A Russian scientific and educational center for training personnel for poultry farms will be established in the Chelyabinsk region.

The concept for creating the center was discussed by Olga Abramova, Advisor to the Russian Minister of Agriculture.
The concept envisions using budget funding to train specialists under the new federal project "Personnel in the Agro-Industrial Complex" as part of the national project "Technological Support for Food Security" and using funds from industrial partners to organize scientific research. "The Russian Ministry of Agriculture
proposed creating a research and education center for industrial poultry farming , as our region is currently testing a new domestic broiler cross, the Smena-9, and is constructing a breeding farm for meat-breeding chickens. In 2024 , SITNO opened the first site for the breeding farm, and the next one will open this year. Since January 2024, we have been in discussions with key scientific and industrial partners, and today we already have a roadmap for the main activities for creating the center," said Evgeny Litvinov, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Chelyabinsk Region. The construction of a new breeding facility for poultry MEAT production was supported by the regional budget. By 2030, the president set a goal for the industry to provide 25% of Russian poultry meat farms with domestic genetic material. Currently, Smena-9's market share in the industry is 3%. An equally important task is to ensure the training of qualified personnel, from blue-collar workers to senior specialists. The South Ural State Agrarian University, which has a poultry department and a research base, has become the main training ground for these specialists. A poultry competence center is being established at South Ural State Agrarian University. We will train specialists for domestic poultry farms and large agricultural holdings. Together with the regional Ministry of Agriculture, we have developed a concept for the center, which incorporates a seamless education system: school (agrotechnology classes), secondary vocational education, and higher education, followed by graduate and doctoral studies, in other words, the training of highly qualified personnel. Our industrial partners are large poultry farms, which will cover all scientific research . Under the federal project "Personnel in the Agricultural Sector," the companies also initially bear the costs and then receive reimbursement from the budget in the form of subsidies, explained SUSU Rector Svetlana Cherepukhina.



To work at the competence center, SUSU faculty will undergo additional retraining at the Poultry Institute (Federal Scientific Center "All-Russian Research and Technological Institute of Poultry Farming" - VNITIP) in the program "Genetics and Breeding in Meat Poultry Farming." Geneticists from the Donbass Agrarian Academy and the K.I. Skryabin Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology will be involved in the collaboration, where students will be able to study for one semester.
The specialty will be available within five new educational programs, ranging from poultry farmer to veterinarian and poultry production manager. Admission to the new specialties is planned for 2025.
In addition to the creation of agricultural technology classes, the creation of a pre-university program is proposed: this would provide education in grades 10 and 11 at the university. Students in the agricultural technology classes and pre-university program will study the core subjects required for university admission: physics, chemistry, biology, Russian language, and mathematics. The pre-university program is scheduled to open in 2026, as it will require additional development of the material and technical infrastructure.
Poultry research laboratories will also be established. Research and development will focus on adaptation processes, improving feeding technologies, and developing methods for determining the quality of products and raw materials. Olga Abramova proposed creating a laboratory for poultry economics and IT technologies, as these competencies are equally important for the development of the industry.