Russia is desperate to control spending on the 2018 World Cup.

A farmer might just have the answer — straw stadiums.

In a project straight out of the ‘Three Little Pigs’ fairy-tale, Roman Ponomaryov has built a straw replica of the 43 billion ruble ($700 million) stadium in St. Petersburg which will host World Cup semifinals, reports the Associated Press.

His arena made of 4,500 straw bales comes with tiered seating for 300 and flagpoles. It hosted its first tournament — for local teams only — last weekend using modified soccer rules.

Zenit has accepted the straw stadium with good humour, offering Ponomaryov a ticket to a game at the real thing, reports the National Post.

The harvest will keep him on the farm for the next few weeks, though, and he has in mind another project — organizing a Straw World Cup.