The Group

The Black Earth Farming Group consists of the Jersey parent company: Black Earth Farming Limited, a wholly owned Cypriot subsidiary, and a number of Russian subsidiaries under the joint name of  AGRO-Invest. The Group's average number of employees for the first nine months of 2008 was 2,159. The Russian organisation is headed by the Chairman of AGRO-Invest. The Chairman is typically responsible for strategic matters while the General Manager manages the organisation’s day-to-day activities. The Chief Operating Officer is responsible for the operative part of the organisation, which includes the operating divisions, headed by the Production Director, and the supportive functions, logistics and sales & marketing.

Operating divisions

The Company’s Russian operations are divided into the three divisions; the Kursk division, the Tambov division and the Voronezh division. Each division is governed by a regional production director who reports to the Production Director. The Production Director is responsible for the overall operational management such as planning and optimisation of cultivation, land asset negotiations and agronomic issues, while each regional production director is responsible for the execution of the agricultural operations. Each division holds a certain acreage and consists of two to four production clusters.