Sowing campaign in the South Urals will be held on time

South Ural farmers are ready for the sowing campaign. There are seeds, equipment is ready, fertilizers and plant protection products have been purchased. The sanctions of the collective West do not frighten the peasants, there are difficulties, but they can be overcome. Without bread, MILK and MEAT, the Chelyabinsk region, and the whole country, will not remain. This was discussed at a press conference in the press center of the editorial office "Arguments and Facts - Chelyabinsk" with the participation of the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the region Alexander Zavalishchin.
“Preparation for the sowing campaign begins in the fall, after harvesting,” said Alexander Zavalishchin, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Chelyabinsk Region. - This is primarily the preparation of the agricultural background - plowing, fallows, the formation of a seed fund. Partially in the fall, a stock of fuels and lubricants and spare parts for machinery is created. We are monitoring the situation, tracking how enterprises have prepared for spring sowing since autumn, whether they managed to acquire the resources necessary for sowing at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. So, if in autumn we had 170 thousand tons of seeds of agricultural crops in the seed fund, now it is already 235 thousand tons, which is 95 percent of what is needed, thanks to the support of the governor, which allocated an additional 200 million rubles to farmers for the purchase of missing seeds and 300 million for the purchase of feed for livestock. Supplies of mineral fertilizers continue at the price fixed by the federal government. The cost of fuels and lubricants, which are purchased by agricultural enterprises today, is at the level of last year. I think that those tasks for the sowing campaign that the Government of the Chelyabinsk Region and the Governor have set for us will be fulfilled.
Also, the First Deputy Minister said that the farms are mainly provided with herbicides and seed disinfectants, the problem is in prices, which can increase by 80%. Nevertheless, according to him, in 2022 the sown area in the Chelyabinsk region will increase by 12 thousand hectares, and the total area of ​​arable land in cultivation - by 30 thousand hectares. Farm machinery is ready for sowing. Thanks to state support from the regional and federal budgets, the participation of Rosagroleasing, the fleet of agricultural vehicles has been significantly updated over the past 7 years. The government of the Russian Federation controls the cost of mineral fertilizers and fuel, the problem of soft loans for the purchase of working capital for the sowing campaign, the so-called short loans, has been solved.
Farmers will form areas of insurance crops, which will ensure, in case of a recurrence of the drought, the procurement of fodder for livestock. So, at the time of the onset of summer crops - in June - it is planned to sow sorghum, Sudanese grass, millet, that is, a crop that grows quickly. This year it is planned to sow more durum wheat, oilseeds, including sunflower. Over the past five years, the sown area of ​​oilseeds has increased tenfold: sunflower and flax are in demand in Russian processing and in EXPORT deliveries.
South Ural farmers use Russian seeds. This was told by the HEAD of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Rosselkhoztsentr" Ksenia Vanina:
— We have a large list of crops that the region produces itself. Seeds are produced both for our own needs - for sowing on our own farm, and for sale to other enterprises in the industry. Industrial production of seeds is carried out by specialized seed farms, they have large areas under crops, machinery, equipment for drying, sorting seeds, spacious storage facilities, they produce grain crops: spring and winter wheat, barley, oats, in addition there is the production of rapeseed, soybeans. Due to the need for import substitution, we are restructuring, there are enough seeds of domestic selection. Now our specialists in rural areas are completing the analysis of the quality of seed material available to agricultural enterprises. Seeds are checked for germination, moisture, weediness, germination energy. Most of the quality checks are funded by the federal budget, that is, free of charge for manufacturers. 138,000 tons of seeds of cereals, legumes and oilseeds have already been tested. By the beginning of the sowing campaign, the entire volume will be checked. Of the tested seeds, 82% meet the requirements of the standard. The rest will be further worked on and brought to the standard.
In the Chelyabinsk region there are 15 enterprises for the production of seeds of grain, leguminous crops, sunflower. Of these, three farms have the status of a seed plant. There are two seed farms that grow seed potatoes. All these enterprises implement breeding achievements, including those of the South Ural institutes: the Research Institute of Horticulture and Potato Growing and the Research Institute of Agriculture.
“In the Chelyabinsk region, state support for the agro-industrial complex is provided in 25 areas. In the total amount of state support, up to 70 percent is the share of the regional budget. Subsidies are paid for the purchase of mineral fertilizers and agricultural machinery. Compensatory, stimulating subsidies are provided for the production of grain, meat, and milk. This year, we issued compensatory subsidies to farmers 2 months earlier, we accept documents from large producers, and now the selection of recipients is underway. In April-May, we will issue state support for milk and the development of beef cattle breeding,” said First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Alexander Zavalishchin.
Olga Pestrikova, a farmer from the Krasnoarmeisky district, a member of the council of the regional Union of Peasant (Farmer) Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives, spoke about how farms are preparing for the upcoming agricultural season.
“Farmers of the Chelyabinsk region, along with agricultural organizations, strengthen the food security of our country and our region. The farmer's wedge is rather big, we provide our region with both bread and meat. There are problems, these are not so much sanctions as three years of drought. Now we are trying to repair the equipment, sow all the corners of our lands so that not a single hectare, not a single hundred square meters are left empty. The problem is the cost of spare parts. We do not have new equipment in all farms, and the old one needs periodic repairs, the price for spare parts has risen to 80%. Our farmers say that these are spare parts of Russian or Belarusian production, and the price tags are simply rewritten twice. This is unfair and wrong, here is the field of activity for the antimonopoly service. We grow not only food wheat, we provide fodder for poultry and pig-breeding enterprises. Therefore, we are also very concerned about the price of soft wheat. It has not changed, but, for example, the price of FLOUR has doubled. But despite all the distortions, we will carry out the sowing campaign observing all the technological requirements as it should,” concluded Olga Pestrikova.

Source: Press Center of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Chelyabinsk Region