Deputies called for the return of provisions on funding for agricultural capital expenditures to the federal budget.

Kashin emphasized that excluding capex from budget funding could negatively impact the development of livestock farming, greenhouse farming, and other industries. He stated that the introduction of the capex clause was aimed at attracting investment in the agricultural sector, and if this process is discontinued, the development of these industries will also stall. Kashin clarified that the committee will seek to reinstate the capex clause in the budget for its second reading.

At a meeting of the State Duma's Agricultural Committee, an additional 138 billion rubles were announced for agricultural support programs, the publication reports, citing Deputy Minister of Agriculture Elena Fastova. She stated that in 2024 , 390 billion rubles will be allocated for the agricultural development program, 58 billion rubles for the comprehensive rural development program, and another 47 billion rubles for the program for developing new agricultural land.

The Ministry of Agriculture  also plans to prioritize supporting preferential lending to farmers, given the increased cost of loans due to the Central Bank's key rate hike. Maintaining the current terms of rural mortgages will require additional funding of 5 billion rubles from the budget. It is also planned to increase funding for the development of seed production and rural tourism under state programs.

During "government hour" in the State Duma, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov supported the continuation of the program for issuing preferential investment loans to the agricultural sector, TASS reports . He also announced that agricultural spending in the draft budget has increased by 9% compared to the beginning of the year.

In January, Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev stated that starting in 2024, the Ministry would only support large projects in the dairy industry with Capex funds. "We want to focus on supporting the most effective and financially sustainable projects. In our opinion, these are projects with at least 1,000 livestock spaces. Accordingly, we see that the profitability of these projects is one and a half to two times higher than that of smaller projects, and the payback period is significantly shorter," he explained. Patrushev also noted that the Ministry of Agriculture will provide support for projects with smaller livestock spaces for modernization and technical upgrades to achieve the required number of livestock spaces.

Also in July, Fastova reported that the Ministry of Agriculture, planning to combine incentive and compensatory subsidies starting in 2024 , intends to identify 12 priority areas within the combined subsidy. "Five of these areas will be 'default': untied support , livestock breeding, elite seed production, insurance , and small-scale farming. Of the remaining seven areas, regions will be required to select three for subsidy," she said.