Polina Shevyakova: The adopted law does not affect the supply of imported breeding material

The adopted law does not affect the supply of imported breeding material. Polina Shevyakova, a lawyer for the Association of Holstein Cattle Producers, said this in a commentary.

As previously reported by the publication, citing a Kommersant source, on January 13, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Andrei Razin held a meeting with market participants to discuss a possible problem with the import of ox semen. The issue became relevant after the amendments to the law “On livestock breeding” adopted in December 2021, which will come into force on September 1, 2022.

“The said article incorrectly describes what is happening,” Polina Shevyakova emphasized. - The adopted law does not affect the supply of imported breeding material. However, the introduction of amendments to the law "On Pedigree Livestock Husbandry" led to amendments to by-laws. And when amending the by-laws, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation previously decided to abandon such a type of breeding organizations as a breeding enterprise (regional) for the storage and sale of the seed of animal producers. This type of organization did not keep bulls, but resold semen produced in artificial insemination organizations, including similar organizations abroad.

According to the lawyer, it should be noted that today the legislation is structured in such a way that breeding of the most valuable and productive animals is supposed to be carried out by livestock breeding organizations, since they breed the most productive animals, and their activities are supported by the state.

Breeding plants and reproducers - those organizations that keep animals for breeding and sell them - are not entitled to use for breeding semen (sperm) obtained not in a livestock breeding organization.

“Now the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation plans to leave as organizations for breeding livestock only those organizations that keep bulls and were created in agreement with the department, that is, exclusively in the Russian Federation,” Polina Shevyakova emphasized. - Foreign companies in agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture of RUSSIA are not created.

According to the lawyer, the problem of this initiative is not only and not so much that the price of foreign sperm products will change. First of all, the difficulty lies in the fact that organizations that have the status of breeding plants and reproducers are not entitled to use on their livestock the seed (sperm) of animals obtained not in an organization for artificial insemination of farm animals.

Thus, as a result, these farms will move to the status of commercial farms, or refuse foreign biomaterial.

- According to our information, cost-effective farms with highly productive herds are ready to give up the status of the so-called “breeding organization”, since for such farms the dairy business is a priority. They are interested in improving the productive qualities of animals today, which, unfortunately, is still extremely difficult without foreign biomaterial. Import substitution is one of the most important strategic tasks of the state, however, the Russian Federation today is not ready to completely abandon the import of breeding material, the lawyer concluded.