Farmers of the Southern Urals will receive preferential loans to prepare for sowing

Deputy Governor –The Minister of Agriculture of the Chelyabinsk Region, Alexey Kobilin, called on the region's farmers to speed up preparations for field work, which could begin as early as mid-April. Farmers have access to preferential loans to purchase seeds and fertilizers.
"There is not much time left, they promise an early spring. We must understand that by mid-April we will already be in the fields," Alexey Kobilin noted during the PRO Grain panel discussion at the Interregional Agro-Industrial Conference "MAK 2025".
According to the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, the volume of subsidies for preferential lending to the agro-industrial complex in 2025 has doubled compared to last year. The agency has already opened the acceptance of registers of potential borrowers, almost two weeks earlier than last year. With the key rate of the Bank of Russia at 21%, the preferential rate for farmers is 12.5%, and for priority areas - 8.3%. Limits on short-term loans, which farmers use mainly to purchase material resources, are divided into three areas: crop production, dairy farming, and lending to small businesses.
Farms and dairy farming enterprises will be able to receive loans at a minimum rate of 8.3%, which will issue loans for the purchase of feed, veterinary drugs, and spare parts for equipment used in milk production. Enterprises with revenues of over 200 million rubles will also be able to use the preferential rate to issue loans for crop production and dairy farming.
Authorized banks in the region will be provided with subsidies in the total amount of 915 million rubles, which will cover the difference between the commercial and preferential rates on loans issued. The total amount of preferential short-term loans for the volume of subsidies approved for the region may amount to 15 billion rubles.
For comparison, in 2024 , the region's farmers took out preferential short-term loans totaling 14 billion rubles. The Chelyabinsk Region is among the TOP-5 regions of the Russian Federation with high utilization of subsidies for short-term loans.
Banks have also begun accepting applications for preferential investment loans. In 2024, 86 investment loans totaling almost 5 billion rubles were approved for the region's farmers. Most of them (79 applications) were issued for the purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment, five for the construction, reconstruction and modernization of production sites, and two more for the purchase of breeding animals. Of the total, 71 loans were issued to small farms.
According to Alexey Kobylin, it is necessary to pay more attention to the acquisition of mineral fertilizers, since due to the difficulties of the previous two field seasons, farmers do not add enough nutrients to the soil, and this has a negative impact on both the yield and the future fertility of arable land. In 2025, the region faces the task of adding 40.33 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers in physical weight or 17.8 thousand tons in active substance. It is also necessary to pay attention to checking seeds and replacing defective batches with seeds that meet sowing standards. Leading Russian suppliers of seeds, plant protection products and fertilizers presented their products for farmers at the agricultural conference.