With a former refugee from Grozny Lily we met on a commuter bus. A common theme was easily found. The woman complained about what to find Good work, even despite the presence higher education oh, how difficult it is.

Imagine my bewilderment when, after these words, my intelligent and friendly interlocutor suddenly changed her face and even became covered in red spots. I already thought that the lady was offended that she, a former museum worker with a university diploma, was asked to go to the greenhouse. But the reason was different.

“Don’t even tell me about it!” exclaimed my interlocutor. “I worked in greenhouses for several years and cannot remember this without shuddering.”

“You, who have never held anything heavier than a book all your life, were probably so frightened by the heavy physical work? — I ask Lily skeptically.

- I'm not afraid of work. When we fled Grozny, it was with great difficulty that we were able to buy an unfinished house in one of the villages. We literally had no roof over our heads. And we had to lie down, as they say, with bones, but to provide this roof for ourselves and our children, to bring the unfinished building into divine form. And then I went to work at greenhouse farming. At six in the morning the workers were collected by an old PAZik and taken us to work. We arrived and the masculine foreman invited us to breakfast.

— That is, your own enterprise provided workers with free food, like in the good Soviet times? “I was already happy about the organization of labor in my native Kuban.

- No, we brought food with us and put it on the table. And the foreman took out vodka and poured half a glass for everyone. We drank “for health”, had a snack and went to work.

— And did you drink vodka in the morning? I do not believe!

- Everyone drank. It was impossible to refuse, those who turned their noses up quickly flew out of work, and I could not afford such luxury. And after breakfast we went to work in the greenhouses.

—Have you ever had to work on the land before?

-What land are you talking about? Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown hydroponically. This is a method of growing where no soil is used at all. In this method, plants are grown in water and special material. The fact is that plants grown using this method produce more fruits than plants grown in the usual way. Think for yourself, the amount of crops grown using this method is already 10 times greater than the amount of crops grown on the ground.

— That is, judging by the name of the method, plants feed on water.

“You can’t produce such harvests with water alone... To give good results, the water is generously flavored with chemicals. Over the years of working in greenhouses, I have not come across a single living creature other than my partner.

- Why? - I'm surprised. - Secret production?

— The temperature in the greenhouses is 60 degrees. Can you imagine what it's like to work at this temperature all day? But God be with her, with the temperature. Just think, what can you stuff into the solution so that the process from planting seedlings to harvesting tomatoes takes a little more than a month? Traditionally, early-ripening tomatoes need 90 days from germination, late varieties require 140 days. So, when tomatoes and cucumbers acquire right size, a barrel of solution is rolled into the greenhouse. No one knew what kind of solution this was, but you can only work with it in a respirator. I sprayed the fruits with this solution. At 60 degrees, also wearing a respirator. One day, I felt that I couldn’t do it, I was suffocating, purple circles appeared before my eyes, and I pulled off the respirator. I received such a burn on my face that I thought I would be “scalded” for the rest of my life. Nothing, I came to my senses. By the way, other workers also lost consciousness and ended up in hospitals with poisoning. So, after such spraying, green tomatoes turn red in just a few days. And we worked in such hell all day. Only once did we go out for lunch, where we again drank half a glass of vodka and had a snack. Then the cost of vodka was deducted from our salary.

— By the way, how much did you receive for your work, if it’s not a secret?

— About 45 thousand.

— It would probably be stupid to ask if you had vodka with products from greenhouses?

- Of course not! None of the workers ever ate these vegetables. There was enough chemicals even during work. Moreover, from time to time you could take tomatoes and cucumbers home. I never did this, I always refused. Others took vegetables and... sold “gifts from their land” to people on the street, having a good profit. It took me two years to finish building the house, and I immediately quit my job, having previously spent several weeks in the hospital. If it were not for the need to provide children with a roof over their heads, I would never have made such sacrifices. I am still improving my poor health to this day.

