Private Agro-farm "Novovodolazhskiy Rybkhoz” was established in February 2001. It is a member of the Union of Fisheries of Ukraine "Ukrrybsoyuz”. The farm is involved in growing fish fry and commercial fish species: common carp, grass carp (known as white amur), bighead carp, pike, crucian. At present the farm has 3 ponds, the first with the surface area of 117 ha for growing commercial species of fish, the second with the surface area of 29 ha- for fish fry, and the third new one with an area of 410 ha.
   In 2002, 45 tons of fish was grown by the farm, including 27 tons of commercial fish species and 17 tons of fish fry. It is planned to produce not less than 200 tons of fish in 2003. Products are mainly sold at the markets in Kharkiv and through distributors.
   Farm’s buildings and equipment: buildings for workers, storage facilities, 2 tractors, 3 cars, water tanks.
   In 2002 the company developed a business–plan "Organization of Production of the Natural Food Products at the Enterprise "Novovodolazhskiy Rybkhoz” on the Basis of the New Energy Saving and Waste Free Technologies”. This project is based on using new technologies of fish growing.
   Goals for the trip:58
♦ To get acquainted with the advanced technologies of fish growing, utilized by American fish farms.
♦ To get acquainted with the whole system of product promotion and distribution
♦ To look for an investor for implementation of business-plan, developed by the farm
   EXIT INTERVIEW COMMENTS
   CEI: What have you learned on the tour?
   Mykola: Although I’ve seen a lot, I can’t say I’ve learned a lot. I would like to learn a lot. When I was interviewed, I was primarily interested in three major areas: paddlefish, culturing technology and crayfish and trout. I am very glad that Jeff included those things into our program. Considering there were 16 participants in the program, it was surprisingly that he covered exactly my three areas of interest. Fish farming differs from grain cultivation because you deal with fertilizers, etc. For us, a more refined approach is required. Ninety percent of your success and profit in fish farming actually depends on the stocking material, the fry, which you get. If I had been you in an agriculture program, I would emphasize more the hatching and basically, the cultivating of fry because it’s not that difficult to raise market size fish. For us, for example, 4 or 6 participants would have been adequate to study the paddlefish culture. I personally, would be very interested in immersing myself in the whole process. And another couple could concentrate on trout. I’d like to mention that Mykhaylo Len and I have developed 2 programs, based on our observations during this study tour that we are going to implement.