter. Price "at the place of production" wholesale from 10 rubles. per liter. With only 100 sq.m. worm house, you will produce 100 cubic meters of vermicompost. It keeps well and is bought wholesale and retail. If you plant garlic on vermicompost, you will get 1000 tons of bio-garlic. The cost of 1,000 tons of bio-garlic will cost 100 million rubles in bulk. Thus, vermicompost is easily converted into food and gives an "increase" not only in weight, but also in monetary terms.

Why is vermicompost better than manure?

Vermicompost is better than manure. In vermicompost there are no enemies for plants, it is pure food and medicine for any type of plants. Manure (and compost) contains weed seeds, insect eggs, all kinds of bacteria and fungi that are harmful to plants. Vermicompost can be introduced into the root system of plants, manure is not allowed. If you try to grow on biohumus, you will never want to mess with manure and all sorts of humus again. Bioumus allows you to control the stable quality of the future crop. Tomatoes will be fragrant and smell like tomatoes, cucumbers - cucumbers, and peppers will have a thick juicy wall.

The production of vermicompost and the cultivation of plants on it is a nature-like technology. Plants, completing their cycle, rot, earthworms eat the rot, providing food for new plants. Eating plants, the cow leaves up to 60% of the nutritional properties of plants in the manure so that the earthworm can eat, give good offspring and produce high-quality biohumus. There will be more vermicompost, there will be more succulent feed. This is how nature works. And another important property of vermicompost is that it is insoluble in water. Until the plant finds it in the soil and eats it, vermicompost will wait. If it rains, vermicompost will swell (this is a soil gel), but will remain in place, but manure with water will enter the reservoir (underground or above ground) and infect it. Just 1 cubic meter of manure makes 1,000 cubic meters of water unusable.

How did worm farming originate in Russia?

When, in 1998, Professor Anatoly Mikhailovich Igonin signed an agreement with JSC "Green-PIK" ( General manager Konin Sergey Stepanovich), no one expected that the 20-year-old developments of the Russian scientist would be actively introduced into real agriculture. Igonin A.M. invented the word "biohumus", and also brought out a hybrid of the earthworm "Prospect", he became the founder of the development of worm breeding in Russia.

The result of the cooperation of a businessman
and the scientist was created breeding economy earthworm, the only one in Russia (in the city of Kovrov), launch industrial production vermicompost, publishing books, obtaining patents and opening a school of "worm-breeders". To date, more than 1,300 people have been trained from Russia and from all over the world, 43 of them are Chinese. Today the PIK Concern is the largest producer of vermicompost in Russia. This is a system open for cooperation that allows entrepreneurs to quickly master the technology of vermicompost production anywhere.

Vermicompost consumers are not only farmers, but gardeners and simple summer residents. Moreover, the number of people who are beginning to understand the quality of vermicompost is growing every year.

Is hunger really threatening humanity?

There are many theories that humanity is at risk of total hunger and therefore GMOs and chemical fertilization methods are needed. But this is completely wrong. It is known that during the production of 1 kg. food, agriculture and processing food industry creates 10 kg. various organic waste. A person on average eats 1.5 kg per day. food, that is, each of us involuntarily "creates" 15 kg. waste per day, and this is a huge burden on nature. However, if you feed this waste to earthworms, you get about 10 kg. vermicompost. And this, in turn, is enough to grow 100 kg. new bio-vegetables, berries and fruits. So the talk that allegedly "chemical fertilizers" are needed to "save humanity from hunger" is a myth.

It is earthworms that will feed the world, creating vermicompost, on which eco-farmers will grow pure high-quality bio-products. Corporations that create GMOs and grow chemically contaminated vegetables and fruits will lose this fight, because the townspeople will vote with their wallets for products created on the basis of natural technologies.

What if you are concerned about waste?

Imagine that you, or your loved ones, are concerned that your very existence is causing damage to the surrounding nature, and you would like to recycle all the organic waste that occurs in the production of food for you.

