Long way from home

The Waseca Rotary Club had the rare opportunity to host a delegation of agricultural professionals from the European country of Moldova from April 21-28. 

Moldova is a small country (population 2.6 million) south of Ukraine and north of Romania. It was part of Romania throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries before a pact was signed in 1939 to allow the Soviet Union to annex the region. It declared independence in 1991 and became its own country in 1992. The country’s economy is centered around agriculture.

The Rotary Club organization beat out hundreds of others who vied for the opportunity to host the six Moldovan delegates: Octavian Cernei, Sergiu Gherciu, Galina Petrachi, Cornel Diaconu, Nicolae Minciuna, and Lidia Sanduleac.

Minciuna, 37, started a small winery in Moldova in 2019. He studied in university to become a winemaker and has a Masters as a wine tourist. He is married with two kids and runs a small gastronomy business with his mother.

Minciuna operates six acres of vineyard: he owns 4.5 acres and rents another 1.5. “I make about 4,500 to 5,000 bottles of wine per year,” he explained. “We do local varieties as well as other common wines like white, rose, and red.”

Cernei is the administrator of Semichim Trade, an agricultural distribution company that sells sunflower seeds, corn, vegetables, wheat, and cereal. “We also sell the entire spectrum of fungicides and insecticides, growth stimulators and stimulants.”

The company distributes nationwide throughout Moldova and offers agricultural services throughout the vegetation period.

Sergiu Gherciu is the State Secretary and part of Moldova’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. Fellow colleague Galina Petrachi works as the country’s Head of Rural Development Policies and Programs Department and is part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.

Cornel Diaconu works for the Republic of Moldova’s customs service as an inspector. He is also co-founder of Diaconu Mihail GT. “I started a small farm with my parents,” he explained. Diaconu farms about 1500 acres and grows wheat, sunflower seeds, and corn.

Lidia Sanduleac works as an executive director of the American Councils for International Education (ACIE) in Moldova. She is the facilitator for the group of Moldovan delegates. “ACIE facilitates exchange programs here in the United States for citizens for the Republic of Moldova and 90 countries around the world,” she explained.

According to her and Waseca Chamber President Ann Fitch, the delegation’s visit to Waseca was made possible by the Open World Program, which is sponsored by the Library of Congress and acts as an agency of the US Congress.

“It’s unique because it brings citizens that don’t need to speak English into the United States,” Sanduleac added.

The group’s plan is to stay ten days in the United States to learn more about the country’s agriculture process and be prepared to share what they learn here with their colleagues and government back in Moldova. “We want to gain some experience on how to develop agri-tourism and how the local community is involved in development,” Petrachi elaborated.

The Moldovans spent their first two days in the United States in Washington D.C. to explore the nation’s capital. They then spent the next seven days touring different agriculture businesses in Waseca and planned on spending the last day of their stay in the U.S. in the Twin Cities visiting the State Capitol, shopping at the Mall of America, and, if weather allowed, watching a Twins baseball game.

Waseca’s Rotary Club held a welcoming celebration at the Half Pint Brewery north of town Sunday, April 23. While receiving the classic Minnesota welcome, visitors toured the brewery. The group also took a tour of the new Conagra plant Monday, April 24.

“We are visiting smaller farms,” Fitch explained. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring them to our local wineries.”

As they bring back their knowledge to Moldova, delegation members will also be returning to a country deeply touched by the war between Ukraine and Russia. “We’ve been affected very badly,” Gherciu explained.

Moldova received the most refugees from Ukraine per capita, according to Sanduleac, taking in about one million people who crossed the border between the two countries to escape from war. “At this moment, there are about 100,000 people sheltered in refugee centers,” she added.

It doesn’t help that Moldova, like many other European countries, is being blackmailed by Russia, their most significant source of energy. The superpower is threatening to raise prices for supporting Ukraine. “It’s bringing inflation to our country and all our economy,” Gherciu said. “And because of our size, we’re still still in a position where we cannot be competitive in the market.”

What’s worse is that Moldova used Ukraine’s port city of Odessa to export its goods to other countries; the war brought that to an end. “We exported our goods to Russia, Ukraine, and other former USSR countries like Azerbaijan,” Gherciu elaborated.

The country did try using the Romanian port of Constanta, but because of the region it’s in, other countries are already using the port to export their goods. 

It’s partially because of the war’s effects on the country that the delegates are learning about the United States’ approach to agri-tourism. “We’re hoping to bring some new experience back home after seeing how it’s working here in the U.S.,” Gherciu said. “We want to know how the small farmer brings their goods to the consumer here. We want to bring a business model back home with us.”

It will not only be a great experience for the Moldovans to learn about how rural Minnesota’s agriculture works, but it will be a chance for the United States to tighten ties with the country. As Fitch put it, “We’ll have them for too short of a time.

“I’m so thankful that we as a community had the opportunity to host our new friends,” she added. “I hope their home country realizes they sent them to learn about a lot of great things here.”

The delegates shared their gratitude for the opportunity. “We want to express our gratitude to the U.S. Congress, to the local community of Waseca, the Rotary Club, and to everybody that will be sharing info with us this week,” Gherciu said. “Oh, and definitely a thank you to our host families.”