World meat industry news

Russia won the first round of the sanctions struggle. But there is no doubt that the next steps are being prepared. Perhaps dragged on for decades, as was the case with the USSR. The one who today looks to the future according to the state strategically, and not tactically, and only into his own pocket, will win. Therefore, people with great practice and statesmanship are very much needed.

Our interlocutor is Alexander Yaroshenko, founder and president of the successful agricultural enterprise Holding-Ural-Don, a professional, analyst and staunch statesman. Yes, and he does not go into his pocket for a word. His assessments will be of interest even to those who are far from agriculture and are simply food consumers.

– If you started working in agriculture now, what direction would you choose? And what can be called promising today?

- In the south, crop production is the most profitable. You can start with it, having a base of tens of thousands of hectares of land. From scratch it will be difficult, because there is no free land. This concerns, first of all, the Rostov region.

Don land is capable of producing 5 tons of wheat per hectare. Using it for livestock is not the smartest idea. For example, in the Moscow region, the land gives 2 tons of rye, and cows can also be kept on the same hectare. Therefore, I think that animal husbandry should be concentrated there, and crop production - on the Don.

Of course, there are several districts in the Rostov region where, due to arid lands and many low-productive inconveniences, they are engaged only in pasture animal husbandry. But its effectiveness is not comparable with the indicators of the Central Strip of Russia.

- In the region, it turns out, it is unprofitable to raise cattle for meat?

- It was unprofitable. A large rise in prices for products abroad will now make a lot of things profitable.

About 15-18 years ago, our animal husbandry was slowly falling into decay. The productivity of cows, pigs, those that remained from the time of socialism, was low. We then lost. And they lost livestock.

– But after all there were any attempts to correct the situation?

- Some people tried, brought new dairy breeds. The first generation of imported animals did something, but their offspring lost quality. And then we didn’t see much selection. Plus, we could not fight the diseases of imported animals. In beef cattle breeding, the weight gain of their Herefords is incomparable with our Red Steppe or Kalmyk breeds. The industry was also strangled with very cheap meat, which was imported from abroad.

I thought: “Yes, what is it! Why such a low cost? They are just squeezing us out of the market…” I figured it out: their food security is built correctly – they must produce 10-15% more than the country needs. 90% of the products were bought within the state at a price favorable to the farmer, another 10% he could sell anywhere and for any amount. And the rest of the products were dumped into Russia at a dumping price. Purposefully. In order to stifle our production.

It was a clear program. But we didn't understand it then.

Our government did not deeply understand why it is unprofitable to engage in animal husbandry. Then it began, probably, to put some kind of barriers to imports. And over the years, a lot of money has been invested, experience has been gained, and we have saturated the market with domestic pork. Today we have its overproduction, we can supply abroad ourselves.

- What about the poultry?

The same goes for poultry farming. Many remember "Bush's legs". They were brought in by boat. Why? In the West, only white meat is eaten. They made meat and bone meal from chicken legs. And then a huge Russian market opened up, where “everyone will eat everything” ... This also stopped the development of our poultry farming for many years.

- Obviously, the situation in many positions has changed a lot compared to the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s. Are there areas where forces and means are required?

- Everything has changed. We have a surplus of pig and poultry farming, as it should be for food security, egg farming is super surplus, because we produce two or three billion eggs more than the whole country can eat.

In the failure of the production of beef. Why? This is a more expensive process: new breeds and a multi-year cycle of cow rearing are needed. Today, when Russia has been cut off from the supply of cheap beef, the time has come to create its own meat production of cattle.

This topic can justify itself and become cost-effective. Of course, we need capital and specialists, who, unfortunately, are almost gone. From the pros - you can get 300-400 hectares of inconvenient pasture for a thousand heads, but this is not necessary. The most delicious and expensive meat is marbled beef, it is obtained from cattle grown on grain feed in stalls.

Another topic that seems interesting to me is the cultivation of salmon - trout, salmon and other types of fish in closed water supply installations. So far, I do not see that this direction is being actively pursued, although it is potentially profitable. Why? Up to 400 thousand tons of salmon fish were imported to Russia from abroad. Now our supplies have been cut off. The topic of domestic salmon is becoming popular.

- I always wanted to ask why you took up agriculture? Did you sell your successful oil business in the mid-90s and return to a direction that was simply killed in those years?

- I like learning new things. Besides, I had sources of information. I see the cost price, I see the world market and draw conclusions.

During perestroika and the 1990s, the world price for grain was $140 per ton. Accordingly, in our country it was possible to purchase it for $120 plus $20 for logistics and so on.

Traders bought grain from our farms for $60, maximum $70. And they made crazy money. Where did the current largest companies come from? They were built on the robbery of the villagers from 1995 to 2005. For ten years they ruined agriculture, but they themselves rose.

But I understood that I could farm and sell my grain without intermediaries at $120 per ton, with its cost of $58-60.

Then the profitability of production was 100%. But it was not grain producers who took advantage of this, but those who bought from them. Everyone got rich except the villagers. The peasant went bankrupt ... Until it got there, he was doing something wrong. That's when it came, then the situation changed.

- What now?

- Over the past years, the cost of grain has risen, probably, to $200 per ton, but the price has gone for $380.

If it were not for protective duties, the villagers would feel great. I defend this point of view as the chairman of the Grain Union of Agricultural Producers of the Rostov Region everywhere. I make calculations, I prove. Look, they agree. But they continue their policy: the dog barks, the caravan moves on.

- For the Rostov region, what is now profitable in crop production?

– It is profitable to sow wheat, sunflower. Peas - about zero, because not every year it goes into profit. Corn is profitable only irrigated. We are limited to this set.

REFERENCE

The Rostov region is one of the largest agricultural regions of the Russian Federation. 4.2 million people live on the territory of 100 thousand square kilometers, of which a third part is in rural areas - 1.3 million people. The main wealth of the Rostov region is its soil resources. The region is located on ordinary, southern chernozems and chestnut soils. In the general structure of the earth, chernozems occupy more than 64% with an average thickness of the fertile layer of 40–80 cm.

Under socialism, when there were hundreds of thousands of cows that were not milked, but stood, fodder crops were used in crop rotation. After them it is good to sow wheat. Now such a crop rotation is very difficult to organize.

Soy is unprofitable, it requires a lot of moisture. Linen is a niche crop for small growers. Rice growing, the creation of new checks are huge costs that will never be recouped. Where checks were created by the Soviet state, the system works. Unless, of course, there are personnel, labor dynasties, because the rice production technology is the finest.

What about gardening?

– It is also difficult with him because of the lack of personnel capable of scaling the work of orchards over hundreds of hectares. Plus, the long terms of growing orchards, the lack of special storage facilities and equipment for them, and the need for serious investments. And we don't have seedlings. We imported them from overseas. Parallel import will not help here: the seedling is a living being.

Gardening as a direction, rather, can be considered for the future, when everything gets better.

- If we talk about sanctions and counter-sanctions, do you think they will affect the state of agricultural production?

- The duties that we introduced as a counterbalance to sanctions are like a red rag for a bull for the villagers. We understand that we are simply ruined.

There are Australia, Canada, the USA, Romania, France on the world market – all producers of wheat and there are consumers where it does not grow, these are Africa and the Arab countries. How can we compete with other grain producers with our duties? It is clear how this will end: we will weaken and lose our share in the world market, while they will develop.

I remember those times when they laid their agriculture on the shoulder blades, and I know from experience how difficult it was to get out of it. I remember when 70 million tons of grain crops were mowed in Russia, and now - 130 million. When are we going back to 70 million again? I think five years of suffocation is enough.