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Lawyer Laurynas Samoška, who is interested in this type of agriculture in the Panevėžys district, is already selling a ton of walnuts to these butter producers in Lithuania.
An unconventional idea
Although the demand for Lithuanian hazelnuts in the country currently significantly exceeds the supply, it is rare to decide on the walnut business. Laurynas Samoška, 29, was the first to be interested in this type of agriculture in the Panevėžys district. A district resident who works as an attorney expects a good amount of additional income in a couple of years.
L. Samoška is a young lawyer who cannot imagine free time without nature. He leads a group of Little Hunters, and when he started a family a few years ago, he began to think that he would like to spend more time in the village, the land and its goods.
Therefore, a royal citizen of Panevėžys and his wife had the idea to also engage in agriculture. The young family initially thought only of the unconventional farm.
“The grain market in Lithuania is already quite full, I wanted to find a less popular alternative. This is how we came up with growing hazelnuts a couple of years ago,” says L. Samoška.
Hazelnut plantation Laurynas Samoshka
© Sekundė.lt
Nuts like an egg
At present, on the farm being developed by Samoškės in the village of Maženiai, 13 hectares are still occupied by a relatively young walnut plantation. It is home to small one and a half meter tall hazelnut seedlings. In the rows, there is a meadow that is constantly mowed, it is equipped in such a way that it is convenient to drive the necessary machinery for such a farm.
“There was once a farm parking lot in this place. When I bought it, the whole area was drowning in bushes. After cleaning, I decided to build a farm here: now we are building a sauna, raising a pond, and then a residential house will appear. A young walnut tree, which was planted the previous year, is already spreading across the yard. I also carried out an investigation on soil contamination: the soil under the old infrastructure should not harm my seedlings, ”says the farmer.
L. Samoshka’s plantation now has 5,000 varieties of hazelnuts. Its nuts are significantly different in size and quality from wild ones. Some types of walnuts even mature to the size of an egg.
The people of Panevėžys bought hazelnut seedlings in Poland and some from well-known Lithuanian gardeners.
“In Poland, a walnut tree costs about three or four euros, in Lithuania it is three times more expensive. In our country, this branch of the economy is not yet developed, the largest fields of hazelnuts are located only near Kaunas, in the Panevėžys district, such nuts do not seem to exist. But the need for these products is really significant, ”says L. Samoška.
Sell - no problem
From his young farm, the lawyer took a more serious harvest for the first time this year: He picked about a ton of walnuts a week ago. The nut butter producers in Švenčionys bought them from Panevėžys in bulk. They gladly paid the farmer 6 euros per kilogram. In the market, this price could reach 10 euros, and buyers would deposit up to 15 euros per kilogram of organically grown nuts.
“I don’t plan to be on the market. Buyers could take 50 tons from me at once. Then there would be no problems with the realization. Next year, I should collect five tons of walnuts,” says L. Samoška.
The farmer expects a good harvest from the hazelnut plantation in a couple of years. The mature forest, according to him, yields two to three tons of walnuts per hectare.
And for now, the host has to wait and work hard. The nut, he said, requires not only considerable investment to install, but also serious maintenance.
“Apart from the price of the land, establishing a hectare of a walnut plantation costs between two and three thousand euros. Young trees planted later must be constantly weed, mulched, and cut into spaces. When they grow up, there will be less such work. I also have special equipment, but even though the farm is young, it mostly requires labor, ”Laurynas explained.
In addition, hazelnuts love humidity, so in order to have a good harvest in recent summers, the farmer has had to water his plantation constantly.
“The century droughts that have prevailed for the last year have simply locked us in a nut factory with irrigation works. But if you let nature handle it, there will be nothing. Everyone knows that wild hazelnuts don’t yield every year due to harsh conditions, and we try to grow nuts every season. Fertilizers are also needed for these plants, ”said the Panevėžys resident.
Hazelnut plantation Laurynas Samoshka
© Sekundė.lt
Understood the tricks
Nutmeg also requires attention for the prevention of diseases and pests. To do this, the farmer sprays his grove with special means, and a young fence protects the young trees from wild animals.
“It is difficult to recover from deer and hares. They look great here. I am a hunter, but it is still a pity for those outcasts, until now I am trying to fight the fence”, – smiles L. Samoška.
It admits: no mistakes were avoided when creating the walnut. It was only by expanding the plantation and planting hazelnuts for the third time that the farmer began to understand how to grow such crops.
“It is very important to plan the queues well so that it is convenient to work with each other. I also found some tricks to improve performance: on the Internet I saw a gardener break a few small young shoots in June, they form horses and ripe nuts. This also proved to me ”, says the young farmer.
It is not so difficult and expensive to expand the already planted walnut, according to him. Shrubby bushes allow new shoots from the roots, they can be propagated by folds.
Whether the farm will increase significantly, the citizen does not know, but does not promise to spend all his time on it.
“My hobby has become a business. I’m a lawyer and I don’t know if I’ll go all over the farm. But relaxing after stress at work really helps, here less urgency, race, and anxiety. You work constantly, and you are waiting for the first nuts “, Laurynas does not regret the extra work.
His wife, an administrative worker, is now raising children. One day, the family promises to have a residential house, a garden next to the hazelnut, where they will create an authentic rural life.
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