Supported by Rosselkhozbank, EkoNiva Group, Russia's largest dairy holding, has started to build Penevichi dairy farm in Kaluga oblast, in the village of the same name in Khvastovichi district. Its construction is already underway, with the relevant permits obtained back in 2023.

The infrastructure of the farm will comprise four barns, eight calf pens, a young stock housing site, forage warehouse, hygiene station and rotary milking parlour. The farm is designed for 3,550 cows and 4,630 head of young stock and has a production capacity of 98 tonnes of raw milk per day. Rosselkhozbank, EkoNiva’s financial partner in the project, is going to invest a total of 4.4 billion rubles.

So far, the construction of two barns, one of them having a milking pen, has been completed, and a third cow yard, two calf pens, a silage storage area, a forage warehouse and one of the waste lagoons are currently being built.

‘There is still a lot of work to do on the remaining calf pens, barns, hygiene station and other facilities. The construction jobs are to be finished in the second half of 2025. The implementation of the project will boost the development of the neighbouring localities and entire Khvastovichi district – the dairy will create about 150 jobs’, says Roman Litvinov, Regional Director of EkoNiva Group for Kaluga Oblast.

‘It is critical for the country to increase its self-sufficiency in staples, including milk. Kaluga oblast has been carrying out a long-term and coherent policy of expanding the production capacities in the farming sector. The project will contribute significantly to the region’s food market’, points out Margarita Filatova, Director of Kaluga Regional Branch, Rosselkhozbank.

EkoNiva is represented by Troitskiy Operation in Khvastovichi district. The enterprise manages about 11,200 hectares of farmland, half of which is occupied by silage maize, annual and perennial grasses to provide the herd with succulent and rough fodder.