- It is clear that not a single trader will tell you where, by what method and how the vegetables were grown. But can you recognize these “chemical” tomatoes and cucumbers?

Yes, you don’t need to be a genius here. Agree, it’s hard to forget the smell of fresh tomatoes; it’s a very bright, nightshade or incredibly fresh aroma of cucumbers. And these vegetables don’t smell at all! This is because of the chemicals in the nutrient solution that kill all the odor. It’s not for nothing that they are called “plastic”. Vegetables grown in this way have a beautiful shape, tomatoes can be large, cucumbers, on the contrary, elegant, with appetizing pimples. But their color is faded, all because of the same chemistry. And they are stored for a very long time, maintaining the appearance of a fresh vegetable just picked from the garden and... not a single fly will fly up to them within the range of a cannon shot. Thank God, I now have a piece of land on which I grow my vegetables. I eat them myself and feed my family with pleasure.

And at this time

According to experts, the quality of vegetable products was greatly affected by the fact that GOST standards were abolished in Russia in 2002. But they carried out the technical specifications - technical specifications, which are installed by the manufacturers themselves. So, it is quite understandable that the quality of products has dropped noticeably. Last year, Rospotrebnadzor specialists inspected more than 56 thousand enterprises that produce and sell various food products, including vegetables. It turned out that 66 percent of manufacturers violated sanitary conditions for the production and storage of products. 73 thousand batches of food products were removed from sale, which is more than three thousand tons. The scope is impressive. As for vegetables specifically, many manufacturers actually sin by artificially improving them marketable condition and accelerate the process of their maturation. To achieve this effect, farmers add growth accelerators to hydroponics. Moreover, the amount of fertilizer can be simply lethal.

And all this really causes enormous harm to our health. After all, nitrates and other chemical compounds unnatural for vegetables ( heavy metals, for example) can accumulate in the human body for years. Unlike other microelements, they are not absorbed by the body and are not excreted from it, and when they accumulate over the years, they lead to various diseases.

However, the hydroponics itself that the woman was talking about is not to blame for anything. The immeasurable amount of fertilizer is to blame. The saddest thing is that each producer independently decides what to feed his plants and in what quantities. And, of course, most of them are interested in a quick and large harvest. Few people think about our health. All hope lies with Rospotrebnadzor, which must stop this chaos. Well, when buying vegetables, we ourselves should look at appearance what we buy. If cucumbers and tomatoes look completely “plastic”, it is better not to purchase them.

With a former refugee from Grozny Lily we met on a commuter bus. A common theme was easily found. The woman complained that finding a good job, even despite having a higher education, is oh, how difficult it is.

Imagine my bewilderment when, after these words, my intelligent and friendly interlocutor suddenly changed her face and even became covered in red spots. I already thought that the lady was offended that she, a former museum worker with a university diploma, was asked to go to the greenhouse. But the reason was different.

“Don’t even tell me about it!” my interlocutor exclaimed. “I worked in greenhouses for several years and cannot remember this without shuddering.”

You, who have never held anything heavier than a book all your life, must have been so frightened by hard physical labor? - I ask Lily skeptically.

I'm not afraid of work. When we fled Grozny, it was with great difficulty that we were able to buy an unfinished house in one of the villages. We literally had no roof over our heads. And we had to lie down, as they say, with bones, but to provide this roof for ourselves and our children, to bring the unfinished building into divine form. And then I went to work in a greenhouse. At six in the morning the workers were collected by an old PAZik and taken us to work. We arrived and the masculine foreman invited us to breakfast.

That is, the native enterprise provided employees with free food as in the good Soviet times? - I was already happy about the organization of labor in my native Kuban.

No, we brought food with us and put it on the table. And the foreman took out vodka and poured half a glass for everyone. We drank “for health”, had a snack and went to work.

And did you drink vodka in the morning? I do not believe!

Everyone drank. It was impossible to refuse, those who turned their noses up quickly flew out of work, and I could not afford such luxury. And after breakfast we went to work in the greenhouses.

