Russia of the XXI century, like the USA in 1960's: how an American farmer builds a business in Altai

Two years ago, American Justus Walker came to Altai - and now lives with his family in a yurt, builds a modern farm in an open field and runs a YouTube channel for 80 thousand subscribers - this is eight times the population of the Soloneshensky district, where he settled.

Photos from Justas Walker's page on VKontakte.

Walker creates a business tied up on the Internet where there is no connection, inspires citizens to move to the village and says that farmers in the United States envy him. About how the “Merry Milkman” from the USA builds a farm in the Altai wilderness using the Euro-American model, told portal Altapress.ru.

Justas walker, 36 years, a farmer-entrepreneur from the Altai Territory. Jastas was born in the USA, came to Russia in 1990, along with his parents, Protestant missionaries, who came to our country to open churches. Justas decided to stay in Russia: he owned a power-saw bench, taught English, founded a farm in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, then moved to Altai. Married to an American Rebecca, whom he met in Siberia; the couple have three children.

A valley in the mountains at the border of two regions - the Altai Territory and the Altai Republic. There is no mobile connection, to the nearest village 10 km, to Biysk (the second largest city of the Altai Territory - approx. edition) - almost 200 km. “The perfect place for a dream farm!” Justus Walker decided in 2016 and moved here with his wife and three children.

Photos from Justas Walker's page on the social networkVK».

He arrived in Altai with a clear business plan: within a year, build a farm with a dairy shop, purchase 60 dairy goats and 100 ewes, produce cheeses (feta, mozzarella and suluguni, which is more familiar to the region), and also sell meat and wool. Justas bought 100 hectares of land for this business - 30 for pasture and 70 for mowing.

From the very beginning, things didn't go according to plan. The Walkers arrived in Altai several months later than planned - in October. Justas managed to install yurts and put stoves in them, but continued construction was prevented by, as he put it, “wintermageddon” - that season was unusually snowy.

In the summer of 2017, when the construction of the farm was in full swing, another trouble happened - Justas was bitten by a tick. Borreliosis, three weeks in the hospital and six months of bed rest again delayed the start of production.

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After such trials, Justas has no idea when the farm will finally start working. It is possible that this will happen in the fall - all that remains is to install the equipment and purchase additional livestock. The infrastructure is almost ready.

Photo: YouTube video frame /Justus walker

“We will have a full cycle, from hay to cheese,” says Justus Walker. — In order for a small businessman to be successful, he needs to engage in processing. There is no money in raw materials. But I wouldn’t want to deal only with processing. The full cycle produces a healthy and economically fair product.”

According to Walker, the dream farm is a medium-sized farm that employs the whole family and several hired workers. Ideally, there would be several such farms nearby, so that it would be possible to organize a cooperative and, for example, buy one car for everyone and, together, hire a freight forwarder who will deliver the products to clients.

Justas explains: This model was common in Europe and especially in the United States until the 1960s. Then it became more difficult to run family farms there - the market was given over to large players. But Russia has all the conditions for medium-sized farms, the American believes.

2002 Justus Walker is 18 years old. Born in the USA, he has been living in the Krasnoyarsk Territory for 7 years. His Protestant parents came to Russia on a religious mission - to open churches. And so they were about to return. Justas does not go with them - he remains in Russia to bring the Gospel to people. “It was better to continue their work in Russia than to have one more average American in the United States,” Walker explains.

He is now 36 years old. He managed to be the owner of a sawmill, an English teacher, find an American woman, Rebecca, in the Siberian wilderness and start a family with her, and also organize a farm in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The business was successful, but it had to be sold - due to asthma, Justas was forced to change climate. That is why he moved to Altai.

Walker still lives with a sense of mission. In general, the Justas 36-year-old is the same as the 18-year-old. The anti-missionary law from the “Spring package” now does not allow him to preach, but the American is sure: if people see that he is honest as a business partner and he has order at home, then “will be drawn to this.”

Part of the mission is to promote farming. “They often say that Russia is a nuclear, industrial, military power, etc. - Justas says. “And I believe that our destiny in the 21st century is to be a great agricultural power.” We have rich Asia with a billion population right next door. We have to feed them."

While greatness is a long way off, Justas is ready to start small. For example, he wants to install a butter churn and buy cow's milk from the surrounding villages at a much higher price than the local creamery. “There is something ideological in this. I don’t want villages to die out. I will earn money myself and support them,” explains the American.

Such idealism does not prevent Walker from approaching his business pragmatically: having a calculated business plan and market entry strategy. The American has not yet launched production, but he already has an online store ready. He is not at all worried about the most problematic link - product sales. He believes that social networks and targeted advertising will help him find 100-200 regular customers - and that will be enough.

“I understand that my case is exceptional. But even if I were Vasya Petin from the village of Stepnoye, I would not be very worried about the sale. You just need to go to the market with a new story, talk about yourself, about your family, about what you do. Sell ​​yourself, not just the product. ”

year 2014. Walker became known throughout the country when the Rossiya 1 TV channel showed a story about import substitution. In it, Justas laughed infectiously at the words “... there will be no more of this Italian cheese of yours!” The video went viral, and Justas became a meme. He was even nicknamed the “Jolly Milkman.”

