Grower Story
Andrejs Hansons
Seventy-two-year-old Andrejs Hansons has experienced a world of change since he was born into Latvia in 1947. Following World War II, the country was annexed by the Soviet Union, leaving the choices most of us take for granted – what to study, where to live, where to work – to be dictated by the government.
After graduating in 1975 as a food technology engineer, Andrejs was sent to northern Latvia to build a potato starch factory. His wife, also a food engineer, was employed in the same unit and followed him there. By moving to the remote area, the couple was granted an apartment of their own in the small village of Ungurpils.
For decades, Andrejs worked as a manager in the factory, the poor village’s largest employer. He became a highly respected figure in the community and accepted responsibility for the residents’ well-being. With only one car in the village, he made sure the young mothers were transported to the hospital to give birth. When the Soviet currency was abolished, he made sure an elderly villager didn’t lose his life savings.
After Latvia declared independence in 1990 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a market economy began to emerge. There was much to learn. “People didn’t understand what markets were,” said Andrejs. He banded together with co-workers to run the factory as a cooperative. He searched old documents to locate where his product had always been shipped. “We traveled to find those people and were able to develop a customer base,” he said. “We learned to sell.”
As money flowed in, the cooperative paved village roads and installed electricity in residents’ houses. “We didn’t pocket the money as many people in similar situations did at that time,” he said. “Before and after that, nobody has paved roads here.” However, when the nearby collective farm was abolished and the lands were returned to former owners, their potato supply ended. Andrejs was determined to keep the business going. “Financing was not available – only loans with 100 to 200 percent interest,” he said. “I did not touch that money, otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.”
Instead, Andrejs happened upon a group representing a Swedish potato starch manufacturer who was looking for contacts in Latvia. After meeting, they formed a joint venture granting the Swedish company 35 percent, with 65 percent held by the Latvian cooperative, including Andrejs. Swedish production know-how and used equipment helped, but the potato supply remained a problem. Faced with hardship, most of the cooperative owners sold out quickly, but lost all their money. Andrejs hung on.
When he finally sold his shares years later – the last cooperative member to sell – he was prepared to tackle a new challenge by combining his experience with potato starch and his love for organic agriculture.
Andrejs and partner, Janis Varpa, began experimenting in 2010 with combining potato pulp – a by-product of potato starch production – with grass to produce vermicompost (a composting process using worms to break down organic matter). Their collaboration led them to form a new company which produces organic starch potatoes, brown peas, oats, buckwheat, and grass in a crop rotation.
Over the past nine years, the company has purchased 150 hectares of farmland and 100 hectares of forest in scattered areas throughout Latvia. The planting and harvesting is outsourced to locals. Seasonality on a farm without animals is a challenge, but Andrejs is exploring forestry as a possible means to provide year-round employment to the farm workers. In the end, although his only animals are worms, and he seldom sits high on a tractor, Andrejs is a farmer indeed whose drive, vision and confidence has allowed him to success in the world’s growing organic industry.