Have you worked on the land before?

What land are you talking about? Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown using hydroponics. This is a method of growing where no soil is used at all. In this method, plants are grown in water and special material. The fact is that plants grown using this method produce more fruits than plants grown in the usual way. Think for yourself, the amount of crops grown using this method is already 10 times greater than the amount of crops grown on the ground.

That is, judging by the name of the method, plants feed on water.

You can’t produce such harvests with water alone... To give good results, the water is generously flavored with chemicals. Over the years of working in greenhouses, I have not come across a single living creature other than my partner.

Why? - I'm surprised. - Secret production?

The temperature in the greenhouses is 60 degrees. Can you imagine what it's like to work at this temperature all day? But God be with her, with the temperature. Just think, what can you stuff into the solution so that the process from planting seedlings to harvesting tomatoes takes a little more than a month? Traditionally, early-ripening tomatoes need 90 days from germination, late varieties require 140 days. So, when the tomatoes and cucumbers acquire the desired size, a barrel of solution is rolled into the greenhouse. No one knew what kind of solution this was, but you can only work with it in a respirator. I sprayed the fruits with this solution. At 60 degrees, also wearing a respirator. One day, I felt that I couldn’t do it, I was suffocating, purple circles appeared before my eyes, and I pulled off the respirator. I received such a burn on my face that I thought I would be “scalded” for the rest of my life. Nothing, I came to my senses. By the way, other workers also lost consciousness and ended up in hospitals with poisoning. So, after such spraying, green tomatoes turn red in just a few days. And we worked in such hell all day. Only once did we go out for lunch, where we again drank half a glass of vodka and had a snack. Then the cost of vodka was deducted from our salaries.

By the way, how much did you receive for your work, if it’s not a secret?

About 45 thousand.

It would probably be stupid to ask, have you had vodka with products from greenhouses?

Of course not! None of the workers ever ate these vegetables. There was enough chemicals even during work. Moreover, from time to time you could take tomatoes and cucumbers home. I never did this, I always refused. Others took vegetables and... sold “gifts from their land” to people on the street, having a good profit. It took me two years to finish building the house, and I immediately quit my job, having previously spent several weeks in the hospital. If it were not for the need to provide children with a roof over their heads, I would never have made such sacrifices. I am still improving my poor health to this day.

It is clear that not a single trader will tell you where, by what method and how the vegetables were grown. But can you recognize these “chemical” tomatoes and cucumbers?

Yes, you don’t need to be a genius here. Agree, it’s hard to forget the smell of fresh tomatoes; it’s a very bright, nightshade or incredibly fresh aroma of cucumbers. And these vegetables don’t smell at all! This is because of the chemicals in the nutrient solution that kill all the odor. It’s not for nothing that they are called “plastic”. Vegetables grown in this way have a beautiful shape, tomatoes can be large, cucumbers, on the contrary, elegant, with appetizing pimples. But their color is faded, all because of the same chemistry. And they are stored for a very long time, maintaining the appearance of a fresh vegetable just picked from the garden and... not a single fly will fly up to them within the range of a cannon shot. Thank God, I now have a piece of land on which I grow my vegetables. I eat them myself and feed my family with pleasure.

And at this time

According to experts, the quality of vegetable products was greatly affected by the fact that GOST standards were abolished in Russia in 2002. But they carried out specifications - technical conditions that are set by the manufacturers themselves. So, it is quite understandable that the quality of products has dropped noticeably. Last year, Rospotrebnadzor specialists inspected more than 56 thousand enterprises that produce and sell various food products, including vegetables. It turned out that 66 percent of manufacturers violated sanitary conditions for the production and storage of products. 73 thousand batches of food products were removed from sale, which is more than three thousand tons. The scope is impressive. As for vegetables specifically, many manufacturers actually sin by artificially improving their presentation and speeding up the process of their ripening. To achieve this effect, farmers add growth accelerators to hydroponics. Moreover, the amount of fertilizer can be simply lethal.