If a family of 3 people has a worm house of only 10 square meters, then this worm house will process 45 kg per day. waste, that is, the entire volume of food waste generated. In addition, an investment (net) profit of at least 30% per year will be generated. Don't want to grow earthworms yourself? You can buy 10 sq. meters of the wormhole for your family and "sleep well." The cost of such an investment is only 20 thousand rubles per 1 sq. meter of real estate: a capital structure, a wormhole, with a scarified ridge, which is looked after by a master.

Concern "PIK" has created a special program for citizens who would like a personal herd of earthworms to work for them and the future of their children around the clock, recycling waste, creating a new value - vermicompost, and, moreover, bringing investment profit, at the rate of 30 % per annum. This program is well presented

Businessman Sergei Konin proposes to build a farmer's market in Kovrov on the basis of public funding or crowdinvesting. This is how the entrepreneur describes the mechanism of the project in his:

“The farmers' market is conceived as a link between eco-farmers and city dwellers - buyers. When designing a farmer's market for the city of Kovrov, Vladimir Region, the experience of agricultural markets not only in Russia but also abroad was studied. The project implements the best solutions for the promotion of fresh and natural products from the field to the buyer. For example, customers will be able to place an order for a food farm basket. The market will operate online as well as an online store. The project was immediately created as a standard one in order to offer it for construction in various regions of Russia. "

Konin promises that the construction of the market will be carried out using energy efficient technologies. The businessman says that one of the objectives of the project will be to stimulate agricultural producers to organic farming and the cultivation of "clean" agricultural products. According to long-term plans, the market should provide at least 500 new jobs.


According to Sergei Konin himself, the future object is now at the stage of unfinished construction. The frozen box was purchased from the former owner by one of the individual entrepreneurs.

"And now, since we have a crowd platform, and he is a member of our consumer society, we decided to implement it by shares," the businessman explains.

The entrepreneur says that, despite the fact that there are not so many people willing to take part in the project in the publicly available information about the project, there are actually about fifteen potential investors.


“Now is the period for concluding contracts, we are negotiating. And they publicly exhibited this project in order to find more investors, and it was already possible to safely enter the project. We need to make sure that by the season we are ready for the implementation and completion of this project. To date, the project has been mastered by about 30% ", - says businessman Konin.

The estimated cost of each new market building with an area of ​​1404 square meters is 60 million rubles. The initiators of the project declare that they plan to build 2 buildings in 2017. And in the future there may be more of them - it will depend on the total amount of money collected. Ideally, 3 specialized buildings should appear on the basis of the Pervomaisky Market shopping cluster, which will sell fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy products, meat and fish, goods for farmers, gardeners and gardeners.

For each "square" of the future area they ask for 60 thousand rubles:

"Investors conclude an investment contract and after the facility is put into operation they become partners, receive a certificate of ownership of a share in the farmer's market corresponding to the volume of their investments."

The task of such a market is to unite the city and the countryside. Products should be sold both offline and online:

“We toured almost everything that exists today and took the format that works on the principle of self-service. That is, the farmer delivers the goods, and a weekly payment is made with him. That is, it turns out not like in retail chains, when he waits 45 days for settlement with him for perishable goods and 90 days for long-term storage goods. Every week we settle accounts with farmers - that's why it is attractive for them. "

The only condition for entering the project, apart from the obligation to manufacture products without the use of chemicals, is the supplier's responsibility for the availability of fresh goods on market shelves:

“I watched how it is done in China. There, the harvest takes place at night, at five in the morning, the shipment takes place, and at eight it is already on the store shelves. That is, these are always the vegetables that are harvested today, not yesterday. "

Businessman Konin believes that environmentally friendly farm products should not cost big money, but as much as those made using chemistry:

“It's a myth that such products are expensive. We know there are four facts about getting a good harvest. This is light, water, warmth and fertility of the soil. Light, water and heat are the same for everyone. And the point is only in fertility. We achieve it not with mineral nutrition, but with natural methods. "

Each investor who comes to the project must guarantee the use of only such natural technologies. And the management of the "green" agrohub guarantees the sale of products to farmers:

“We have an end-to-end business process that dramatically increases the efficiency of these farms. For example, cultivation of earthworms "Prospector" or beekeeping. And for example, if each farmer has 4-6 hives (and they are simply necessary), then he does not need to manage these hives at all - a person will come who will do everything. In this case, half of the honey remains with the farmer, and he will give half of the honey to the cooperative for its further sale. "


Note that Sergei Konin is known in the Vladimir region, first of all, for the production of vermicompost with the help of earthworms "Staratel" and the construction of bio-vegetariums.


