The importance of crop production cannot be overestimated
Crop production is one of the first and fundamental industries agriculture. Its role in the development of the economy, and indeed of all humanity, can hardly be overestimated. It is crop production that is the basis of food security in any country, and the food supply of the population depends on its development.
Crop production provides the lion's share of products consumed by the Earth's population in modern world. It is the basis of international production and trade.
What crops are the main ones for world crop production?
The area sown with major grain crops, such as wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats, rice, occupies more than half of all arable land on the planet, and in some countries, such as Japan, this figure reaches 95%.
Branches of crop production - the main area of crop production
Modern agriculture includes growing huge amount plant species. In this regard, the branches of crop production are also quite diverse. It is customary to highlight the following areas:
- - grain production
- Horticulture and viticulture- growing fruit crops
- Vegetable and melon growing- growing vegetables and melons
- Technical plant growing- cultivation of industrial crops
- Feed production- cultivation and production of animal feed
The largest and most important branch of crop production for humanity is grain farming, which, as the name implies, is engaged in the cultivation of a variety of grain crops.
Grain is the basis of nutrition for the population and main factor food security, as well as feed supply for livestock.
The main grain crops grown in most countries with developed agriculture, including Russia, are:
- wheat
- corn
- buckwheat
- barley
- millet
Let's talk about the main crops in more detail.
Wheat
Cultivated for more than ten thousand years, wheat remains the most important crop product in the world today. Wheat is grown everywhere except tropical countries.
Scientists are inclined to believe that the homeland of wheat is an area located in Turkey. Although for many years there was an opinion among scientists, especially Soviet ones, that the place where man first began to grow wheat artificially was Armenia.
Thanks to the variety of varieties and hybrids bred by breeders, almost any soil type and climatic region is suitable for its cultivation. And in terms of its resistance to cold, it is perhaps second only to barley and potatoes.
Interesting fact: the ancient Slavs revered wheat, considering its grains a symbol of wealth and prosperity; They tried to protect wheat grains from spoilage.
The world centers of wheat cultivation are Russia, Kazakhstan, USA, Canada, Australia, and Western Europe.
World wheat production photo
Although the fact that in ancient times people ate wheat grains has long been known, wheat grew wild, and people collected ripened crumbled grains from the ground.
Corn
The word "corn", according to scientists, comes either from the Romanian "cucuruz", which translates as " fir cone", or from the Turkish word "kokoroz", meaning stem.
Another name for corn - "maize" - appeared thanks to Christopher Columbus, who, having seen the plant, called it "the seed that produces an ear" - "mahiz". In some countries, corn is called "Turkish millet".
But Southern Mexico and Guatemala are considered to be the birthplace of corn. This cereal is grown everywhere, but the world leaders in industrial cultivation Corn is traditionally considered to be Brazil, the USA and China. Large volumes of corn are grown in Mexico, India, Argentina, South Africa, France, and, of course, Russia. In the USSR, thanks to Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, corn became the most important cereal.
Corn is used very widely both for food production (Asia, Latin America, Africa) and for feed (USA, Western Europe).
Growing corn in Russia
Rice
Rice is the basis of nutrition and the daily diet of many Asian countries and most of the world's population. Therefore, it is no wonder that this is the second largest cereal grown. Rice in Asia replaces the potatoes, cereals and even bread we are used to.
Rice is also exported to Europe, Latin America, Canada and the USA, where it is also very popular and loved by consumers.
The world's leading rice producers have not given up their positions for more than a decade. 6 countries are constantly fighting for a place in the top three: China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Myanmar and Bangladesh. They are also the largest consumers of rice.
Experts predict an increase in rice production in the coming years. This is primarily due to rapid population growth in countries where rice is the main source of nutrition.
Horticulture and viticulture as a branch of crop production
Horticulture is the cultivation of perennial fruit and berry trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Naturally main goal gardening is the production of fruits and berries for direct consumption or processing.
Gardening plays a great role in protecting the environment. It is known that the leaves of trees and shrubs produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, and protect from dust. Therefore, garden plantings are used to create a green layer around cities, create park areas, etc.
Despite active development and support for gardening in Soviet times, with the collapse Soviet Union everything went downhill. Without state support Most horticultural and fruit farms have simply closed, the rest are in decline.
Therefore, gardening in Russia is at the moment- this is in to a greater extent small specialized farms or country and personal subsidiary plots.
Viticulture is both the cultivation of grapes for direct consumption and the raw material base for the production of juices, canned products, raisins, and, of course, the wine industry.
The world centers of viticulture are France, Spain, Latin American countries, and Africa. In Russia, more than 90 percent of grape production is concentrated in the North Caucasus and Krasnodar region.
Vegetable and melon growing
Types of crop production include growing vegetables and melons.
The most common types of vegetables include all types of cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, zucchini, eggplant, as well as root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, and sugar beets.
With melons the situation is more complicated, since strictly defined climatic conditions are suitable for their cultivation. The most commonly grown and popular melon crops are primarily melons and watermelons.
Since the 18th century, potatoes have been almost the most popular product in the world, second perhaps only to grain crops.
In Russia, potatoes have become a staple food thanks to their relatively low price and good taste.
Therefore, Russia is one of the world leaders in potato production: largest producers potatoes in the world are: China, Russia, India, Ukraine, USA, Germany, Poland, Belarus, the Netherlands, France.
Potatoes are grown for the following purposes: 60% for consumption in in kind or composition of products, 15% - as animal feed, 25% - for processing for industrial purposes.
Growing industrial crops
The importance of the crop growing sector - the production of industrial crops - is also difficult to overestimate. It is aimed at growing plants for further processing into raw materials for various industries.
In Russia, technical crop production is widespread and production technologies are quite developed.
The main types of industrial crops grown in Russia are fibrous plants, from which fabrics and rubbers are made, as well as oil crops, which serve as a raw material base for the production of oils and are used in the soap and paint industries.
The most common cultivation of cotton, flax, hemp, sesame, jute, and sunflower.
Feed production
This branch of crop production is no less important than those described above, and, rather, even has a higher priority. The fact is that without it, the development of another important branch of agriculture - livestock breeding - is impossible.
Both specially grown fodder crops and residues from the processing of other crops are used to feed animals.
The growth of the livestock industry depends on the pace of growth and development of the feed industry. Therefore, in our country, great attention has always been paid to this branch of crop production.
Development and problems of crop production
Despite large production volumes and world leadership in the export of some crops, our country still experiences big problems in crop production.
This is influenced by many factors: underdevelopment, and sometimes complete absence of infrastructure, stagnation in technological and innovative development after the collapse of the USSR, poor technical equipment, monopoly retail chains who set low purchasing prices.
The state, understanding the importance of agricultural development as the basis of the country’s food security, is, of course, trying to support crop production by highlighting budget funds for support farms, engaged in agricultural reform.
The impetus for the development of domestic crop production was given by the introduction of sanctions against Russia. Economic sanctions allowed Russian manufacturers crop production to remove the shackles of competition with imported producers. Entrepreneurs now have the sense to expand production, explore new areas of crop production, and simply have hope and faith in the future.
MOSCOW, December 23 – RIA Novosti. The outgoing year for agriculture can be called anything but simple. The difficulties were different: both within the country and during export; they were related to both the weather and the human factor.
Nevertheless, either thanks to these difficulties, or in spite of them, the domestic agro-industrial complex set new and varied records in 2017, providing more than one reason for pride for the Russian authorities.
But if 2017 was such a busy year, what can you expect from next year? Will it be just as difficult? It's hard to say. Who, for example, last December could have imagined that such uncomfortable weather this spring could lead to such an outstanding harvest of 130 million tons of grain?
On the other hand, we can already see the tasks that will need to be addressed in 2018 - this includes the development of logistics infrastructure and supporting domestic demand.
Let's catch up and overtake America
The main agricultural event of 2017 for Russia is, of course, new records for grain exports and harvests. The first record was set at the end of June: at the end of the 2016-2017 agricultural year (from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017), grain exports from Russia amounted to 35.474 million tons, which is 4.7% more than in the previous season.
Wheat supplies abroad increased by 10% last season to 27.075 million tons. These figures updated the achievements of the previous agricultural year: then the country exported 33.9 million tons of grain, including 25 million tons of wheat.
And although Russia lost its first place in the world in wheat supplies last season (the United States exported about 29 million tons), Russian authorities, analysts, and even the United States Department of Agriculture expect Russia to return to the title of leader this agricultural year.
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation expects that grain exports from the Russian Federation in the current agricultural year will amount to 45 million tons, and wheat supplies may reach 40 million tons. According to the Federal Customs Service (FCS) of the Russian Federation, as of December 13, grain exports from the Russian Federation increased by 34% compared to last season - to 24.5 million tons. Wheat was exported 33.2% more - 19.074 million tons.
By the way, we should not forget about the outstanding results shown by the export of Russian sunflower oil. Although Russia is in second place after Ukraine in terms of this indicator (at the end of the 2016-2017 season, more than 2.2 million tons of sunflower oil were shipped), achieving this level, coupled with the expansion of sales markets, can be considered a success of the Russian agro-industrial complex.
"Tomato Wars"
The outgoing year was also remembered for another event related to exports - a very long one. Supplies of Russian grain, and other products, could suffer from restrictions that Turkey introduced and then lifted during the year - and this country is one of the main importers of domestic agricultural products in general and grain in particular.
Russia imposed an embargo on supplies from Turkey of a number of products from January 1, 2016 in response to the Turkish Air Force attack on a Russian Su-24 in Syria at the end of November 2015. In addition, Rosselkhoznadzor in 2016 banned the supply of Turkish tomatoes, peppers, pomegranates, eggplants, lettuce and iceberg lettuce, zucchini and pumpkins to the Russian Federation.
Since last fall, restrictions have been gradually lifted. As a result, since the beginning of June 2017, Russia has only maintained a ban on the import of tomatoes, as well as restrictions from Rosselkhoznadzor. At the same time, negotiations were underway on opening the Russian market for Turkish tomatoes - and the domestic market is very important for Turkish producers.
And while negotiations were ongoing between the countries on the abolition of all trade restrictions, the Turkish authorities took measures that - directly or indirectly - pushed Russia to lift its bans. For example, from March 15, Türkiye changed the procedure for importing certain types of agricultural products for processing within the country, including wheat and sunflower oil.
At the same time, Russia was not included in the list of countries entitled to duty-free supplies. Türkiye later announced the lifting of these restrictions, but at the end of May several Russian and Turkish agricultural associations reported that Ankara had introduced new barriers to trade. Russian companies the number of import licenses under the inward processing regime, which gives the right to duty free import goods.
Since October 9, Türkiye has introduced new restrictions on the supply of agricultural products from the Russian Federation: certification of invoices submitted to customs services when importing wheat, sunflower oil, corn and a number of other goods, the country of origin of which is Russia.
Ultimately, Russia partially lifted the ban on the import of Turkish tomatoes - by the end of 2017, Türkiye can supply no more than 50 thousand tons of tomatoes to the Russian Federation. However, there has been no evidence yet of Turkey lifting its October restrictions. And all these events began to be unofficially called the “tomato war.”
Taming of the Shrew
About the history of another record - the grain harvest - we can say unequivocally: “This thing is stronger than Goethe’s Faust.” And the point here is not only the significance of the very fact of achieving the highest harvest in the entire history of Russia, but also how exactly this peak was conquered. And the climb was not easy.
The 2016 harvest amounted to 120.7 million tons of grain - the highest figure in recent history. Russian history. The first official forecasts of the Ministry of Agriculture for the harvest of the current year - they usually appear in April, when it becomes clear how winter crops survived the winter - were quite accurate: more than 100 million tons, more than 110 million.
However, the weather made its own adjustments: April and May this year were very cold, and wet snow was observed in the regions even during these months. And ordinary rain was a frequent visitor to the fields. Already in May, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that the pace of sowing spring crops in 2017 lags behind last year’s.
This posed a threat to the harvest. In early June, Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev admitted: due to bad weather conditions and a protracted spring, this year’s grain harvest will exceed 100 million tons, but will not exceed 110 million.
But, as they say, if something has gone somewhere, then somewhere it has arrived. Winter crops survived last winter quite well, and prolonged rains filled the ground with moisture.
In July, the head of the department of crop production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Pyotr Chekmarev, speaking at the Field Day in Kazan (ironically, to the accompaniment of heavy rain) recalled 1978: there was heavy harvesting, heavy rains, but then Russia (as part of the USSR) harvested a record harvest - 127.4 million tons. A good harvest, according to Chekmarev, could have been seen this year if the weather had smiled on the farmers in August-September. His words turned out to be prophetic. The weather in autumn was really quite good, and as the weather went on autumn work it became clear: there will be a new record.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, as of December 18, the country had harvested 140.4 million tons of grain in bunker weight, and the harvest in net weight, according to Rosstat, in 2017 amounted to 134.1 million tons. This is 11% more than last year and 5.3% more than the historical record set in 1978.
What does the coming year have in store for us?
The answer to this question from the perspective of December 2017: nothing bad, it seems.
Agricultural production in Russia is growing, and there is no reason for it to decline sharply. Budget funding for the agro-industrial complex next year will remain at the level of the outgoing year - it will amount to 241.986 billion rubles. If grain exports do not fail, then the country is guaranteed at least one record.
So far, the forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation assumes the harvest in 2018 at the level of 110.6 million tons of grain - not a small figure at all. On the other hand, by harvesting high harvests for several years in a row, Russia may face a decline in world grain prices, which, in turn, could cause a reduction in the profitability of domestic farmers.
“In a situation of a sharp increase in production, indeed, there is often a decrease in prices on the world market. But Russian products are competitive, so in the long term the share of Russian exporters will grow,” noted the head of the Center economic forecasting Gazprombank Daria Snitko.
In turn, the expert Analytical Center under the government of the Russian Federation, Elena Razumova pointed out that at the end of 2017, it became obvious that the logistics infrastructure was unprepared for ultra-high harvests - both from the point of view of transportation and from the point of view of grain storage.
In addition, industry participants have been saying for years that dependence on imported inputs in Russian agriculture raises concerns.
"Many agricultural producers do not use domestic seeds, and some are significantly dependent on imported seed material, in particular beet growers. Solving the problem of localizing the production of means of production - seeds, equipment, veterinary medicines and much more - will be relevant in the coming years,” Snitko pointed out.
In turn, Razumova from the Analytical Center admitted that the problem could be a decrease in profitability in key sectors of the agro-industrial complex - the grain, oilseed and sugar segments. “To support it, the state will have to more actively stimulate investment,” she noted.
The past year was a record year for Russian crop production in terms of several indicators: yield and gross harvest for a wide range of agricultural products, as well as export volumes. In 2017, a record harvest was obtained for grain and leguminous crops.
According to preliminary data from Rosstat, the gross grain harvest in Russia increased by 11% and amounted to 118.5 million tons in weight after processing. After the last five years of stable growth, the gross wheat harvest increased again in 2017 - by 17%, to 85.8 million tons.
In 2017, barley production also increased by 14%, the harvest of which amounted to 20.6 million tons. This is a record figure since 2008, when 23.1 million tons were collected. According to preliminary data, the harvest of corn for grain amounted to 12.1 million tons, which is 21% lower than the 2016 harvest, but is the third largest harvest in the modern history of Russia. Among the achievements of crop production in 2017, one can also highlight a record soybean harvest - 3.6 million tons (+14% compared to 2016).
In 2017, a sugar beet harvest close to a record was also collected - 48.2 million tons, which is only 6% less than last year’s absolute record.
The high harvest of 2017 is primarily associated with increased sown areas, as well as an abundance of moisture during the growing season, which ensured favorable conditions for crop growth. The renewal of agricultural machinery by many farms and the increased use of fertilizers were also important.
PRICES
In recent years, prices for grains and oilseeds have been declining due to high yields and high reserves in the world. Thus, the average world price for wheat in 2017 amounted to 7.4 thousand rubles/ton, which is 37% lower than in 2016. The average world price for corn fell by 21% - at the end of 2017 it amounted to 9.3 thousand rubles/ton. Prices for barley, sunflower and soybeans also decreased - by 18, 17 and 15%, respectively.
A similar decrease occurred in Russian market. The average price for sunflower fell the most (by 26% - to 17.4 thousand rubles / ton) and corn (by 23% - to 7.8 thousand rubles / ton). The average price for wheat on the Russian market in 2017 was 8 thousand rubles/ton, which is 19% lower than in 2016.
EXPORT
Over the past five years, the volume of export supplies of Russian grains has increased 2.3 times. In 2017, exports amounted to 43.6 million tons, which is 28% more than in 2016. Wheat traditionally occupies the largest share in exports - about 70–75%. From 2013 to 2017, the volume of supplies increased 2.4 times. As a result of an increase in gross harvests in 2017, wheat exports amounted to 32.9 million tons (+31%), barley - 5.1 million tons (+73%). Exports could have been higher, but rail transportation and port capacity did not allow the full export potential to be fully realized.
Last five years largest countries- importers of Russian grains were Egypt and Türkiye, whose convenient geographical location and logistical proximity to Russia predetermine high volumes of mutual trade. Until 2015, Turkey accounted for about 41% of imports, Egypt - 30%. Since 2015, due to the deterioration of trade relations between the countries, the volume of exports to Turkey began to decline, and in 2016, Turkey’s share was already 22%, and Egypt became the main importer with a share of 44%. In 2017, the situation partially leveled out: 7.9 million tons of grain were exported to Egypt (share - 43%), to Turkey - 5.2 million tons (share - 28%).
IMPORT
The only crop for which Russia is a net importer is soybeans. For a long time, there was no soybean cultivation culture in Russia. There were no seeds, technology, knowledge and equipment. With the increase in meat production, the need for a high protein source has increased significantly. The main importers of soybeans to Russia are the countries South America: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Due to the peculiarities of the climate - the lack of dry sunny days - in Russia an insufficient amount of durum wheat is produced for its own consumption. Russia imports food wheat with a high protein content, and exports food grains of less durum varieties and fodder.
FORECAST FOR 2018
The US Department of Agriculture forecasts* the volume of world grain production in the 2017/2018 season at 2.6 billion tons, of which wheat will amount to 758.8 million tons. Global soybean production will be 340.9 million tons, which is 10.5 million tons lower than the 2016/2017 season. The forecast for world wheat exports in the 2017/2018 season is estimated at 182.0 million tons, of which 37.5 million tons are exported by Russia, which will produce about 85 million tons of agricultural crops. World
Soybean exports will amount to 150.6 million tons, almost half of which is exported by Brazil. It is expected that Egypt and Türkiye will purchase 8.6 and 5.9 million tons of Russian grain, which will amount to 19 and 13% of the total Russian exports respectively.
The significant export potential of Russian grain is currently limited throughput specialized grain terminals of ports, as well as a rolling stock of grain wagons. To solve this problem, proposals from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture are aimed at creating new grain transshipment terminals in the next three years, from which products will be supplied abroad. Thus, by 2020 in ports Far East, in the Azov-Black Sea and Baltic basins, new grain terminals with a total capacity of about 44–54 million tons may appear, which corresponds to the volume of annual grain exports from Russia.
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