And all this really causes enormous harm to our health. After all, nitrates and other chemical compounds unnatural for vegetables (heavy metals, for example) can accumulate in the human body for years. Unlike other microelements, they are not absorbed by the body and are not excreted from it, and when they accumulate over the years, they lead to various diseases.

However, the hydroponics itself that the woman was talking about is not to blame for anything. The immeasurable amount of fertilizer is to blame. The saddest thing is that each producer independently decides what to feed his plants and in what quantities. And, of course, most of them are interested in a quick and large harvest. Few people think about our health. All hope lies with Rospotrebnadzor, which must stop this chaos. Well, when buying vegetables, we ourselves should look at the appearance of what we buy. If cucumbers and tomatoes look completely “plastic”, it is better not to purchase them.

Revelations of a worker at one of the vegetable farms

We met Liliya, a former refugee from Grozny, on a commuter bus. A common theme was easily found. The woman complained that finding a good job, even despite having a higher education, is oh, how difficult it is.

Imagine my bewilderment when, after these words, my intelligent and friendly interlocutor suddenly changed her face and even became covered in red spots. I already thought that the lady was offended that she, a former museum worker with a university diploma, was asked to go to the greenhouse. But the reason was different.

“Don’t even tell me about it!” my interlocutor exclaimed. “I worked in greenhouses for several years and cannot remember this without shuddering.”

You, who have never held anything heavier than a book all your life, must have been so frightened by hard physical labor? - I ask Lily skeptically.

I'm not afraid of work. When we fled Grozny, it was with great difficulty that we were able to buy an unfinished house in one of the villages. We literally had no roof over our heads. And we had to lie down, as they say, with bones, but to provide this roof for ourselves and our children, to bring the unfinished building into divine form. And then I went to work in a greenhouse. At six in the morning the workers were collected by an old PAZik and taken us to work. We arrived and the masculine foreman invited us to breakfast.

That is, the native enterprise provided employees with free food as in the good Soviet times? - I was already happy about the organization of labor in my native Kuban.

No, we brought food with us and put it on the table. And the foreman took out vodka and poured half a glass for everyone. We drank “for health”, had a snack and went to work.

And did you drink vodka in the morning? I do not believe!

Everyone drank. It was impossible to refuse, those who turned their noses up quickly flew out of work, and I could not afford such luxury. And after breakfast we went to work in the greenhouses.

Have you worked on the land before?

What land are you talking about? Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown using hydroponics. This is a method of growing where no soil is used at all. In this method, plants are grown in water and special material. The fact is that plants grown using this method produce more fruits than plants grown in the usual way. Think for yourself, the amount of crops grown using this method is already 10 times greater than the amount of crops grown on the ground.

That is, judging by the name of the method, plants feed on water.

You can’t produce such harvests with water alone... To give good results, the water is generously flavored with chemicals. Over the years of working in greenhouses, I have not come across a single living creature other than my partner.

Why? - I'm surprised. - Secret production?

The temperature in the greenhouses is 60 degrees. Can you imagine what it's like to work at this temperature all day? But God be with her, with the temperature. Just think, what can you stuff into the solution so that the process from planting seedlings to harvesting tomatoes takes a little more than a month? Traditionally, early-ripening tomatoes need 90 days from germination, late varieties require 140 days. So, when the tomatoes and cucumbers acquire the desired size, a barrel of solution is rolled into the greenhouse. No one knew what kind of solution this was, but you can only work with it in a respirator. I sprayed the fruits with this solution. At 60 degrees, also wearing a respirator. One day, I felt that I couldn’t do it, I was suffocating, purple circles appeared before my eyes, and I pulled off the respirator. I received such a burn on my face that I thought I would be “scalded” for the rest of my life. Nothing, I came to my senses. By the way, other workers also lost consciousness and ended up in hospitals with poisoning. So, after such spraying, green tomatoes turn red in just a few days. And we worked in such hell all day. Only once did we go out for lunch, where we again drank half a glass of vodka and had a snack. Then the cost of vodka was deducted from our salaries.