In addition, the glory of a "businessman-projector" follows Konin's heels, many of whose high-profile ideas have never been realized. The entrepreneur himself goes through a personal bankruptcy procedure in court, and some of the companies associated with him also go bankrupt. But Konin is full of enthusiasm. Not so long ago, he considered bankruptcy to be one of the acceptable business schemes.

Let us remind you that several years ago the “eco-businessman” Sergei Konin announced the construction of a large-scale “Ecopark” in the Suzdal district of the Vladimir region. Only the lazy did not talk about the mega-park, which was supposed to spread out on the fertile Suzdal Opolye. But after a while, this topic suddenly left the public space. And in 2014, that Konin was fined for not using valuable land and threatened with weaning.

About a year ago, in charge of the agricultural sector, the vice-governor of the Vladimir region, Roman Rusanov, said that he was looking for a new owner for the “luxurious Suzdal Opolye”. Read more in the material. Now the unplowed open spaces, like many other property of businessman Konin, are laid down in the "Rosselkhozbank".



Sergey Konin says that he was unable to implement the mega-project "Ecopark Suzdal" for reasons beyond his control. The businessman claims that the team of the new governor of the Vladimir region chose to forget about the old agreements. The Chinese Development Bank was supposed to invest in the construction of the eco-park. But all the agreements were based on the guarantees of the team of the former governor:

“It is clear that after the change of government all global projects that depend on the regional level were suspended. After all, we presented this project at the BRICS - there we were given good feedback... Then we presented the project at a conference in China, and in terms of investments we received approval from the Chinese Development Bank (it's like we have Vnesheconombank) and confirmation of our readiness to finance this project. But the fact is that this project was considered regional, which is why it was supported. These trips were directly announced by the regional authorities. We went to negotiations with official representatives. Both times we went to BRICS with Vice Governor Alexander Leontyev, and to Beijing - with Vice Governor Alexander Denisov. But first, we went to the Ministry of Tourism of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation - and this began to be considered as ecological tourism. And today, as I understand it, it is not considered necessary. Therefore, we have now gone a little in a different direction on the principle of crowdinvesting, collecting a pool of investors. If everything goes well, we will launch this project this year. "

The businessman Konin does not think that the fight for the Suzdal Opolye is completely lost. According to him, the further fate of the eco-park project in the Vladimir region will have to be decided this year.

Confirming that his projects have the possibility of real implementation, Konin draws attention to the fact that they have already begun to be implemented in other regions of our country.

The online store of "green projects" - this platform for crowdinvesting was launched in 2016 - has a whole set of "green" investment proposals, including several eco-parks, "the world's largest cluster of earthworms" and even an eco-hostel in Sochi.




According to Sergei Konin, for example, the collection has already ended legal documents for the Kalyazin eco-park in the Tver region:

“We will open a fundraiser in the spring and make an invitation for eco-farmers. Under this project, we will not sell land, but a ready-made eco-farm, where you can immediately come and work. Investments can be made by both farmers who are willing to live and work on the land themselves, as well as people who have free own resources... For example, they do not want to move from Moscow, but they want to be the owners of an eco-farm and establish partnerships with farmers, when the farmer manages and has 50% of the income from this farm. That is, the eco-farmer takes this farm under management from the owner, manages it according to a specific business format, which we give on a turnkey basis, and gives half of the marginal income to his investor.

There we have full support both at the district and regional levels. True, there is a smaller eco-park. But, nevertheless, 300 farms we designed it there. The land is owned by our partner and investor. And if there is movement here, then we will do here too. "



The businessman says that another farm settlement, Velikovo, has already been completed on a turnkey basis.

