The Kaliningrad Region is facing a shortage of seeds for several key crops and plans to procure them from other Russian regions. According to the regional Ministry of Agriculture, local seed self-sufficiency for soy stands at only 82%, with a real demand of 3.67 thousand tons but only about 3 thousand tons available locally. The situation with vegetables is even more acute — the region has no domestic vegetable seeds at all, and the estimated need is 35 tons, of which approximately 32 tons have already been delivered from elsewhere. Minister of Agriculture Artyom Ivanov attributed the shortfall to difficult weather conditions during the harvest period, while noting that supply proposals from other regions are already in place.
For potatoes, the region is relatively better off with 98% self-sufficiency (10.04 thousand tons available against a demand of 10.29 thousand tons), yet even here, additional seed supplies will be sourced from other Russian regions. To support farmers — especially vegetable and potato growers who suffered from last year’s soil waterlogging emergency — the government has introduced a special subsidy: compensation of approximately 10 rubles per kilogram of seed potatoes, which is intended to cover the extra logistics costs associated with interregional procurement.
