Svetlana Maksimova, a female farmer, started her farm in 1997 several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union when Russia was going through economic and political turmoil. Despite many challenges she went on to form the farmers’ association in her region, and she was elected a deputy for the State Duma and is now advocating for smallholders at the national level. She talks about how forming cooperatives helped the local farmers succeed. This video was produced by Oxfam International as part of the GROW Campaign: https://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/