On the eve of the difficult period for agriculture of Ukraine connected with the election campaign, of the possible difficulties of the feeds due to adverse weather conditions and the threat of African swine fever spread we’ve decided to talk to an outstanding representative of pig production industry — Oleksandr Myrny. An ardent patriot of his country and co-owner of a group of farms reveals to you his own philosophy of doing business.

— How did native Kyiv dweller happen to have been developing agriculture of Khmelnitsky region?

— As long as agriculture has been becoming a matter of my life I managed to obtain a deal of professions. In so doing you could hardly call each of them office or urban ones. In due course I tried my luck as a miller, concrete maker, truck driver etc. And despite these occupations required hard physical labor I confess that I remember those times with great nostalgia.

Agriculture started to me with the place my wife came from: Izyaslav District of Khmelnitsky region. During turbulent years of perestroika (restructuring) I realized I can organize a farm to let my family to earn their living.

— Lately we’ve been witnessing rapid trends towards consolidation in the domestic pig production. Do you plan to expand your enterprise?

— «Hermitage» company livestock we brought from England and Germany in 2010 allows us to get commodity young animals of high quality nowadays and as a result our selling schedule is set for several months ahead. And such results really encourage us to increase the capacity. This year we’ve started to build another breeding complex with the capacity 15.5 thousand of piglets per year. The further expansion will depend on two factors: the first is finical resources for we develop at our own expense and never take loans and the second but principal are market conditions. If there’s a demand we’ll build the third breeding complex and the eighth one as well.

— When you started your pig business what country experience did you guide?

— We had really travelled half the globe before we laid first stone in the foundation of our pig production business. We were trying to see the secrets of the world’s leaders of the branch who’d been had the highest performance for decades. We wouldn’t be able to manage to find an answer for the question: why the solution of the same problem is found differently in different countries? That’s why I find it difficult to point one country as a matter of fact. We were guided by our own common sense.

Above all that we understood finally that in order to build modern breeding complex one can’t utilize reconstructed premises. As well as to implement anything blindly just because of it brings luck to others.

— How do you see Ukrainian pig industry, let’s say, through ten years?

— With those methods of doing business we are still practicing now we can’t hope for an active development of the branch. Sad but it seems to be too real scenario as Ukrainian pig market would be shared between2-3huge companies which have an access to state budget.

What facilities are part of Myrny’s enterprises structure?

Why was the first one initially unprofitable?

What is the power of pig production leaders in Myrnyy’s opinion?

What criterion do you use selecting personnel?

What formula do you use to achieve success?

Answers for these questions and others you can find in full version of «Profitable Pig Production» magazine, № 4, 2012.