By the way, how much did you receive for your work, if it’s not a secret?

About 45 thousand.

It would probably be stupid to ask, have you had vodka with products from greenhouses?

Of course not! None of the workers ever ate these vegetables. There was enough chemicals even during work. Moreover, from time to time you could take tomatoes and cucumbers home. I never did this, I always refused. Others took vegetables and... sold “gifts from their land” to people on the street, having a good profit. It took me two years to finish building the house, and I immediately quit my job, having previously spent several weeks in the hospital. If it were not for the need to provide children with a roof over their heads, I would never have made such sacrifices. I am still improving my poor health to this day.

It is clear that not a single trader will tell you where, by what method and how the vegetables were grown. But can you recognize these “chemical” tomatoes and cucumbers?

Yes, you don’t need to be a genius here. Agree, it’s hard to forget the smell of fresh tomatoes; it’s a very bright, nightshade or incredibly fresh aroma of cucumbers. And these vegetables don’t smell at all! This is because of the chemicals in the nutrient solution that kill all the odor. It’s not for nothing that they are called “plastic”. Vegetables grown in this way have a beautiful shape, tomatoes can be large, cucumbers, on the contrary, elegant, with appetizing pimples. But their color is faded, all because of the same chemistry. And they are stored for a very long time, maintaining the appearance of a fresh vegetable just picked from the garden and... not a single fly will fly up to them within the range of a cannon shot. Thank God, I now have a piece of land on which I grow my vegetables. I eat them myself and feed my family with pleasure.

And at this time

According to experts, the quality of vegetable products was greatly affected by the fact that GOST standards were abolished in Russia in 2002. But they carried out specifications - technical conditions that are set by the manufacturers themselves. So, it is quite understandable that the quality of products has dropped noticeably. Last year, Rospotrebnadzor specialists inspected more than 56 thousand enterprises that produce and sell various food products, including vegetables. It turned out that 66 percent of manufacturers violated sanitary conditions for the production and storage of products. 73 thousand batches of food products were removed from sale, which is more than three thousand tons. The scope is impressive. As for vegetables specifically, many manufacturers actually sin by artificially improving their presentation and speeding up the process of their ripening. To achieve this effect, farmers add growth accelerators to hydroponics. Moreover, the amount of fertilizer can be simply lethal.

And all this really causes enormous harm to our health. After all, nitrates and other chemical compounds unnatural for vegetables (heavy metals, for example) can accumulate in the human body for years. Unlike other microelements, they are not absorbed by the body and are not excreted from it, and when they accumulate over the years, they lead to various diseases.

However, the hydroponics itself that the woman was talking about is not to blame for anything. The immeasurable amount of fertilizer is to blame. The saddest thing is that each producer independently decides what to feed his plants and in what quantities. And, of course, most of them are interested in a quick and large harvest. Few people think about our health. All hope lies with Rospotrebnadzor, which must stop this chaos. Well, when buying vegetables, we ourselves should look at the appearance of what we buy. If cucumbers and tomatoes look completely “plastic”, it is better not to purchase them.

Revelations of a worker at one of the vegetable farms.

We met Liliya, a former refugee from Grozny, on a commuter bus. A common theme was easily found. The woman complained that finding a good job, even despite having a higher education, is oh, how difficult it is.

Imagine my bewilderment when, after these words, my intelligent and friendly interlocutor suddenly changed her face and even became covered in red spots. I already thought that the lady was offended that she, a former museum worker with a university diploma, was asked to go to the greenhouse. But the reason was different.

Don’t even tell me about it!” my interlocutor exclaimed. “I worked in greenhouses for several years and I can’t remember it without shuddering.”

You, who have never held anything heavier than a book all your life, must have been so frightened by hard physical labor? - I ask Lily skeptically.

