World meat industry news

Last week, Vladimir Putin held a meeting to support the domestic agro-industrial complex, at which he made a number of extremely important statements.

“The key task for the government, heads of regions, and enterprises is to preserve and support business activity in the Russian agro-industrial complex so that our farmers, fisheries, and food producers in general open new enterprises, create new jobs, and increase the output, first of all, of those groups of goods that we are still partly forced to buy abroad, - said Putin.

In short, the tasks have been set and, as they say, get to work, comrades!

The first wave of import substitution

Let me remind you that back in 2014, the task was set to increase our own production. The West then imposed sanctions on us for the return of Crimea to its native harbor. In response, Russia imposed a ban on the supply of products from a number of especially Russophobic countries. As a result of the then import substitution - the growth of own production. According to experts, the production of meat products has increased significantly: beef, pork; dairy products: milk, cottage cheese, cream; fish production has also increased.

Yes, yes, there were punctures. In some cases, imports from European countries have been replaced by increased imports from China. About Belarus, which began to import vegetables and fruits under the guise of its own products, for example, from Poland, it was also said within the walls of the State Duma. And about the Belarusian shrimp, who just didn’t joke! But not everything was so bad. And overproduction has been observed in a number of key areas of agriculture in the country in recent years, as a result of which one of the main goals of the sector has become export!

For reference: Russia exports agricultural products to 140 countries of the world.

Sausages in Bavaria will remain without mustard

Today, Russia accounts for 10% of world production and 18% of wheat exports. Fertilizers from Russia account for 13,3% of world exports. First of all, we are talking about nitrogen fertilizers. Among the largest buyers of our fertilizers are the EU countries and the USA. By the way, the States, despite their active anti-Russian position, did not ban the supply of fertilizers.

Like this! But Europe was ordered to refuse. In Germany, it has already been noted that it will be difficult for farmers, and the country may even be threatened with starvation. But our exports were not limited to wheat, oil and fertilizers. Russia also exported mustard seeds. The German business newspaper Handelsblatt noted that 52% (!) of mustard is imported from Russia. Since March, there has been a shortage of mustard in Germany, which will only worsen.

And another one newsalready from Britain. Its inhabitants are at risk of losing the national dish of fish and chips (deep-fried fish and chips). This was reported by the Daily Mail newspaper, citing the head of the National Fish Producers Federation, Andrew Crook, who noted that 30 to 40 percent of the fish sold in cafes comes from Russia.

“If we don’t agree, there will be big problems, because there is simply no plan B,”

Crook noted. He also noted that this dish has always been considered cheap food, but in the event of a shortage, about three thousand establishments risk losing profits or simply closing.

But all these export deals are not so interesting for the Russians. We are worried about something else: will it be possible to carry out the sowing season this year? Is there a risk of food shortages? After all, the sanctions have become not only tougher, but they have become much more.

You don't have to worry about the sowing season-2022!

Let me emphasize that farmers are preparing for the sowing season in advance. This means that they took out loans ahead of time, bought seeds, repaired equipment, and also bought fertilizers and signed contracts for the supply of chemical protection equipment.

But, as you know, many seeds, unfortunately, we buy from the West. We are talking about the seeds of beets, potatoes. The seeds for this year have already been purchased. What's next?

For example, today in the Krasnodar Territory, where spring sowing is already in full swing, the share of seeds of the main crops of domestic selection is 65%, foreign - 35%, Interfax was told in the regional Ministry of Agriculture and Processing Industry. 100% of the areas of winter and spring grain crops, 100% of rice and 80% of soybeans are sown with seeds of domestic selection in the region.

The area occupied by seeds of varieties and hybrids of corn of domestic selection is about 35%, sunflower - 30%, sugar beet - 6%. As you can see, there is a significant failure in the beets. By the way, several years ago, the head of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, described the situation in seed production as catastrophic. The supply of Russian seeds at that time was less than 63 percent. What is the reason for this state of affairs?

They destroyed the Soviet. Here is the result!

Ex-Minister of Agriculture Aleksey Gordeev argues that the reason is not the backwardness of Russian selection, but the fact that in the 90s funding was sharply reduced, the ties between agrarian science and agricultural producers were destroyed, and many specialized specialists left. This led to the collapse of the former effective system. And foreign companies take advantage of the situation and easily entered the Russian market.

