The sowing campaign is coming to an end in Kolomna City District. One of the main tasks of this season is to increase arable land and reduce dependence on imports. How are these problems solved? Should we expect a shortage of products and rising prices?
The weather held back the pace of the spring sowing season. This year, May turned out to be cold and rainy, and therefore they began to work at full capacity in the fields only in the middle of the month. However, nothing critical happened – warm June made it possible to catch up. Vegetable growers work seven days a week: as you know, a spring day feeds the year. Now many agricultural enterprises have already completed sowing. Those who didn’t have time still have a few days left.
This year, the sowing area in the Kolomna City District has been increased by 10%. Bets are made on cereals, vegetables, fruits, berries. In large volumes, of course, the traditional borscht set is planted: potatoes, cabbage, beets and onions. By the way, Kolomna is considered the leader among all municipalities in the region in the production of open ground vegetables. This year, 60.3 thousand tons of vegetables will be planted on the lands of the Kolomna City District. The leader in this industry is JSC “Ozery”, which grows about 17.5 thousand tons of vegetables per year. Now the management of the Ozersk enterprise focuses on improving the quality of grown products, selecting the most popular varieties of potatoes and vegetables, as well as improving technology and increasing sales volumes. New storage facilities will be built soon. This will help stabilize prices, because there will be no shortage of local agricultural products on the shelves. Enterprises will be able to supply it not only in the autumn-winter, but also in the spring. JSC “Agrofirma “Sosnovka” increased the area of cabbage planting by 10 hectares. In total, the enterprise has planted 130 hectares of this crop, of which early varieties will sprout on 27 hectares. And in Emelnovka (JSC “Enterprise” Emelyanovka “) they plant potatoes – a Dutch variety. Almost 2,000 tons of potatoes will be harvested from 55 hectares of land. The harvest will go to stores in Moscow and the Moscow region.
If we talk about Kolomna in general, then spring sowing this year amounted to more than 18.5 thousand hectares. Grain and oilseeds (rapeseed and mustard), corn are also grown on the fields of the district. Among the spring crops that are sown in the fields are barley, wheat and oats.
Also in the Moscow region, work is underway to increase the number of arable territories at the expense of previously unused agricultural land. The plans for this year include the introduction into circulation of more than 40 thousand hectares. In our urban district, it is planned to develop 1142 hectares of ownerless land. Most of these areas undertook to restore CJSC “Panovsky”. Yury Khon, director of the enterprise, said that the necessary documentation is currently being prepared.
Yuri Khon, director of CJSC “Panovsky”:
“The sowing season is over. Everything we wanted has already been planted: 250 hectares of spring wheat, 130 hectares of barley, 200 hectares of corn, 350 hectares of sunflower, 200 hectares of annual plants. Now we are dealing with the issues of registration and introduction of new areas into agricultural circulation. Approximately 800 hectares are at the stage of registration, in the future we will sow these areas with wheat. So we’re slowly expanding.”
Alexander Grechishchev, Head of Kolomna City District:
“Our land is a resource that allows us to develop the agricultural industry, in the current conditions to fully switch to import substitution and harvest delicious and environmentally friendly food. As Andrey Yuryevich Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said, the land in the Moscow region should not be overgrown with weeds. For our part, we will do our best to continue to gain momentum, contributing to the development of the agricultural industry.”
Currently, there are 20 agro-industrial enterprises and about 60 peasant farms in the Kolomna City District. By the way, the number of the latter is constantly growing. For example, this year three farmers announced their intention to develop the district’s agriculture. And they not only declared, but defended this right at the regional Agrostartup competition, successfully defending their business plans for the development of farms. Beginning owners of peasant farms received funds in the amount of 2-3 million rubles to start a business. They will develop sheep breeding, beekeeping and grow strawberries in Kolomna.
In addition, graduates of the “School of Farmers” are being drawn into agriculture. Recall that in the Kolomna Agrarian College named after N.T. Kozlov has been training for several years for those who want to work on the land and start their business from scratch. Ekaterina Kirtoka is among the graduates who received a grant to open a peasant farm.
Ekaterina Kirtoka, head of the KFH “Ekaterininsky Gardens”:
“After successfully defending my business plan, I received a grant of about three million rubles, having won the Agrostartup competition. She registered a plot of land with an area of 157 hectares in the village of Korobcheevo for a long-term lease, and this year a cherry orchard has already been planted. By the end of 2024, about 100 hectares of cherries and 15 hectares of blackcurrant will appear on our site. We plan to collect the first berries in three years. I plan to get about 60 – 70 tons of berries per season from the cherry orchard. First, we will sell fresh products. In the future, the construction of a plant for processing berries: we will make a concentrate and freeze from cherries. Of course, looking far ahead is a little scary. Now two tractors have been bought for the farm, but prices have soared – two million had to be overpaid. There are plans to buy a harvester for harvesting cherries and black currants, but it is Polish, I don’t know how this will all happen,” the entrepreneur said.
Kolomna is famous for its strawberries. It grows on the fields of the Nepetsino AIC, Akatievsky CJSC, Kolomenskaya Yagoda LLC. Small farms also supply strawberries to the shelves of the city district.
Some of the farmers dare to experiment. So, almost 40 varieties of grapes were planted at the Kolomenskaya Yagoda enterprise.
Stepan Simakov, founder of the Kolomenskaya Yagoda company:
“Last year we tasted grapes in a neighboring village – it’s just amazing taste. We tried processed products in the form of wine and chacha. We were very impressed.”
Some farmers have gone even further and learned how to grow soybeans and asparagus in our climate. For example, last year a French farmer from Grenoble, Nicolas Boisset, who has been living in Russia for 20 years, developed and patented a new hybrid of asparagus broccoli, which he named Niccolini after himself.
In addition, the ECOlomna company is engaged in the cultivation of traditional green asparagus, as well as purple asparagus. The latter grows on the coast of the Oka, just 70 meters from the water in the soil, consisting of sand, going 11 meters deep.
Nicolas Boisset, farmer:
“Growing asparagus started as a simple hobby, now it is my life’s work. I am glad that the products that we grow in the Moscow region are liked by the residents and highly appreciated by the chefs of the best restaurants in Moscow and the region.”
Of course, this year we will have to fight for the harvest in the face of sanctions restrictions. Many agrarians are faced with the problem of lack of seeds, chemicals for processing fields and plants, obtaining loans. The activity of enterprises was negatively affected by the increase in purchase prices for machinery and fertilizers. Nevertheless, as reported by the department of agriculture of the administration of the City District of Kolomna, not a single agricultural enterprise of the district has stopped its work.
Anastasia Lipatova, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Market of the Administration of the G. o. Kolomna:
“The sowing campaign in the city district is almost completely completed. Despite the fact that the season started with trials, the farmers overcame the difficulties. All businesses continue to operate as normal. Many of them stocked up in advance with the necessary amount of seeds, fuels and lubricants, fertilizers. Although some farms had problems with bank loans, purchases, and payments, spring sowing this year amounted to more than 18.5 thousand hectares, which is more than last year. The Kolomna agro-industrial complex purchases plant protection products mainly from Zaraiskaya Selkhozkhimiya LLC, the tension with supplies has been removed. Also, the government of the region developed additional measures to support the agricultural sector, allocated additional financial resources. No product shortage is expected. We hope that the harvest will be good, but it is too early to talk about the results. It is also difficult to say what the prices for vegetables and milk will be in view of the fact that farmers have suffered losses and had to make purchases at inflated prices.”