Ideally, such a farming cluster should work something like this. Experts transfer effective technologies to farmers that guarantee a good income to those who use them. And the owners must produce products that are sold through the agrohub - a system that provides storage, processing and marketing of products. Plus, farmers should still receive tourists, providing them with the proper level of service.

According to experts, today they occupy about 2 million hectares, which is 2% of all arable land in the country. An affordable, simple, and most importantly, environmentally friendly way to solve the problem can be vermicomposting, or the processing of organic waste with the help of earthworms. This technology is widely used in the world - for example, in the American prison of San Quentin, waste from a food processing unit became the raw material for vermicomposters, in Hong Kong, vermicomposting is used in the processing of the organic component of solid household waste, and in Mexico, with the help of worms, they get rid of waste from the coffee industry. In Russia today, more likely, attention is paid to the production of organic fertilizers - vermicompost with the help of vermite technologies. This area is still poorly developed, but new players are entering the market who want to develop technologies, increase production volumes and, in the future, enter export markets.

Made in USA

The very technology of using earthworms in the processing of organic waste appeared in the middle of the last century in the United States. Later it migrated to Europe, from where it came to the USSR in 1989 and inherited it from Russia. "Published in 1947, a small brochure for $ 1 by the pioneer of worm breeding, Thomas Barrett, about earthworms, their intensive cultivation and use, infected many Americans - from ordinary people to businessmen," - an expert in the field of vermitechnology, assistant professor, writes later in his book "Earthworms" Vladimirsky state university Igor Titov, consultant for Russian vermi projects.

The technology is based on the ability of the earthworm to process agricultural waste (primarily manure, but we can talk about almost any organic matter), leaving behind vermicompost or vermicompost enriched with useful substances.

As it turned out, with the help of worms, compost can be obtained much faster than it happens in natural conditions... In addition, this fertilizer contains macro- and microelements in forms accessible to plants, phytohormones and humic substances that act as plant growth regulators.

“The use of vermicompost makes it possible to reduce the ripening period of the crop by 7-10 days, to extend the fruiting period in plants by 2-3 weeks and to increase the yield by 1.5-2 times,” says Igor Titov.

"Fertilizers based on vermicomposting are one of the most effective, because they activate soil agrobiocenoses, contribute to the formation of humus, increasing the water-holding properties of soils," agrees Yakov Lyubovedsky, project management director of the Union of Organic Agriculture.

In the production of vermicompost, red Californian worms are often used: it is quite widespread that this particular species was bred by the founders of vermite technologies in the United States during long-term selection. However, according to market participants, Californian red is more of a brand that can be sold under. different types earthworms. There are also patented hybrids on the domestic market - for example, the Vladimir Staratel.

Basically, when obtaining vermicompost, producers use the method of "walking beds" (by analogy with ordinary garden beds, with the only difference that instead of strawberries or carrots, it is placed in the uterine livestock of worms). On one side of such a bed, raw materials (for example, manure) are placed, and on the other, humus is taken (sifted before selling it). Private producers on small farms use the box method, which saves space.

Chose fertilizers

However, the use of vermite technologies specifically for processing organic waste in Russia is extremely weak - the market is more interested in the production and sale of the resulting vermicompost. They also sell the worm itself - for launching new industries, for feeding small farms for breeding poultry and fish, as well as for fishing (a special type of worm, dendrobena, is in demand here).

“On the Russian domestic market, with the exception of individual experimental installations, environmental equipment for utilizing animal waste and obtaining components for the full reproduction of soil fertility is not produced or sold,” says Ivan Garayev, Director General of the Institute of Organic Agriculture.

But there is no exact data on the market for waste processing using worms: according to experts and industry participants, today there are several dozen enterprises operating on it (excluding personal subsidiary farms). The market capacity is theoretically large - up to 1.5 million tons of vermicompost per year, but in reality only thousands of tons are counted. A business based on vermetechnologies is often not the main one and, at least, is not the only one for its owners. In general, this is not surprising, given the not very large production volumes and weak sales, amounting to only a few million rubles a year. As a result, this business largely rests on the enthusiasm of its founders.