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The American says his words were taken out of context. He did not gloat over sanctions. On the contrary, he explained that he supported competition, and the problems of agriculture in Russia did not arise at all because of imported products.

“I preached for so many years, lectured on financial planning, farming, talked about family education - and became famous for such nonsense!” Justas laments.

Up to this point, the farmer’s YouTube channel had 500 subscribers, and the most popular video, about a compost heap, was watched by 5 thousand people. Unexpected fame immediately brought him 10 thousand followers. Soon he posted a video where he spoke about his real position. The video was watched by nearly half a million people.

Now Justas has 79,5 thousands of YouTube subscribers. All these people are in fact watching a reality show: Justas talks about how a farm is built, what happens in his life, shares his thoughts about farming, living in Russia, religion, family, etc.

Some viewers are so captivated by the “dream farm” and the Walkers’ lifestyle that they come to him in Altai to work as volunteers. They come from far away - from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula, Khabarovsk. They help the American with housework, and he feeds them and shares his experience.

The farmer explains the motivation of volunteers in the following way: in the modern world, it became relatively easy to provide a comfortable life, and people began to “look for themselves”. Many people want to try to live another, unaccustomed life for themselves, to make an adventure.

Photo: frame video YouTube / Justus Walker

“One guy from Moscow came to me, as he said, for two months,” Justas says. - But a week later he left - he said it was “not his.” And then he wrote and admitted that he was one step away from selling an apartment in the capital and investing in a farm. And it’s good that he came to me and realized that this was not for him. I don’t want city people who haven’t held anything heavier than an iPhone in their hand to be inspired by my example and then ruin their lives.”

When Justas launches the farm, he will open a “farmer school” with her. People will be able to come to him, work for several months at each workplace and understand the entire production cycle. Also, the American promises to help such people write a business plan.

Volunteers are also a source of personnel for the farm. Olga from Prokopyevsk came here as a volunteer in 2017. Now she and her daughter live with the Walkers and are waiting for her cheesemaker’s workplace to be ready. The place of the forwarder was taken by Andrey from Biysk - he worked for Justas back in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. All that remains is to find an assistant at the utility yard.

Workers will live on the farm. It turns out that the owner not only hires people, but in a sense also takes them to the family. This is the complexity, but this is the strength, notes Walker: a person is imbued with your business and will not let you down if you leave it to the economy for a while.

The farmer-blogger attracts not only volunteers, but also partners. For advertising on the blog, he was provided with an antenna for satellite Internet, three yurts and solar panels for free. Walker responsibly fulfills the "contract": advertises firms not only in video, but also in communication with journalists.

Walker does not include advertising on YouTube, but “monetizes” the blog in another way - when a farmer talks about problems, sympathizers announce a fundraiser. Three years ago, an American crashed his car, and viewers raised 300 thousand rubles for him to buy a new one.

This year, including thanks to crowdfunding, Justas bought a Chinese tractor. Two weeks before that, he had laid out a video called “Death of a Dream,” in which he complained that he could not put the farm on horse traction, as he had long wanted. The farmer did not ask for the harvest, it was the initiative of the subscribers.

In August, in the comments under one video Walker wrote: "Yes, without the volunteers, you would have failed." The farmer replied, "Don't be silly." He explains: the help of people and companies, of course, move him faster to the dream farm, but he would have managed without it.

Walker speaks fluent Russian, rarely confuses cases, knows the difference between “forgotten” and “scored”, appropriately uses professional words and even philosophical terms. He interestingly talks about the Russian soul and titsitov while Dostoevsky.

From the outside it seems that over the years in his life in Russia, he understood this country in some way even better than many of its inhabitants. For example, he still does not tell the residents of the neighboring villages about his “Napoleonic” plans. Justas understands: villagers are tired of stories about a bright future. Almost all such stories end with the collapse of what previous touring artists didn’t take away.

The American had to deal with the unpleasant sides of Russian reality. When Rebecca gave birth to her first child, obstetricians at a rural hospital treated her in a way that “veterinarians are kinder to cattle,” Justas commented in one video.

Rebecca gave birth to her next two children at home. Justas looks at such problems philosophically: “When you climb Belukha, don’t complain about calluses,” they say, there is no ideal world. There are always disadvantages.

“If everyone knows the advantages of living in the USA, then the disadvantages are not,” says Walker. — Everyone knows the downsides about Russia, but if you start digging, the upsides will be revealed. For example, everyone says that the screws are being tightened here, freedoms are being deprived, and so on. And at the same time, this country is perhaps the only one in Europe where home education is not prohibited.”

This is one of the reasons why Americans like Russia. He and Rebecca plan to teach the children themselves, just as Walker's parents did. This did not prevent Justas from successfully passing the Unified State Exam, and his sister from receiving an Oxford diploma. “Not a single child in our village who went to school graduated from Oxford.”

