International Study Seminary – Day 11
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
– written by Jared Nobbe, Chad Brusveen, & Jeff Bunting – Presiding Fellows
We started on the road to Krakow this morning, our first stop on the trip was the hog and row crop farm of Kazimierz Gajda. Mr Gajda’s farm size is 400 hectares consisting of 200 hectares of wheat, 85 hectares of corn, and 85 hectares of canola. We were able to see their feed mill where they were mixing in broken candy bars (less than 10% of their ration) into their feed along with wheat and corn for their 7000 pigs. They were in the process of constructing a new hog shed to increase the size of their operation. The farm was a very modern operation with a newer John John Deere 9780cts combine (equivalent to the 9770 version in the states) and 3 tractors ranging from 6330 to 6830.
Kazimierz Gajda (left) discusses his farming operation with the IALP Class of 2014.
Marek Januszewski (right), John Deere Territory Manager, interprets for Mr. Gajda.
After the farm tour we were welcomed into their home for true Polish Hospitality. As we walked in at 9:30 am we were greeted with a table full of sausage, pickles, bread, desserts (all produced from their farm) and ……….vodka! True to Polish custom we were unable to refuse the vodka and graciously accepted their hospitality and shared stories of their heritage and family history. You could feel their strong family bond and we were truly blessed to be in their home and be their guests for a short time. They did not want us to leave and insisted that we finish the Vodka and food on the table, but we had to keep moving on our way to Krakow. We were the first Americans to visit their farm and and be in their company and they were truly appreciative to host us. We were able to politely leave, but left really appreciating the Polish way. It was clear they were very proud of their history and proud to have our group visit their farm.
Our next stop was to Firma Małolepszy – a John Deere dealer in Radomsko. We were greeted by the Dealer, as well as Piotr Dziamsk, the Branch Tactical Marketing Manager for John Deere Poland. Piotr gave a short presentation about the Deere business in Poland as well as some background on the dealer. The Deere Corporate business is aligned very similar to the Deere corporate business in the US. This was represented by the strong relationship between the dealer and Deere with similar performance metrics in place. For the dealer, the business is much different. The dealer sales can vary greatly from year to year based on the government subsidies that are available to the farmer. For example, in some years a combine purchased can be subsidized up to 60%. While eating lunch, we asked what is their biggest concerns in the future and they quickly came back with the future of the government subsidy program since so much of their business hinges on the government subsidy programs that are paid back to the farmers. The majority of their sales are for tractors under 100 horsepower and class 4 combines (equivalent to the 9410 combine in the states). The business after the sale – such as parts and service – is very different as well. The parts business is very strong during the warranty period but drops off rapidly after warranty is out.
Our final stop was the farm of Grzegorz Szwaczka. The farm was made up of 100 hectares of oats, wheat, and canola. This farm had one of the first set of grain bins that we saw. We were able to compare and contrast the Polish Farmer and the American farmer which started some interesting discussion. We were able to show them some video of an American harvest with AutoTrac technology and they were very impressed. After visiting the farm we were ushered into the house by the Mr. Szwaczka’s wife and mother. Once in the house, we were again greeted with more food and vodka. At this point, we had no time constraint so we were able to settle in and enjoy more Polish fellowship. After all of the vodka was gone, we enjoyed some homemade whiskey. As we got on the bus, all of us agreed that this was one of the best cultural experiences of the international seminar. It was great to see the connections between our global farm communities.
A true display of Polish hospitality.
Comments are closed