For example, a notable participant in the vermicomposting market is the farm of Gennady Mulyarchik, President of the Tochka Opoory MFC, in the Kaluga Region (the main company is engaged in the supply of electronic components to Russia). His business began as a hobby, and eventually developed into the Vermicofe project, known on the Internet by the specialized forum of the same name. The farm produces vermicompost, vermigruns with a 25% vermicompost content, organic feeding "Vermicofe".

One of the leading market players is the Lipetsk company Flora-L (in 2016 it changed entity at Synergy LLC). One of its founders, CEO Sergei Kurbatov, also owns a business for conducting electrical work in the Voronezh Region (data from the Kartoteka.ru service). Flora-L under the EBG brand produces humic preparations - vermicompost and soil mixtures (a finished product for growing and replanting all types of plants). The enterprise supplies products to agricultural industries under government contracts, but the amount of supplies is small - in the range of several hundred thousand rubles.

Concern Peak has a large production facility in the Vladimir region. Its founder is Sergei Konin, a former deputy of the regional legislature and a local entrepreneur involved, among other things, in real estate (he owns, in particular, the Zarya hotel in Vladimir, which is going through bankruptcy proceedings). Among his failed projects is an ecovillage in Suzdal, where it was supposed to use vermite technologies in agricultural production.

For a long time, the largest producer of vermicompost and worms in the country remained the company of Aleksadr Abdurazakov - LLC “Russian biohumus”, which had been operating since 2004 in Pirogovo near Moscow and annually produced about 1000 tons of vermicompost. In the market, the company was known, among other things, for a special type of worm - the Russian Moscow hybrid. It also supplied products to foreign markets, including Azerbaijan (vermicompost was supposed to be used there to dispose of oil spills) and the UAE, there was a confirmed contract for the shipment of vermicompost to Syria, but the war prevented its implementation. Today the company has temporarily suspended operations due to unrelated circumstances.

Give up the beds

The company "BioEraGroup" intends to compete with the current players of the vermicompost market, which launched vermi production at a farm in the Penza region at the end of 2014. The company gained relative fame thanks to its participation in the Skolkovo Startup Village competition in 2016, where it presented the Agroverm liquid biological product based on vermicompost and became one of the finalists, and the BioEra-Penza company eventually became a Skolkovo resident.

Today, the company's capacities process up to 1000 tons of manure per year, 10-12 tons of vermicompost is produced here per month, as well as 2-3 tons of Agroverm. For two years, sales here intend to increase to 50 million rubles. According to the company, the use of its drug can increase the yield by 15-40%.

According to the service Kartoteka.ru, the main owner of BioEraGroup shares is Sergey Kolos, who also holds the post of CEO. One of the last projects of the entrepreneur was the launch of the capital markets "Veterok". However, within BioEraGroup itself, the Kemerovo developer Yevgeny Dyakov is called the owner, who, according to a company representative, acts as an investor in the project. The vermi farm cost 18 million rubles, another 5 million rubles. spent on launching the production of products from the unicellular algae chlorella in the Kursk region. By the way, Dyakov is also a partner of Alexander German in the Sanprotein company, which produces protein products based on sunflower seeds.

BioEraGroup claims that they have developed and use instead of walking beds a unique system of vermicompost production, which is called modular here - we are talking about long boxes (modules) on legs, into which the substrate is poured and the livestock of the worm is placed.

“The main feature of the technology is the easy accessibility of oxygen from below. "Food" is fed into the modules from above, the worms migrate after it from the lower layer. It is pruned - this is vermicompost, ”explains Roman Titov, head of the expertise department at BioEraGroup.

The company is focused on the production of large volumes of products and wants to deal mainly with wholesale supplies, while competitors often prefer to work in the small retail market, packing fertilizers in small containers. In total, according to BioEraGroup, there are 160,000 agricultural enterprises in Russia that are interested in processing organic waste, and counts on them new member market.

Stay alive

"Make a million on breeding worms" - the Internet is replete with tempting offers. In fact, a business based on vermetechnologies is costly, complex, and most importantly, not necessarily super-profitable.