I'm not afraid of work. When we fled Grozny, it was with great difficulty that we were able to buy an unfinished house in one of the villages. We literally had no roof over our heads. And we had to lie down, as they say, with bones, but to provide this roof for ourselves and our children, to bring the unfinished building into divine form. And then I went to work in a greenhouse. At six in the morning the workers were collected by an old PAZik and taken us to work. We arrived and the masculine foreman invited us to breakfast.

That is, the native enterprise provided employees with free food as in the good Soviet times? - I was already happy about the organization of labor in my native Kuban.

No, we brought food with us and put it on the table. And the foreman took out vodka and poured half a glass for everyone. We drank “for health”, had a snack and went to work.

And did you drink vodka in the morning? I do not believe!

Everyone drank. It was impossible to refuse, those who turned their noses up quickly flew out of work, and I could not afford such luxury. And after breakfast we went to work in the greenhouses.

Have you worked on the land before?

What land are you talking about? Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown using hydroponics. This is a method of growing where no soil is used at all. In this method, plants are grown in water and special material. The fact is that plants grown using this method produce more fruits than plants grown in the usual way. Think for yourself, the amount of crops grown using this method is already 10 times greater than the amount of crops grown on the ground.

That is, judging by the name of the method, plants feed on water.

You can’t produce such harvests with water alone... To give good results, the water is generously flavored with chemicals. Over the years of working in greenhouses, I have not come across a single living creature other than my partner.

Why? - I'm surprised. - Secret production?

The temperature in the greenhouses is 60 degrees. Can you imagine what it's like to work at this temperature all day? But God be with her, with the temperature. Just think, what can you stuff into the solution so that the process from planting seedlings to harvesting tomatoes takes a little more than a month? Traditionally, early-ripening tomatoes need 90 days from germination, late varieties require 140 days. So, when the tomatoes and cucumbers acquire the desired size, a barrel of solution is rolled into the greenhouse. No one knew what kind of solution this was, but you can only work with it in a respirator. I sprayed the fruits with this solution. At 60 degrees, also wearing a respirator. One day, I felt that I couldn’t do it, I was suffocating, purple circles appeared before my eyes, and I pulled off the respirator. I received such a burn on my face that I thought I would be “scalded” for the rest of my life. Nothing, I came to my senses. By the way, other workers also lost consciousness and ended up in hospitals with poisoning. So, after such spraying, green tomatoes turn red in just a few days. And we worked in such hell all day. Only once did we go out for lunch, where we again drank half a glass of vodka and had a snack. Then the cost of vodka was deducted from our salaries.

By the way, how much did you receive for your work, if it’s not a secret?

About 45 thousand.

It would probably be stupid to ask, have you had vodka with products from greenhouses?

Of course not! None of the workers ever ate these vegetables. There was enough chemicals even during work. Moreover, from time to time you could take tomatoes and cucumbers home. I never did this, I always refused. Others took vegetables and... sold “gifts from their land” to people on the street, having a good profit. It took me two years to finish building the house, and I immediately quit my job, having previously spent several weeks in the hospital. If it were not for the need to provide children with a roof over their heads, I would never have made such sacrifices. I am still improving my poor health to this day.

It is clear that not a single trader will tell you where, by what method and how the vegetables were grown. But can you recognize these “chemical” tomatoes and cucumbers?

Yes, you don’t need to be a genius here. Agree, it’s hard to forget the smell of fresh tomatoes; it’s a very bright, nightshade or incredibly fresh aroma of cucumbers. And these vegetables don’t smell at all! This is because of the chemicals in the nutrient solution that kill all the odor. It’s not for nothing that they are called “plastic”. Vegetables grown in this way have a beautiful shape, tomatoes can be large, cucumbers, on the contrary, elegant, with appetizing pimples. But their color is faded, all because of the same chemistry. And they are stored for a very long time, maintaining the appearance of a fresh vegetable just picked from the garden and... not a single fly will fly up to them within the range of a cannon shot. Thank God, I now have a piece of land on which I grow my vegetables. I eat them myself and feed my family with pleasure.