Justas says: in America it is more interesting for the consumer, and in Russia for the manufacturer. He does not disclose the amount of investment in the farm, but according to his business plan, the payback period from the moment of launch will be 5-6 years.

“When I tell American farmers about this, they first laugh, then cry, then say I’m lying. In the USA, such projects have a payback horizon of 30 years. The main issue is the cost of land. There, a hectare costs on average 12 thousand dollars, here it costs 12 thousand rubles. And other positions also require much smaller investments.”

Another American liked this economy - John (name changed - approx. editorial staff). Justas jokingly calls him “a Russophile who loves Russia from afar.” John saw Walker’s English-language channel, got excited and came to Altai in 2017 as a volunteer. A year later he bought land in a neighboring area. Here he wants, like Walker, to build a farm to support 15 children. At the same time, unlike Justas, he does not speak Russian at all. “Desperate guy,” Walker laughs.

Photo: frame video YouTube / Justus Walker

In his videos, Justas has repeatedly encouraged those who want to move to land to buy plots nearby and become neighbors. But John bought land further away - in the current political realities, it will not be very good if the Americans begin to “huddle” in one place, Justas explains.

But other people respond to the call. Robert bought a plot from St. Petersburg behind the mountain and set up an apiary there. Another family moves from Krasnodar and plans to build a farm in 7 km from Walkers. Therefore, there is every chance that the “Jolly Milkman” Jastas will have not only a “dream farm”, but also a “dream cooperative”.

But for this we need to establish production. In one of the videos in 2018, he said: “If we don’t launch this year, that’s it, it’s the end of the movie.” And he laughed.

1. A flock. The roof is covered with two layers of earth to cool in summer and warm in winter. The stalls have a through passage so that they can be quickly cleaned with a scraper on a horse. Walker calls this scraper "Californian." In the flock there is a milking room. It is equipped on the model of one of the farms in New York.

2. Pavilion - summer cuisine. Walkers and volunteers have breakfast, lunch and dinner here. Before each meal, they pray holding hands, and after meals they read the Bible in English and sing religious songs. Wi-Fi is turned off during meals so that no one is distracted.

3. Bankhouse - a house for male workers. There are several bunk beds inside.

4. Yurts. Walkers live in the big one, and female volunteers live in the rest.

5. Power unit There are 10 solar panels installed here with a power of 350 watts each. In practice, they produce up to 2 kilowatts. Nearby in the booth there are 16 batteries and an inverter. Some panels are missing, so there are several gas generators here. Nearby is a gas generator, a gift from a subscriber. This device burns wood and produces gas, which is used as fuel for a gas generator. In the future, Justas plans to add a turbine to the power unit - he will install it in the stream behind the building.

6. Dairy shop. There will be production on the first floor, an office on the second, and a product warehouse in the basement. Interestingly, the boiler that heats the building is located outside. It is insulated and equipped with a system that automatically regulates the intensity of combustion. According to Walker, wood only needs to be loaded into the firebox once a day. “It’s convenient - there is no dirt in the room. Plus it's good from a fire safety point of view. American theme."

7. Garden. Walkers grow potatoes, onions, beets, parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes and turnips.

Also on the farm there bathhouse и Summer shower. Walker has not yet built a house for himself and his family. The building was in the business plan, but it had to be abandoned due to the fact that the construction of the farm was delayed, and this time the family had to live for something.

“In Russia there is a widespread attitude towards agriculture as hellish work for losers. I couldn’t get a “normal” job - at least milk a cow. At the other extreme, rural life is overly romanticized. Neither one nor the other has anything to do with reality. It's a false dichotomy."

“We want to show: yes, you need to work hard and work hard, solve problems, but be not a cattle, but a successful person and live decently, have sidewalks at the house, drive a good car, etc. This is the right way, and in Russia there are those who follow it. But there are few of them. We want to be at the forefront. ”

“It has proved easier to organize an agricultural business in Altai than in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. There is a forest area, it was difficult to get land, I had to fight with the forest estate. It's easier here: buy and work. ”

“For several years now I have been saying: you need to press the hand that feeds you. Shake hands with the farmer from whom you buy products. ”

“The locals treat us kindly. Although, of course, there are those who are jealous. But in general, everything is positive. In the first winter, when we could only get to the farm on horseback, people on the way slowed down our sleds, gave us potatoes, jam, pickles ”.

“We have something to take from American farmers. But there are things that do not work here. For example, they say: find a window in the garbage, a fridge, take a broken car there, etc. Do you find this in the garbage? Or: do not build a house, buy a mobile home for 500 bucks. Where did you see the house on wheels for 500 bucks? ”

“Russians are xenophobic. But this is understandable: either the Tatars, the Poles, the French, or the Germans ... Yes, even the 100 years ago in Krasnoyarsk was the headquarters of the American invaders! If the headquarters of the Russian military were in California, they would also be xenophobic. ”

“I pray for peace between Russia and America. I want to be a small bridge between these worlds. For this, I want to more actively develop the English-language channel, tell the Americans about Russia. By the way, you incorrectly think that there they are thinking of Russia “vodka, balalaika, bears”. No, they have other associations: Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. ”

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