A box of worm breeding stock for further breeding, for example, on the farm of the Ural businessman Alexander Sept costs 1000 rubles, a batch can start from five boxes. The production of vermicompost, as specified in BioEraGroup, has a low margin, and it becomes really profitable if it is made from worms into feed. Vermicompost can be sold for 8 rubles. per 1 kg (we are talking about wholesale), and feed - 250-300 rubles. But the most profitable product is chlorella-based detox drinks, which cost more than 500 rubles. for a bottle with a volume of less than 0.5 liters.

In addition, the vermicompost business is difficult and expensive to scale up. A vermi farm consumes a lot of electricity - the production must comply with a certain temperature and humidity, and in some cases, lighting. “Vermicomposting technology requires a professional approach, personnel qualifications, knowledge of natural processes,” adds Yakov Lyubovedsky. Vermee business suffers, among other things, due to seasonality - for example, farmers buy the same Agriverm in spring and autumn, and in winter there is a decline in sales. Yes, and the drug is needed a little - for 1 hectare of land, 2 liters of concentrate is enough, during the season the soil needs to be processed 2-3 times.

But the key problem remains the lack of mass demand for humic fertilizers - in addition to vermicompost obtained with the help of vermite technologies, these are products based on brown coal, sapropel and compost. All of them are used in Russia in scanty quantities, says Igor Titov.

New enterprises are periodically opened in the country, but often they leave the market, simply not finding a buyer for their products. For example, this happened with a complex in the village of Ozerki, Altai Territory.

“According to the Ministry of Agriculture, organic fertilizers are used only on 6% of the land. Moreover, these fertilizers practically represent manure, which is introduced into the soil without preliminary processing, ”says Ivan Garayev. “Many, perhaps, know what biohumus and biocompost are, but the man thinks that there is nothing better than manure,” agrees Igor Titov.

Manufacturers have to compete with products distributed in supermarkets and flower shops, which can often lose in the content of vermicompost, but is sold cheaper. So, 3 liters of concentrated vermicompost from LLC "Fields russkiye" in the "Ob" network cost 199 rubles, while Agroverm sells for 150 rubles per liter.

But the main thing is that while the majority of farmers prefer mineral fertilizers, the purchase of which, moreover, is subsidized by the state. So, according to the Ministry of Agriculture for December 2016, agricultural producers purchased mineral fertilizers by 12% more than a year earlier (2.7 million tons of active ingredient). There are no special state programs to support biohumus producers yet.

In the vermitechnology market, they partly hope for the development of organic agriculture in Russia. "The new GOST R 56508-2015 for organic products allows the use of vermicompost as an organic fertilizer without restriction, as well as the use of aqueous and alkaline extracts from it," the point of support says.

By the way, it is “BioEraGroup” that seems to be able to count on support from the state. Yevgeny Dyakova's partner Alexander German, among other things, controls the Bio Technologies Chistopol company, which is one of the founders of the Regional Biotechnology Engineering Center of the Republic of Tatarstan JSC together with the regional Ministry of Land and Property Relations. The center has already initiated the creation of a program of ecological agriculture in Tatarstan, which can receive the status of a state one.

Export supplies could become a real way out for vermicompost producers in Russia, especially taking into account the devaluation of the ruble. Most producers want to enter the UAE market, where there is very little fertile soil.

“I tried to sell vermicompost to the Arabs,” private investor Andrei Fomenko, the former head of the Tyumen company “Biogeneration” for the production of vermicompost, does not believe in the prospects for Russian exports. “But the entire volume of vermicompost to the countries of the Persian Gulf comes from India.”

In addition, it is expensive to transport vermicompost from Russia, as a result of attempts to export wholesale supplies do not go further than trial batches.

If you don't have friends, you can make them up


Do you know that there are problems with agriculture in Russia? I think yes. At least I've heard a lot. But wise people, scientists, are struggling to solve this problem and have come up with a method. Earthworms will help us.

No, really.


Earthworm institute
I want to note right away that I respect the blind workers of the underworld for their contribution to the improvement of the Russian soil. And I have no complaints about them. I have complaints against those who breed people by breeding worms.

