Seven expert consultants from communities across PEI will visit Moscow this summer to offer advice on important agricultural questions related to the potato, dairy, beef and hog sectors. The consulting work is part of a growing association between Russia and Prince Edward Island.
The association has been facilitated by a group called DokaGene Companies, a partnership between Prince Edward Island business man Allan Parker and Alexander Chuenko of Moscow. DokaGene Companies includes a farm called DokaGene Technologies and a trading and construction company called Dokagene Systems.
The construction side of the business started in 2002 when DokaGene Systems Company built three potato storage facilities for the DokaGene farm. This project was successfully completed, due in large part to the efforts of Perry’s Construction of Tignish, Gorman Controls of South Melville, Powers Concrete Finishers of Mermaid and Linkletter Engineering Inc. of Charlottetown. The construction continued in 2003 with completion of the fourth and final stage in the complex for DokaGene Farm which now has storage for 44 million pounds of potatoes under one roof. A new 12,000 square foot laboratory complex was built, and an 18,000 square foot factory for putting a pellet coat on sugar beet seeds was also built. Once again, Perry’s Construction, Gorman Controls and Linkletter Engineering Inc. were involved. In 2003, DokaGene Systems established its own facility for making truss rafters with equipment designed and built by Trout River Industries of Coleman.
DokaGene Systems is also the distributor for Troika Brand equipment made by several companies in PEI including Trout River Industries Ltd., Linkletter Welding Ltd., Allan Potato Handling Equipment and Emery Equipment Ltd.
In 1997, its first year of operation, the DokaGene partnership grew 30 acres of potatoes on leased land with mostly leased equipment and with the potatoes picked by hand by cadets from a local military academy. The business has grown every year and, in 2002, DokaGene was able to purchase the farm where it had been leasing land and buildings. DokaGene is a major supplier of seed and processing potatoes to potato chip companies in Moscow region and supplies fresh table potatoes to the Moscow market. The farm is now well equipped and the potato storage is the most modern in the country.
“This expansion of the business has been made possible by the combination of Russian and western know how, and the success is added to in no small part by the active support of private companies in PEI and by the support of the Russian Government and the Government of the Province of Prince Edward Island (Prince Edward Island Business Development and PEI Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Aquaculture),” said Mr. Parker. “Direct purchases of goods and services from PEI until now are in excess of three million dollars and contracts are in place for 2004 to add significantly to that total. PEI companies look to a bright future in expanded sales to the Russian market as the potato industry modernizes and potato processing expands.”
DokaGene is striving to make its farm a showcase for all PEI has to offer the world in agriculture and food processing including know how, buildings, equipment, genetics and technology. They are buying more than 100 dairy embryos this year from PEI dairy farms and semen from beef and dairy breeds. It is hoped this work will open still more doors for PEI companies to do business in Russia and in the region.