Russian vegetable producer plans growth spurt thanks to import ban

Dmitry Lashin's family have been building greenhouses in central Russia's Lipetsk region for decades, but has moved into top gear since Moscow banned imports of fresh vegetables from Europe.

Russia's retaliatory response to Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis created an instant niche for domestic growers of tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce -- a market that Lashin's company and others like it are now filling with gusto.

The company, called Dolina Ovoshey, or Vegetable Valley, has imported cutting-edge greenhouse technology from the Netherlands, plans to invest $169 million next year in new greenhouses and expects to double production in the near future.

"This is very trendy now," 34-year-old Chairman of the board Lashin said of the commercial greenhouse business.

Sanctions were imposed on Russia in 2014 for annexing Crimea from Ukraine, prompting Moscow to ban some western food imports. Russia then banned tomato imports from Turkey after Ankara downed a Russian military jet late in 2015.

Dolina Ovoshey's first greenhouse for its own use was built in 2013 and the company -- in which Lashin and his father are minority shareholders -- now produces 21,000 tons of vegetables a year.

The company achieved net profit of 400 million rubles ($6.8 million) last year but is expected to hit 800 million rubles this year, Lashin said.

In the town of Dankov, 400km south of Moscow, Dolina Ovoshey has 33.4 hectares of greenhouses, with another 5.2 hectares in Yelets, 100 km south of Dankov. The company aims to have 108 hectares of greenhouses by 2019.

The Russian agriculture ministry says the Lipetsk region in central Russia is now the country's fifth-biggest producer of vegetables in greenhouses as it starts...