Approaching spring last year, we spoke with Gundars Kalve, a farmer from what was then Krustpils Municipality. In the interview headline, we wrote: "The countryside is an indestructible Latvian treasure!" Much has happened in the course of a year; it turns out some people, finding pretexts and excuses, were searching for a lost Soviet relic that – as it turns out once more – symbolises something to someone. Let it lie there, in the depths of the Daugava. That is where it belongs. Period.
Gundars is currently in Lviv, having joined the ranks of Ukraine's defenders. So be it!
Are the countryside and the land still the foundation of Latvia's economy?
I do not want to offend city dwellers, but the countryside is the foundation of Latvia and will be the future of Latvia's foundations: Latvia's strength is in the countryside! People live in the countryside with values that remain untainted, both regarding work and the strength of the family. As is known, forestry and crop farming contribute around €3 billion to the GDP, and small rural schools are still operating, serving simultaneously as small meeting houses where the younger generation is educated in national affairs and knowledge. Events that have been forgotten elsewhere take place in the countryside, for example, marking Meteņi and Martin's Day; even Christmas is awaited according to ancient traditions, which are a legacy of our ancestors' culture (customs), rather than the gift-giving festival that it often is in these times. Sadly, it is customary to wait for Christmas because there will be gifts, rather than feeling the holiday in one's heart and soul. But: the countryside is an indestructible Latvian treasure.
How are things going for you as an economist and farmer in Krustpils Municipality? How do you feel?
I feel very good! The difficult times have been weathered – the beginning of the 90s, the 1996 crisis, and the 2008 crisis as well. We never once hoisted the white flag at the farm; instead, we pulled ourselves together, fought for every inch of land, protected our properties and did not sell them. Right now, I can speak as a true farmer. Of course, those who lacked the motivation or strength during the crisis periods I mentioned may have different, opposing thoughts. On the farm, we employ the labour resources available in the immediate vicinity; we have the best local employees. My farm is also a small cultural centre, where we celebrate Lāčplēsis Day extensively on 11 November, and we mark 18 November in particular: with a festive firework display and the singing of the national anthem during the night between 17 and 18 November. I think we are a good example for more than just one farm.
Crop farming, forestry, fisheries. Did the three sectors in one farm and in one farmer's plans come about naturally, over time?
Sequentially – the first was crop farming, but before that, the very, very beginning was dairy farming. People working in the dairy industry today would smile at the volumes we had back then, because we started with two and ended with six dairy cows. Exactly that many (or few)! We milked by hand; my fingers were so well-trained from milking that I could outdo anyone in pulling fingers. After the little cows came the pig era; the largest number was 25 growing piglets on the farm. This was followed by the potato phase, which we grew on 4-5 hectares. The potato time ended because... when taking the harvest to Aloja for starch production, we ended up in debt for the transport; the profit was significantly lower than the cost of the vehicle service. From Kūkas Parish to Aloja is a fair distance to travel.
The experience and work phases on the farm have been varied, but the industry closest to me was and is crop farming. Even after 30 years of working (I started farming in August 1991, having returned from service in the army), the scent of ploughed earth is still the closest to me.
At the family home "Kalves", we started crop farming with 2.4 ha of rye. The land was cultivated, the first T-40 tractor was bought, which did not need to be rented... Within a few years, we increased the property to 12 ha. Then came the 1996 crisis, which slowed the farm's development for several years – for a time, we farmed on those 12 ha. From 2000, we began buying land quite intensively; a "good nose" for business worked. In the period after the mentioned crisis (1996), many living in the countryside did not know or understand what to do or how to live; the "enthusiastic phase" of regaining independence had ended. Land could be bought for relatively little money – 50-70 lats per hectare. Two daughters had been born in the family, and we invested in land. It turned out to be far-sighted and correct! Not long ago, my wife and I discussed those past times and concluded that the choice made then – to invest and buy land – was the right one. For a short period, our farm flourished, but our family home was quite modest. After making our first profit, we started investing in the house. Today, we have both a good farm and a great country house to live in.
Forestry "came" in parallel with crop farming because, when buying agricultural land, you cannot always buy just fields; a corner of the forest is often "bought along with it". The forest came as an add-on to the land purchase. I graduated from the Ogre Technical School as a forest technician; forest matters are well known to me, and now I am the owner of 450 ha of forest. In the conditions of the 2009 crisis, I was forced to sell a few things so the banks wouldn't take even more: I sold them, they weren't taken.
