Osijek, Kopacki Rit at the Danube, Slavonia
The Osijek Social Supermarket was our first visit after arriving in Osijek, Croatia last evening. We were welcomed with individual roses, traditional breads and a variety of cheese and meat. The women, men and teenagers welcoming us were all volunteers at the social supermarket. Stefica Cucak, the founder and President, is often described as the “Mother Teresa of Croatia”. With a heart of gold and an unbelievalbe passion for helping others this woman, along with her team of volunteers are providing food for 1,450 hungry families. These families are very poor and often do not have food to eat each day. Stefica said that the smiles that appear on the children’s faces when they see food is the reason they can keep working so hard. Our MARL classmates were so moved by this experience that tears welled up in some eyes and donations were freely given to help the social supermarket reach more hungry people in the town of Osijek.
After a short 20 minute drive we arrived at the Kopacki Rit National Forest. This 68 square mile in-land delta was established in 1976 and is comprised of many backwaters and ponds along the Danube River one one side and the Drava on the other. This is the most important, largest and most attractive preserved intact weland in Europe. The appearance is similar to a delta as the water ways and water melting off the Alps moves into the area wetland.
This park is on the Ramsar list, which identifies wetlands of international importance, especially for waterfowl habitat. This park is also on the list of important bird areas as over 600 bird species inhabit this area. Additionally, the wetland and forest areas are home to many other species including fish, otters, wild pigs, deer, stagg, and lots of mosquitos, among others.
We were able to watch a short video showing Spring and Summer video of the flooded delta so we could see what the area looks like when it is under water. We spent some time in the multimedia building that had many different exhibits to learn more about the park and followed that with a train ride. Even though fresh snow had covered the area, it was interesting to see the landscape, which is neighbors with the largest vertically integrated farm in Croatia.
A short drive from the park brought us to Restoran Kormoran, a restaurant of Belje, which is a vertically integrated farm with the slogan, “From the field to the plate”. This farm is currently held by the state, as AGRIKOR went bankrupt a few months ago. This company produces 50% of the food in Croatia, so there is a strong interest in keeping the farms running.
The history of this farm goes back to 1697 and after years of changing hands and wars that desimated the area is known today as Belje. Belje, which is owned by Croatian parent company AGROKOR, farms on 20,000 hectares of arable land where it is growing corn, alfalafa, barley, wheat, and soybean. They are making feed for pigs, calves, cattle, dairy cows, poultry, rabbits, sheep, lambs, goats. deer, and wild boar. The agriculture production includes crops, pigs, dairy, young cattle fattening, cow-calf systems, viticulture, cattle and hog breeding. Belje also utilizes conbtract gowers to raise livestock by using Belje’s feed, consultants, veterinary care.
We were able to tour a dairy farm, which is part of the Belje company. Dubravko provided us with a tour of the parlor, which included a 60-stall carousel parlor. They are crossbreeding Holstein and Norwegian Reds and currently have a herd of 1800 cows, with 1005 in lactation. The cows are milked twice per day and 100% of their milk is used to make ABC cheese, a famous cheese in Croatia for many years. This is award winning cheese on a national scale.
We ended the day in Karlovac, Croatia and will begin another adventure tomorrow. A combination of the famous bura wind and low temperatures are forecasted by the Croatian meteorologists to be record-breaking since 1949. Follow the blog to find out if Class IX will truly become the “Snowstorm class”….
Submitted by Josh Betcher and Natasha Mortenson
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