And at this time

According to experts, the quality of vegetable products was greatly affected by the fact that GOST standards were abolished in Russia in 2002. But they carried out specifications - technical conditions that are set by the manufacturers themselves. So, it is quite understandable that the quality of products has dropped noticeably. Last year, Rospotrebnadzor specialists inspected more than 56 thousand enterprises that produce and sell various food products, including vegetables. It turned out that 66 percent of manufacturers violated sanitary conditions for the production and storage of products. 73 thousand batches of food products were removed from sale, which is more than three thousand tons. The scope is impressive. As for vegetables specifically, many manufacturers actually sin by artificially improving their presentation and speeding up the process of their ripening. To achieve this effect, farmers add growth accelerators to hydroponics. Moreover, the amount of fertilizer can be simply lethal.

And all this really causes enormous harm to our health. After all, nitrates and other chemical compounds unnatural for vegetables (heavy metals, for example) can accumulate in the human body for years. Unlike other microelements, they are not absorbed by the body and are not excreted from it, and when they accumulate over the years, they lead to various diseases.

However, the hydroponics itself that the woman was talking about is not to blame for anything. The immeasurable amount of fertilizer is to blame. The saddest thing is that each producer independently decides what to feed his plants and in what quantities. And, of course, most of them are interested in a quick and large harvest. Few people think about our health. All hope lies with Rospotrebnadzor, which must stop this chaos. Well, when buying vegetables, we ourselves should look at the appearance of what we buy. If cucumbers and tomatoes look completely “plastic”, it is better not to purchase them.

We met Liliya, a former refugee from Grozny, on a commuter bus. A common theme was easily found. The woman complained that finding a good job, even despite having a higher education, is oh, how difficult it is.

Imagine my bewilderment when, after these words, my intelligent and friendly interlocutor suddenly changed her face and even became covered in red spots. I already thought that the lady was offended that she, a former museum worker with a university diploma, was asked to go to the greenhouse. But the reason was different.

“Don’t even tell me about it!” my interlocutor exclaimed. “I worked in greenhouses for several years and cannot remember this without shuddering.”

You, who have never held anything heavier than a book all your life, must have been so frightened by hard physical labor? - I ask Lily skeptically.

I'm not afraid of work. When we fled Grozny, it was with great difficulty that we were able to buy an unfinished house in one of the villages. We literally had no roof over our heads. And we had to lie down, as they say, with bones, but to provide this roof for ourselves and our children, to bring the unfinished building into divine form. And then I went to work in a greenhouse. At six in the morning the workers were collected by an old PAZik and taken us to work. We arrived and the masculine foreman invited us to breakfast.

That is, the native enterprise provided employees with free food as in the good Soviet times? - I was already happy about the organization of labor in my native Kuban.

No, we brought food with us and put it on the table. And the foreman took out vodka and poured half a glass for everyone. We drank “for health”, had a snack and went to work.

And did you drink vodka in the morning? I do not believe!

Everyone drank. It was impossible to refuse, those who turned their noses up quickly flew out of work, and I could not afford such luxury. And after breakfast we went to work in the greenhouses.

Have you worked on the land before?

What land are you talking about? Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown using hydroponics. This is a method of growing where no soil is used at all. In this method, plants are grown in water and special material. The fact is that plants grown using this method produce more fruits than plants grown in the usual way. Think for yourself, the amount of crops grown using this method is already 10 times greater than the amount of crops grown on the ground.

That is, judging by the name of the method, plants feed on water.

You can’t produce such harvests with water alone... To give good results, the water is generously flavored with chemicals. Over the years of working in greenhouses, I have not come across a single living creature other than my partner.

Why? - I'm surprised. - Secret production?

