Sowing campaign in the Novosibirsk region will be completed by the end of May

Agrarians of the Novosibirsk region sowed 1.6 million hectares, completing 80% of spring sowing. Such a high rate of sowing season has not yet been recorded in the region. During a press tour to one of the farms in the region, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Agriculture of the Novosibirsk Region Evgeny Leshchenko spoke about the features of the sowing campaign in 2022.
“The sown area this year has been increased significantly - by 54 thousand hectares. But even with this task, our farmers are coping much faster than in previous years. 79% of the area has already been sown - 1 million 600 thousand hectares. This is almost 300 thousand hectares more than on the same date last year. The main factor is the growing technical equipment of farms every year,” the minister stressed.
As Yevgeny Leshchenko recalled, in 2021, the regional economies purchased 2,627 pieces of equipment for the amount of 10.4 billion rubles. In 2022, the record of last year, despite the impact of sanctions, is exceeded. Since the beginning of the year, 1,154 units of agricultural machinery have been purchased, or 93% of the plan - 271 units more than on May 25, 2021. Among the acquisitions are 142 new tractors that are already working in the fields. Most of the purchased equipment, as in previous years, is of Russian and Belarusian production.
“This year's sowing campaign clearly demonstrates the margin of safety that has been accumulated by the agro-industrial complex of our region. The sanctions pressure did not have a noticeable impact either on the quality of preparation of farms for the agricultural season - mineral fertilizers, seeds, equipment were purchased in larger volumes than ever, nor on the course of the sowing campaign - it is proceeding at a faster pace," the minister specified.
A significant role in the high level of readiness for spring sowing was also provided by a more efficient than usual delivery of state support funds to farmers. With the help of the state program “Development of Agriculture and Regulation of Agricultural Products, Raw Materials and Food Markets in the Novosibirsk Region”, agricultural producers of the region can take advantage of more than 40 state support measures, half of which are regional. One of these measures is the reimbursement of part of the costs of technical re-equipment of agricultural production, which makes it possible to modernize the technical fleet in record volumes.
“About 1 billion rubles are allocated annually for these purposes from the regional budget, in 2022 this amount was increased to 1.7 billion. These funds have already been brought to our farmers. In total, since the beginning of the year, more than 2.5 billion rubles have been brought to agricultural producers in the region, which is twice as much as in the same period last year,” the minister explained.
The farm visited by journalists is among the regular recipients of regional compensation for new agricultural equipment. Last year, the economy purchased equipment for more than 170 million rubles. This year, the farm's fleet was replenished with a combine, two KAMAZ trucks, and a modern grain drying complex.
“The grain dryer is powerful, it allows processing 800 tons per day. All equipment has been delivered. Now we are pouring the foundations, then it's up to the installers. Until August 20, we plan to put the grain dryer into operation. This will allow us this year to completely refine all the harvested grain without preliminary packing and load it into storage already with an optimal level of humidity. This means that we will avoid crop losses,” said farmer Alexander Tsarik.
The yield here is expected to be high this year - no less than last year: 48 centners per hectare for wheat, 50 centners per hectare for barley. In addition, rapeseed and peas are grown on the farm.