Moultrie Kiwanian Jack Gay introduces a group of Russian farmers at a Moultrie Federated Guild supper Monday.

MOULTRIE — Visiting Russian farmers impress locals with their astounding progress in the 15 years since democracy and free enterprise began for them.

The group, sponsored by the Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI) and the local Kiwanis Club, attended the Sunbelt Agricultural Expo this week. CCI has established citizen-to-citizen networks in Russia and the U.S. since 1983, CCI representatives said, to encourage the economic development of what had been collective farms in the former U.S.S.R.

Irina Thornton, originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, was the group’s facilitator. Thornton said when she first brought a group to Moultrie, she was told this was the center of the universe. After pondering that comment for a while, she realized that there’s an element of truth to this perception.

“Because these people opened their America here in Moultrie. For them, this is for sure the center of America,” Thornton said. “These people will always now know that America is you, because America is like you. Whatever they are told by the news, by the media, by other people, now they won’t hear because they know the truth that the universe starts in your heart,” she said.

Serving as interpreter was Andrey Kutuzov, born in Moscow and now living in Madison, Wis. The group of farmers included six men, Aleksey Cherkesov from Belgorod Oblast, Nikolay Loktionov from the Sholokhovskiy region, Sergey Lukyanov from Satka, Maksim Podoyma from Baryshevo, Selo Anton Slyusarenko from Belaya Glina settlement, and Dimitriy Ukustov from Zahoperskiy, and a woman, Tatyana Druzhinina from Volgograd.

Farming tremendous tracts of land, these entrepreneurs’ crops range from potatoes to grains. Some of the group also had dairy and livestock operations.

The group spent a week in Moultrie exploring the city, including touring the YMCA, the courthouse square, Wal-Mart and a sports bar where they ate chili dogs for lunch.

“I don’t think they knew anything about them (chili dogs) until they got here, but they enjoyed them rather well,” Kiwanian host Jack Gay said.

Last weekend, they went to an outdoor concert on the square to hear the Swingin’ Medallions. The next day, they attended services at Baptist and Presbyterian churches and later were flown around Colquitt County to get a better idea of the lay of the land. That night locals fed the visiting farmers well with a fish fry at First Presbyterian Church.

This week, they visited Moultrie Technical College and learned about farm finance through a program given at Ameris bank. They also visited C.A. Gray Middle School, where students welcomed them with banners in Russian.

“They were very impressed with the fact that the children prepared something special for them,” Gay said.

They were also entertained at a supper at the Norman Cabin hosted by Moultrie Federated Guild, spoke at Kiwanis programs in Moultrie and Thomasville and visited the wild game exhibit at Tyson Steel.

Some of the agricultural sites the farmers toured were Sparkman Dairy, Mobley Plant Farm, Southern Valley Produce, Mobley Gin and Tifton Quality Peanut Co. The highlight was two days at Sunbelt Expo where they tested tractors and other equipment in the fields with particular interest in the hay fields and at livestock exhibits, Gay said. Loktionov came to the Expo to cut out the middle man, he said through an interpreter, and make a deal with John Deere exhibitors to buy equipment to take back to his 26,500-acre operation.

Friday, the group moved on to Albany, where they will be for the next two weeks.

Colquitt County families hosting the Russian farmers were Tony and Susie Brock, Andrew and Suzanne Christiansen, Bruce and Mary Vines, Dr. Richard and Patty Garcia, and Jack and Joan Gay.