There is such an institution in the vastness of Russia - "". Fig knows what they are doing there, and it is clear that they have even less relationship to science than I do, but worms are sold for a ruble apiece (wholesale discount) and vermicompost is grown. And not just ordinary worms, but a special brand, "Prospector" is called.

Earthworms "Prospector" work in a much wider temperature range from +8 to + 29 ° С
Earthworms "Prospector" continue to lay cocoons even at temperatures of + 8 ° - + 10 ° C.
Earthworms "Prospector" are distinguished by perseverance in the substrate
One worm "Prospector" per year produces offspring of 1500 individuals and 100 kg of vermicompost. From 1 ton of compost, an average of 600 kg of vermicompost and 10 - 15 kg of worms are obtained.

Anyone who wants to for a small bribe can join the miracle and become a shareholder in the company - and that, network marketing has not been canceled. The same kind of MMM, only slightly wormy.

Anyway. There are many of them today. The plot is not about this, but about the fact that a completely living person is at the head of this ecological non-diversity. Meet Sergey Konin, he is konin_ss

He is the General Director of LLC NPO Green-PIK, Advisor to the Governor Vladimir region for innovation, member Public chamber of the Vladimir region. And a prominent figure in the political life of Kovrov.

By innovation means ...

The innovator's diaries
It turns out that a person is building New Vasyuki. Not chess, but ecological ones. Well, the topic is fashionable now, at the same time it will be where to attach the worms. The trick is not simple, 60,000,000,000 rubles.

And in general, he conducts all kinds of eco-propaganda. As a person who ate, eats and will eat (and feed their children) GMOs, I could not pass up such a post. " GMO and fertilizer free".

"The second way is government support in the form of subsidies, grants, reimbursement of certification costs. Productivity in eco-farms is low in contrast to progressive agriculture... We do not use any chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, antibiotics, GMOs. For example, this year 4-5 tons of crop per hectare received by farmers who produce organic wheat. In general, in Russia, the indicator is about 30 tons per hectare ."

My second education suggests that it is wiser to invest money in GMOs if it gives a yield 6-8 times higher, and my first one is that without fertilizers and GMOs the khan will be for everything. agriculture... Of course, I decided to tell the author and an amazing conversation ensued with the visitors of Mr. Konin's blog, who all turned out to be sick in the head, environmentally oriented individuals, who believe that everything was fine before, but now the damned chemists littered the planet with waste. But what matters is not the essence of the conversation, but what came out of it.

Why are there so many ecologists in such an extraordinary magazine, everyone is peacefully talking to each other, no one calls anyone an idiot? Well, this cannot be. I intervened, hoping to dilute the ecoidillia.

No, don’t think that I’m so mean. I just know from myself that when an issue is controversial, battles take place. And here it is calm and smooth, just some intellectuals.

If you don't have a friend, then you can come up with one
The first to take offense jm_marvius , furiously promised to figure out, come and make me apologize. Well, being an inquisitive person, I also inquired about the personality of this anonymous person, and it turned out that the person had only an empty magazine and only one friend konin_ss ... A search in Google and Yandex suggested that the Internet activity of this user was noticed only in Konin's magazine.

Either this is a secret admirer, I thought, or it is for a reason.

Apparently for a reason. Because such jm_marvius Konin has several.

emonna
vav_kochegar

One thing unites them all. Blank magazines. Minimum of friends. Commenting exclusively on one Horse meat.

As I understand it, if a person started LJ, does not write anything there and comments on only one user, but surely he is commenting on himself? Which makes me think that a friend has a multiplication of personality and with the help of invented friends, he himself comments on his own posts. The funniest thing is when he talks to himself at the same time. It seems to me that this should be the definition in psychiatry.

Green, green. Why are there so many sick people among you?

These are our innovations and innovation advisors under the governors. Greedy and cunning, and at the same time stupid and prototypical ...

PS Sometimes it seems to me that all the insane screams of "AAAA Chemistry" or "AAAAA GMO" or "AAAAA Radiation" are the work of the same person, or a limited group of people. So they are the same in their assessments and judgments. Maybe that's the way it is?

 

It might be helpful to read: