By David Bell, Crackley Simmentals

The show was held in Moscow from the 19th to the 21st June. The British display consisted of 3 stands - 1. Mainland U.K., 2.Northern Ireland and 3.BPA.

1. This group consisted of 4 Highland, 1 Hereford, 1 Simmental, 1 Belgian Blue/Export, 2 Consultants, 1 MLC, 1 NBA and 1 DEFRA representatives, plus 2 Interpreters.

2. This group consisted of 7 from the beef and sheep sectors, the Director of the N.Ireland Export group, plus 1 Interpreter.

3. This group consisted of the Mission Leader, the Mission Co-ordinater, 3 pig representatives, plus 1 Interpreter.

The members of the pig section had experience of both Shows and Exporting to Russia, so they had an idea of what to expect and were in a position to take orders. Whereas the rest of us approached the whole experience with a large range of emotions, ranging from doubt to hope, all with some trepidations and scepticism.

The Livestock Stand at Agrofarm including British Simmental representation by David Bell, Crackley Simmentals

Agrofarm was organised by the same team, who put on Eurotier biannually in Hanover. This was due to a previous failure of an attempt at hosting the Show by the Russians themselves. By Monday lunchtime, with the Show due to start on Tuesday, we had a feeling it may be another failure, as a lot of work still needed to be done, but sure enough it happened.

We had our share of problems, virtually all due to KLM. Take a tip, if you ever go through Schipol airport, make sure you have a reasonable length of time between flights! 11 people lost their luggage, some for 1 day and some for 2. Not only were they short of clothes, but also lacking stand and promotion material in some cases. Someone really had it in for the Irish guys, because I understand it happened again to them on their way home.

The following 3 days were a breath of fresh air, in more ways than one, but having said that probably the most frustrating 3 days, that any of us have experienced. The Show was small and compact, but totally orientated to Agriculture, mostly the Livestock sector and the people, who attended, were very serious and focused on their industry. An industry, that had been decimated in the early 90’s, anything with flesh on it had ended up on a plate, leaving a vast void in breeding numbers of all branches of livestock. Hence the only ones left were the poorest, not exactly an ideal situation!

Russia is becoming economically strong again, with year on year growth, due to the quantity of gas and oil at their disposal. This also applies to a number of their ex-satellite counties, which we tend to ignore, but who have tremendous potential. The governments are accruing enormous amounts of taxes from these, which they realise they have to reinvest in the country, especially some of the industries that have declined. Agriculture is one of its highest priorities, with grants and financial help being made available to the industry in the form of building grants, low or no interest Loans, etc..

Due to this the enquiries for sheep and cattle in particular were serious, large and numerous. Interest was fairly equal over the sheep, dairy and beef sectors, with a large number asking for all three, especially where new complexes were being planned. These complexes did not just include a single enterprise, rather a combination of 2 or more.

A variety of sheep breeds were asked for and a lot will depend on the various weather conditions that they have to endure. Ayrshire, Friesian, Holstein and Jersey were asked for in the dairy sector. In the Beef sector a number of enquiries were not breed specific, but of those that were the largest number of enquiries were for Hereford, followed by Simmental (not dairy types) then a number for Highland, Charolais, Dexter, Angus, Belgian Blues. Interestingly no Limousines or Blondes, but this may not have been the case on the N.I stand. When we have collated the enquiries from both stands, we can be more specific.

As I have already stated, we had great difficulty coping with frustration, due to the fact that there were very serious people, wanting large numbers of stock, prepared to pay good prices, but we had to say “NO”! As you are all aware, there are no protocols in place with Russia for semen or embryos, let alone livestock.

The reason for attending the Show was to monitor whether there was interest and if so, what level was there. Before we arrived we had been told the “paperwork” was unlikely to be in place for 1-2 years. Firstly semen, followed by embryos and then livestock, on requirements of the farmers, this should be in reverse!

On the Wednesday evening, a number of us attended a reception at the British Embassy, where we met the people responsible for trade and development and also a number of Russians with various interests in Agriculture. Nigel Mattingly the Defra representative, Andrew the Head of Trade at the Embassy and his number 2 James, who had Agriculture as one of his responsibilities, were staggered at the amount and strength of genuine interest there had been, which totally altered their previous understanding of the livestock industry and the importance of putting protocols into place. They have promised to give this priority and I understand that wheels were put in motion the following day.

Unexpectedly the No. 2 from the Russian State Veterinary Department attended the Reception, this I understand is unheard of, normally it would be No. 20, as was the case with the representative of the Russian Ministry. Nigel spoke at length with this gentleman and he promised to send a team to the U.K. in the near future, so he can judge the situation for himself, with regards to B.S.E., which appears to be the main stumbling block. This has got to be a step in the right direction and hopefully will speed up the process. Non of the potential customers even asked about B.S.E. or disease in general and we urged each one of them to put pressure on their Governments, through any contacts or connections they may have to help put protocols in place as soon as possible.

We returned home feeling far more positive than when we left, finding it hard not to get excited, believing that protocols may be put in place sooner rather than later. With the positive attitude of our Representatives, the desire of the Russian Government to get farming up and running again and the wish of buyers to buy British, I believe this may happen.

I would just add that if Defra and the Government employed more people like Nigel, Andrew and James, we may have a future and a chance of being understood!

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