In fact, according to Rosstat, since 2018 no more than 800 thousand hectares have been cultivated in the Middle Urals. Only the structure of the crops varies: more and more fields are dedicated to legume and fodder crops to provide a high-quality basis for the active development of dairy production. But at the same time, the portion of vegetables is decreasing, even the area of potato fields is shrinking.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring regions there is a different trend: there is an active development of virgin lands, or more precisely, the return to circulation of fields abandoned in the 1990s. In the Chelyabinsk region in the last three years They have added more than one hundred thousand hectares, in the Kurgan region the field is expanded annually by an average of 30 thousand. In Tyumen the scope is smaller, but there is also growth: almost 20 thousand hectares in three years. Why are the Middle Urals lagging behind?
– I don’t see anything wrong with the fact that in our region the area of cultivated fields is not increasing. Land that has been planted consistently for almost ten years is an indicator of self-sufficiency. The region produces enough crops to supply its own agricultural products. But as soon as new tasks appear: increasing volumes, expanding the market or entering other territories, the question of putting additional land into circulation will inevitably arise. And we must be prepared for this,” Valentina Neganova, PhD in Economic Sciences, head of the sector for the development of agri-food systems at the Institute of Economics of the Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, commented on the situation. RG.
There’s a reason we talk about preparation. Expanding arable land will require additional equipment, investments to clear hectares covered with small forests, and expenses for legalizing new territories. This year, the region’s budget has allocated 54 million rubles for the release of new land. The majority (two-thirds of the amount) will come from the federal treasury. The funds are intended for cadastral work and surveying. Everything that will be measured, calculated and recorded in the registry this year, the authorities promise to transfer to the farms next season.
In the suburbs, private landowners bought agricultural land in the 1990s and are now trying to sell it for higher profits.
At first glance, there are quite a few promising territories. According to the Sverdlovsk Investment Promotion Agency, in 30 years the cultivated area in the Middle Urals has been reduced by almost half: in 1990, about 1.5 million hectares were cultivated in the region, and in 2020, slightly more of 800,000. The area planted with cereals and legumes decreased by 55 percent and that of potatoes by 57 percent. The most notable drop in vegetables was 61 percent. The borscht complex (carrots, beets and cabbages) is currently grown on only 5.1 thousand hectares.
– The outlook is indicative and not very rosy, but we do not perceive it as a sad statistic, but as an opportunity for new growth. Since 1990, production efficiency in agriculture has increased and the availability of free space is a reason for launching investment projects, says Evgeniy Tarasevich, deputy general director of the regional investment promotion agency.
The problem is that now in the Middle Urals the growth points and empty spaces do not coincide geographically. In the southeastern regions of the region, where agricultural production is actively developing, there is a serious shortage of arable land and, say, in the west there are too few peasant farms to develop former collective agricultural fields overgrown with weeds and pine trees.
– We have already forgotten what the expansion of the planting wedge is. There are not enough hands and money to put new land into circulation, Piotr Kurbatov, head of the department of the Krasnoufimsk agro-industrial complex, admitted to RG.
This department now controls two once large agricultural districts: Krasnoufimsky and Achitsky, and only 60 thousand hectares are cultivated in both. Recently, the gap has become even smaller: part of the cultivated fertile fields was used for the construction of the Kazan-Yekaterinburg highway. Kurbatov, however, is sure that this project, in any case, has more advantages: part of the areas near the road that remained under the skating rink during construction will eventually be cleared again, and the route itself, as a magic wand, will pave the way for investors willing to invest in agricultural projects in areas far from big cities.
But in the municipalities closest to Yekaterinburg, land resources are running out. In the suburbs, private landowners bought agricultural land in the 1990s and are now trying to sell it for higher profits. But the farmers cannot afford the price they are asking.
– We collect drop by drop, plowing more than 20-30 hectares a year, and only if we manage to buy or rent in neighboring areas. Their free territories are more often used for construction or infrastructure projects, so 4,000 hectares of former fields have already been lost, Igor Muravyov, head of the agriculture department of the Belorechensky district, confirmed to RG.
– We really need new areas. The currently cultivated lands are already saturated and without expanding the fodder base it is difficult to develop dairy production,” echoes the municipal official, agricultural producer Alexander Popkov, director of the Iskra people’s enterprise, located in the Sukholozhsky district. “But there are no free hectares in the neighborhood and I see no point in buying land hundreds of kilometers away in the western part of the region: high transportation costs will inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of dairy products. We have to follow the intensive path: increase the efficiency of every hundred square meters.
By the way, the Ural State Agrarian University is currently developing several projects for the development of intensive agriculture. Apparently, despite the impressive areas of abandoned agricultural land, it is impossible to do without the development of new technologies for cultivating fields in the region.
