It has been nearly two decades since the collapse of the Soviet collective system has made way for a ‘new’ way of farming in Eastern Europe. In many cases, entrepreneurs and oligarchs have aggregated small holdings from the former Soviet collectives into farms of astounding size and scale and with improved productivity. We are planning a 2010 study tour to check-out this new wave of agriculture which is sweeping the magnificently fertile steppes of countries like Russia, Ukraine and Romania. And the best time to do this will be during the northern hemisphere winter crop harvest period (August).

There are privately operated farms in southern Russia in excess of one million hectares – and all of this area is being cropped. Farms of an enormous scale can also be found in the Dnipro Valley of Ukraine. This is a region with one of the world’s most fertile soils. Romanian farmland is also very fertile enabling production of high-quality crops in a very favourable climatic area. Romania is a recent entrant to the European Union and farming is subject to considerable political (subsidy) attention. One irrigation farm has been developed, literally on an island in the middle of the Danube River, and has 200,000 hectares of irrigated crops.

Our Eastern European Big Farms Tour will visit all of these areas plus other ‘must see’ sights including:

• Bucharest and the Danube Delta;
• Moscow and St Petersburg;
• Magnificent, medieval Transylvania – the home of Dracula.

Plus there are also some great add-on (before or after the main tour) opportunities such as Gallipoli and Istanbul or the romantic charm of Vienna and a cruise on the Danube.

Itinerary and bookings
Our previous tours to Eastern Europe have given us the necessary experience to tackle the logistical and financial challenges involved with group travel to this part of the world. We are still waiting on airline and local operator quotes to finalise the cost of this itinerary, but as an indication, and given an AUD to Euro exchange rate of around 0.60, we expect the final cost to be approximately $AUD13,000 to $14,000.
If you would like to join the tour, please download the booking form. Alternatively, if you haven’t made your mind up just yet, you can express your interest and we will send you itinerary updates.

Hope to hear from you soon. Please don’t hesitate to call (07 4659 3555) with any questions you might have.

Best regards, Lloyd and Catherine O’Connell, Dave Dowling



Express Your Interest | Download Full Itinerary |