Vladimir Kashin, head of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, said:

“We had our own unique potato varieties, specialized research institutes and experimental farms. And we fell for Dutch technologies, abandoned seed production, selection, and began to buy seeds.
There were 500 fruit-growing nurseries - almost all of them were destroyed. Scientific institutes have been seriously undermined, now we are restoring what was lost in order to revive genetic breeding work and seed production.”

The Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev in the Federation Council promised to rectify the situation by introducing a federal scientific and technical program for the development of agriculture (FSTP). And such a program was created. It is calculated until 2025.

Invincible armada"!

To increase the share of domestic seeds in many regions of the country, measures of state support for seed production have been introduced. Thus, special seed-growing zones have been created in the Kuban, centers for the comprehensive preparation of seeds of various crops for sowing are operating.

In 2022, to assess the potential of new seeds, demonstration crops will be planted in four natural and climatic zones.

As for beets, the project "Creation of highly competitive hybrids of sugar beet of domestic selection and organization of their seed production system" was developed. This project also became a member of the FSTP. This season, 7 sugar beet hybrids bred by SoyuzSemSvekla LLC are presented on the Russian market, and 12 hybrids are planned for sale in the next season. The potential of domestic producers will make it possible by 2025 to meet the country's demand for sugar beet seeds and occupy a large part of the Russian market.

The already mentioned FSTP also has a subprogram “Development of selection and seed production of potatoes in the Russian Federation”. Within the framework of the subprogram, 19 new varieties of potatoes have already been created. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev, said that two varieties of potatoes (grand and sadon) showed a yield more than twice as high as the average. And other varieties, according to him, are better and cheaper than imported ones.

Breed, of course, and new varieties of wheat. Thus, specialists of the North Caucasian Federal Scientific Agrarian Center have created 5 new varieties of wheat over the past 48 years. As the governor of the Stavropol Territory Vladimir Vladimirov said on his Instagram, all these varieties have received state registration and are used in the Russian agro-industrial complex.

One of the last such varieties is armada wheat, it was entered into the state register in 2020. It gives up to 132 centners per hectare.

“In some regions of the South of Russia, varieties of Stavropol selection make up to 30% in crop rotation”, - said the head of the region. Stavropol wheat is purchased by farmers from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and other countries, the governor added.

What about greenhouses?

Experts note that the greenhouse industry has changed dramatically since the import substitution course was taken. State support measures have become a serious incentive - from soft loans to reimbursement of part of the costs of building greenhouses. As a result, today the greenhouse industry has become one of the fastest growing segments of agriculture,” Dmitry Tulyakov, a member of the Board of Directors of Greenhouses of the Regions, told Expert.

The result of import substitution in the industry is as follows: in 2018, domestic tomatoes became cheaper than imported ones, and cucumbers became equal in price. In 2021, Russian producers provided the country with 60% of tomatoes and 94% of cucumbers!

Revival of amaranth

I don’t know if everyone has heard of such a plant as amaranth? Meanwhile, amaranth is the oldest grain crop in the world. Amaranth ripens 4–5 weeks after sowing, and in protected ground it can produce crops all year round. It can grow in drought and heat conditions and on saline soils.

In medieval Russia, it was widespread. Our ancestors only baked bread from it. Amaranth thickets grew like a weed everywhere and did not require attention. Due to its uniqueness, the amaranth plant was even considered sacred. Historians cannot understand why Peter I ordered the destruction of amaranth fields and, on pain of death, banned its use.

Scientists biologists are sure that the ban on amaranth led to a reduction in the life expectancy of Russians and negatively affected the health of the people. After all, the plant is rich in fiber, oils and vitamins. Amaranth can replace an entire pharmacy! The oil from it is a source of squalene - an antioxidant and healer. By the way, the famous scientist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov discovered back in the 30s of the last century that amaranth is not only healthy food, but also a natural healer, a storehouse of all the most necessary and valuable.

And the cherry on the cake!

Scientists at the Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have registered a new variety of cherry and currant in the State Register of Breeding Achievements. Bred berry crops are characterized by high winter hardiness, large-fruited, original dessert taste. Variety trials lasted almost 10 years.

So new varieties of vegetables, fruits, berries will definitely appear. But, unfortunately, not as fast as we would like.

Anna Kozyreva