South Ural farmers will combat soil salinization.

The Chelyabinsk Region intends to restore arable land fertility using phosphogypsum. This well-known soil amendment displaces sodium ions from the soil and replaces them with calcium, improving structure and fertility. The Chelyabinsk Region Ministry of Agriculture held a meeting on this topic with representatives of the PhosAgro Group, a supplier of amendments and fertilizers.
"Agricultural enterprises in the Chelyabinsk Region are highly interested in increasing arable land fertility through land improvement," said Yevgeny Litvinov, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Chelyabinsk Region. "We need to assess the cost of these measures, conduct an agrochemical analysis of saline areas, and calculate the required amount of amendment. By applying gypsum to the soil, we intend to achieve higher yields and increase grain production."
The state, in turn, is prepared to subsidize the costs of land improvement. Anna Kozhevina, HEAD of the Department for the Development of Crop Production and Small Farms, discussed government support measures. To receive a subsidy of 50 percent of land reclamation costs, an agricultural enterprise must first pass a preliminary selection process with the regional Ministry of Agriculture and then with the federal Ministry of Agriculture. To do this, it is necessary to prepare a package of documents with all calculations and a land reclamation project and submit it to the ministry.
Details of the planned project were discussed at the meeting. A site for the production trial must be selected; this could be a company engaged in crop production with solonetzic areas in its field structure and possessing the necessary equipment for soil amendment. An integral part of the measures should be an agrochemical survey of problem areas. Yuri Denisov, DIRECTOR of the Chelyabinsk Center for Chemicalization and Agricultural Radiology, and Ilyas Usmanov, Chief Agronomist of the Chelyabinsk Poultry Farm, participated in the discussion.
Yields in saline areas can be increased by using ameliorants. PhosAgro offers supplies of this soil improver in the volumes required by the region. Company representatives Ivan Trunin, Phosphogypsum Sales Manager, and Mikhail Mozharenko, a specialist in chemical soil improvement and PhD in Biology, discussed the specifics of soil improvement.
Soil salinization is the accumulation of sulfates, chlorides, and carbonates in the soil when their levels exceed the norm. Soil is considered saline when SALT accumulation exceeds 0.25% of the total soil mass. One of the causes of soil salinization is believed to be arid climates , which force plants to draw moisture from deep soil layers along with dissolved salts. The water subsequently evaporates, leaving the salts in the soil close to the surface.