The temperature in the greenhouses is 60 degrees. Can you imagine what it's like to work at this temperature all day? But God be with her, with the temperature. Just think, what can you stuff into the solution so that the process from planting seedlings to harvesting tomatoes takes a little more than a month? Traditionally, early-ripening tomatoes need 90 days from germination, late varieties require 140 days. So, when the tomatoes and cucumbers acquire the desired size, a barrel of solution is rolled into the greenhouse. No one knew what kind of solution this was, but you can only work with it in a respirator. I sprayed the fruits with this solution. At 60 degrees, also wearing a respirator. One day, I felt that I couldn’t do it, I was suffocating, purple circles appeared before my eyes, and I pulled off the respirator. I received such a burn on my face that I thought I would be “scalded” for the rest of my life. Nothing, I came to my senses. By the way, other workers also lost consciousness and ended up in hospitals with poisoning. So, after such spraying, green tomatoes turn red in just a few days. And we worked in such hell all day. Only once did we go out for lunch, where we again drank half a glass of vodka and had a snack. Then the cost of vodka was deducted from our salaries.

By the way, how much did you receive for your work, if it’s not a secret?

About 45 thousand.

It would probably be stupid to ask, have you had vodka with products from greenhouses?

Of course not! None of the workers ever ate these vegetables. There was enough chemicals even during work. Moreover, from time to time you could take tomatoes and cucumbers home. I never did this, I always refused. Others took vegetables and... sold “gifts from their land” to people on the street, having a good profit. It took me two years to finish building the house, and I immediately quit my job, having previously spent several weeks in the hospital. If it were not for the need to provide children with a roof over their heads, I would never have made such sacrifices. I am still improving my poor health to this day.

It is clear that not a single trader will tell you where, by what method and how the vegetables were grown. But can you recognize these “chemical” tomatoes and cucumbers?

Yes, you don’t need to be a genius here. Agree, it’s hard to forget the smell of fresh tomatoes; it’s a very bright, nightshade or incredibly fresh aroma of cucumbers. And these vegetables don’t smell at all! This is because of the chemicals in the nutrient solution that kill all the odor. It’s not for nothing that they are called “plastic”. Vegetables grown in this way have a beautiful shape, tomatoes can be large, cucumbers, on the contrary, elegant, with appetizing pimples. But their color is faded, all because of the same chemistry. And they are stored for a very long time, maintaining the appearance of a fresh vegetable just picked from the garden and... not a single fly will fly up to them within the range of a cannon shot. Thank God, I now have a piece of land on which I grow my vegetables. I eat them myself and feed my family with pleasure.

And at this time

According to experts, the quality of vegetable products was greatly affected by the fact that GOST standards were abolished in Russia in 2002. But they carried out specifications - technical conditions that are set by the manufacturers themselves. So, it is quite understandable that the quality of products has dropped noticeably. Last year, Rospotrebnadzor specialists inspected more than 56 thousand enterprises that produce and sell various food products, including vegetables. It turned out that 66 percent of manufacturers violated sanitary conditions for the production and storage of products. 73 thousand batches of food products were removed from sale, which is more than three thousand tons. The scope is impressive. As for vegetables specifically, many manufacturers actually sin by artificially improving their presentation and speeding up the process of their ripening. To achieve this effect, farmers add growth accelerators to hydroponics. Moreover, the amount of fertilizer can be simply lethal.

And all this really causes enormous harm to our health. After all, nitrates and other chemical compounds unnatural for vegetables (heavy metals, for example) can accumulate in the human body for years. Unlike other microelements, they are not absorbed by the body and are not excreted from it, and when they accumulate over the years, they lead to various diseases.

However, the hydroponics itself that the woman was talking about is not to blame for anything. The immeasurable amount of fertilizer is to blame. The saddest thing is that each producer independently decides what to feed his plants and in what quantities. And, of course, most of them are interested in a quick and large harvest. Few people think about our health. All hope lies with Rospotrebnadzor, which must stop this chaos. Well, when buying vegetables, we ourselves should look at the appearance of what we buy. If cucumbers and tomatoes look completely “plastic”, it is better not to purchase them.