Why is the third sector fish and fisheries? There are two reasons: my country has always told me – differentiate, diversify your management risks! Crop farming alone can cause problems – there can be years of crop failure, or there can be overproduction when the grown grain is not needed by anyone. Aquaculture reduces the potential risk to a minimum.
My great-great-grandfather Jēkabs Kalve was a farmer. After him, the family line included teachers, engineers, and tinsmiths. Jēkabs has been described in a book by Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš, because both Jaunsudrabiņš himself, Teodors Kalniņš, and Krišjānis Barons once visited his brothers, the artists Pēteris and Kārlis Kalve. Grandfather Jēkabs collected honey; he had a large apple orchard, and local produce travelled from his home to the "Ziemeļblāzma" building in Vecmīlgrāvis. At that time, the Latvian intelligentsia met and lived in "Ziemeļblāzma", and grandfather would sometimes go there himself, helping his brothers set up and organise exhibitions. Both of grandfather's brothers, the artists, passed away too early, but they left a very large mark on Latvian art.
Recently (2017) Kārlis Kalve had a round anniversary; as is known, he travelled a lot around Russia, including along the Volga, where he painted a great deal. One can read that our art historians are not sure what part of his legacy might have remained there, in the vastness of Russia
Yes, the most valuable works... If we look at the contribution of Kārlis and Pēteris to Latvian art, Kārlis is valued higher because Pēteris, earning money, did a lot of copying original works. All of Kārlis's works are originals. Yes, he lived in Crimea, Saaremaa, and many places in Russia, and, unfortunately, we do not have many of his works in Latvia. In the family, we bought a work by Pēteris Kalve depicting a lake scene; the lake we see through the window during our conversation, and the work cost 3,000 lats.
Returning to the question about fisheries: great-great-grandfather Jēkabs Kalve was a major farmer and liked to say: "I have not one inch of land that is uncultivated. On the hill – grain, down below – waters, on the hillside – trees." During the Soviet collective farm era, these lowlands were overgrown with nettles, osiers, and grey willows – a real "snake pit", as the locals would say. Around 1998, I realised it wouldn't be good if great-great-grandfather Jēkabs concluded that I had left the lowlands unmanaged. I decided to clear them. We used the grey willows and osiers for firewood; there was a thaw, I was watching what was happening, and... seeing the flow of the meltwater, the idea for ponds in these lowlands arose. You can't plant or sow a forest there, so in 1999, I already had my first 2.4 ha of ponds. The locals smiled: "How will you get water, how will you get it?" Look, the Daugava is 1.5 km away from us; water will certainly find its way there. From the hillsides, forests, springs, streams, pipes, rains, snows – all the waters will go through the ponds, not remaining on the spot! But, what if you stop the streams with a small dam? The lowlands filled with water; the fish had something to eat: so, from 300 g in the spring, we got fish weighing one and a half kilograms by autumn. We earned well. We looked further: we have small dams for all the lowlands and ravines; the largest ponds are about 4 ha, the smallest – 0.2. In total, there must now be about 30 ponds. In the neighbouring parish, there are 20 more, where we acquired former lime extraction sites from the liquidated Krustpils sugar factory. I must say, in the former Jēkabpils district, we are the largest fish farmers. I don't want to compare areas with Skrunda, Sece, or Nagļi; we are small, but we work diligently. Aquaculture brings very good income in the autumn period. During fish season, we even have queues. We advertise a little in "Brīvā Daugava", but the news that the new fish year has started at "Kalves" spreads quickly by word of mouth.
To work with fish – you have to love them. You have to love the smell of the earth, you have to love the forest, the osiers, the fields, the meadows. It is a God-given thing if you love everything living around you, if you do your work with love, with joy! As I mentioned, I have been back on my ancestral land for 30 years and there hasn't been a minute when I have regretted it! It was the right thing to do! This attitude is a guarantee of success. If you do your work with gritted teeth, grumbling, happiness will go around, take detours, and "go away" down the streams to the Daugava. If you go to work and sing... I plough with an excavator – I sing, I walk through the field – I sing! A song is the opening of the soul towards God – the white Latvian God.
With sullenness, envy, and dissatisfaction, you put up armour against success. Success, prosperity, love, and respect are rejected with sullenness. By comparison, a bus pulls up to a stop, stops, and doesn't open the doors. If you don't open – no one can enter! Of course, one must treat bad things accordingly, but if you cannot understand who your friends are, who are your enemies, what is happiness, what is misfortune, living is not easy. Is the value of your life not flawed?
