Good times for farmers in Russia

Moscow

BORIS Akimov's cellphone, which quacks like a duck, started to sound like a whole flock soon after President Vladimir Putin imposed sweeping food sanctions barring many Western imports last August.

Major Russian grocery chains, desperate to find new suppliers, tracked down Mr Akimov, the founder of Russia's fledgling farm-to-table movement, to ask urgent supply questions. How many chickens and eggs could he provide, they wanted to know, and could he deliver 100 tonnes of cheese, say, immediately.