Eastern Europe

I said in a Twitter post that the Germans are the masters of process and precision... visiting both the largest tractor manufacturing site in Europe and a large scale agricultural machinery manufacture, along with the parts distribution centres for both confirms that statement as far as I am concerned!

John Deere in Mannheim and Bruschal and Horsch at Schandorf were great hosts to us. We discovered that for John Deere showing buyers and dealers around their factory is their preferred marketing choice - to that end they have 15 tour guides employed and the whole factory is painted up with walking tracks and viewing stations. The distribution machines were something else to this 'logistics ignoramus.'

They use a 'choatic' storage system, which means the machines that find and retrieve parts from the the 24m high by 95m deep shelving units returns parts to any 'address' on the shelf depending on the season, frequency of ordering and where there happens to be space. When that barcoded part is needed again, the machine knows where it was stored last time and the whole process can start over - people are not looking for things at all.

The countryside is beautiful, though our ability to see clearly into the distance was restricted by the hazy air - partly atmospheric and partly the coal that is still being burnt as winter slowly retreats. Our coldest day was in Prague - an overnight low of -3 degrees and the chilliest day following. Otherwise out on the farms we visited we were adequately equipped.

We have even seen three dairies in the midst of all the cropping operations! All three were using pressed effluent to obtain the dry fibre and use as bedding - one used as is, one added strw and the last added lime!

Horsch operate a farm in the Czech Republic, which they are improving and using for farm scale trials - essentially a 3000ha demonstration farm! Huge gear, and huge fields to grow mainly maize, wheat and oilseed rape - we were in fenceless paddocks more than doube the size of Kevin's dairy farm in Ireland! Our cropping trio from Australia along with Baptiste from France were pretty interested - in the crops, the soils, the husbandry and, of course I mustn't forget, the gear!

Prague is magnificent - and hums on weekend nights, when we happened to be there. Complete with fairyland turrets, icons and historic structures (like the Charles Bridge, started in 1357), it was a lovely place to roam around in before heading further east.

We changed tack then to a large farming company called Spearhead, operating in 5 eastern European countries. We visited several of their sites in both the Czech Republic and Poland. Classically they have been able to take on large leases from the coop farms following the fall of communism in this region. Interestingly in Poland they are usually leasing from the State, whereas in the Czech Republic, where land was privatised, they have multiple small leases for each 'farm'. Further they are not just producers, but also processors, onsellers and storers.
Again these people were lovely hosts and we have been plied with both gastronomic and alcoholic local specialties. We were told that the Czech Republic holds the record for beer consumption per capita at 142 litres per annum. Czech pork knuckle, Polish sour soup (in a bread cob!) and Polish dumplings along with red cabbage were a few of the items on our menus.

After our last farm visit it was about a 4 hour trek to Warsaw - for one more night before leaving the northern hemisphere after over a month up there!

The pictures of Warsaw after WW2, compared with how it looks now are almost unbelievable. The place has been reinstated to such a standard that it is now a UNESCO world heritage site. There is more colour in Warsaw than in the other European cities I have seen on this trip. We stayed in the 'old town', surrounded by (rebuilt) walls and towers.

Again, an amazing privilege to be able to build in these 'cultural pauses' between our agricultural visits.
Kenya is our next destination - we are in fact here, about to kick into a very rigorous schedule - owing to the slow driving conditions, our biggest trek will be 6 hours in a few days time! Brace yourself for the next installment!