Service helps me, or rather, the experience of that time – I served "for real" in the Soviet army, and in 1991 I joined the National Guard in a special operations unit. For a time, I was the head of the Krustpils Municipality Council. In this position, you cannot be insensitive to any person! You must have the ability to feed a dog tied to a chain, and furthermore, you must find a way to release it from the chain, take it to a shelter, or find new owners for it. All this must be done by yourself, without thinking that someone else will do the work in your place. Love for the country, the land, the family: that is one side. In the army, we were taught who the enemy is. In local government, I understood what sycophancy is: working for a longer period, you realise that not all those who are smiling and nice are well-disposed towards you. Experience gives you the knowledge of who is who. There is not much grey colour in my life: it is white and black!
The Krustpils Municipality Council is already a different kind of management experience
I have always been connected with national-patriotic organisations. My path of civic awareness began in the Environmental Protection Club, which was a great initiative in the 90s. The time was tense, though. For about 10 years, I led the National Alliance branch of Krustpils Municipality; preparing for the elections, a list was created, and they invited me as well. I said: "Friends, I am ready to lead the branch, ready to organise Latvian Legion commemoration events, ready to bring firewood and boil tea on the Barricades commemoration days, but politics is not my thing..." Well! There was a very nasty and offensive effort on the part of my friends and fellow fighters; in the end, they put me on the list, as a farmer; I was in 13th place (on the list)... We were up against a strong "Unity" list. We won. I had the best result in the municipality: 200 pluses more than the next one in line with pluses. When the results became clear, the next offensive followed: they didn't give you pluses for nothing, for you to stand on the sidelines... Oh, my good heart... Yes, I understood that people didn't go and vote for nothing... During a year and a half in the Council, I had a very serious heart attack: thanks to the Jēkabpils and Riga medical staff who pulled me back from the path to the other side. The doctors said: "Nerves!" My heart is like an athlete's; I play ice hockey, I have no sedentary work, but I have not steeled my nerves. I am open to good things, ready to rise and go; against fake friends... them, no!
Municipality reform 2021
At one time, I would not have changed the Jēkabpils district and its borders: perhaps the district name, maybe – to a region or otherwise, so that the Soviet aspect would not remain, but I would have preserved the territory. Once there were 26 districts, where there was both an education board and a construction board... That shouldn't have been messed with! A big mess was made with the parishes and municipalities; currently, a retreat is visible, but... There will be 42 municipalities, therefore: more than 26. So...
Varakļāni, not too far from Kūkas Parish, and the events there...
I know the story about this municipality and town, but... if you go to a strange small town in the countryside and try to impose order, you'll get punched in the mouth! Humanly, it seems that Varakļāni "fits" better with Madona; there are some people who look in the direction of Rēzekne. What are the considerations, what are the thoughts? I am too little informed to stand out by "tossing around wisdom". What happened during Ulmanis' time? To Latvianise Latgale, farmers were given 50,000 lat grants to form farms from Matulišķi to Žīguri. If you walk on foot along the Latvia – Belarus – Russia border, you will still find log buildings, boulder barns, and sheds there. The Latvianisation of Latgale was also a national security issue. At the moment, moving Varakļāni closer to Rēzekne... one must also think in other dimensions...
Neighbourly relations. What do the people of Kūkas Parish do?
Taking into account that at "Kalves" we have bought a lot of agricultural land, our neighbours do not engage in farming. They grow thujas, work as arborists, I know there is vegetable growing, fruit orchards – niche products; almost every home has bees, grows strawberries, which they sell to city dwellers. These are occupations with a small land area. There are no idlers, complainers, or lazy people here! The parish is very creative and active! Within three kilometres (radius) from "Kalves" are 12 lakes and 2 rivers. Also Laukezers, one of the cleanest and clearest lakes in Latvia – at a depth of 5 m, you can see a crayfish crawling. Laukezers has always had and has been attributed with mythical power. It adorns our surroundings like a drop of amber and, I think, the lake energetically purifies the environment where there are no bad people and there cannot be!
Photographs used from zemeunvalsts.lv and Gundars Kalve as well as the photo of Pēteris Kalve's painting "Lake" mentioned in the conversation
The interview was first published on the portal zemeunvalsts.lv on 31 May 2021