Agriculture of Russia

This article begins a cycle on Russian agriculture, which will go on to a series of articles on agricultural crops, their productivity, as well as regions with the best indicators for growing crops. Agriculture in Russia is a large sector of the Russian economy, in Russia's GDP it is about 5%. The share of employed in agriculture is about 8% of the population of Russia. The volume of agricultural production in Russia in 2019 amounted to about $ 120 billion. The leading industry in Russia is crop production, which accounts for 55% of agricultural production, the share of livestock production is 45%. Russia is a major exporter of agricultural products in the world. Russia takes the 1st place among the countries of the world in wheat export. The total volume of export of food and agricultural raw materials from Russia reached its highest value in 2018-2019 and amounted to more than 28 billion US dollars. In Russia, there are 10% of all arable land in the world. Most of the sown area is used for grain and leguminous crops (60% in 2019), including 35% for wheat, 10% for barley, 5% for oats, and 3% for corn. The rest is fodder crops (21%), industrial crops (16%), potatoes and vegetable and melon crops (4%).

The main crops produced in Russia in 2019:

Cereals - gross harvest in 2019 - 135 million tons, 4th place in the world, including wheat - 70 million tons, sugar beets - 48 million tons, 1st place in the world, sunflower - 11 million tons, 2- e place in the world, soybeans - 3.5 million tons, potatoes - 33 million tons, third place in the world, vegetables - 16 million tons.

The main types of livestock products produced in Russia in 2019:

Meat produced 12 million tons, 4th place in the world, beef - almost 2 million tons, pork - 3.5 million tons, poultry meat - 5 million tons, milk - 32 million tons, eggs - 45 billion pieces, wool - 60,000 tons, honey - 72,000 tons.

In 2019, the largest share in the structure of food exports from Russia was wheat - 30% of the total volume of food exports. This is followed by frozen fish - 13%, sunflower oil - 10% and corn - 6%.

The main food-importing countries from Russia (according to data for 2019):

China (12%), Turkey (10%), Egypt (9%), South Korea (8%), Kazakhstan (7%).

The volume of exports of food products and agricultural raw materials in 2019 amounted to 28 billion US dollars.

The structure of agricultural production in Russia by federal districts (according to data for 2019):

Central Federal District - 26%
Volga Federal District - 23%
Southern Federal District - 17%
Siberian Federal District - 12%
North Caucasus Federal District - 8%
North-West Federal District - 5%
Far Eastern Federal District - 3%

Among the subjects of the federation, the leaders in agricultural production are the Krasnodar Territory, Rostov Region and Belgorod Region.

When starting an agricultural business in Russia, foreign entrepreneurs often make mistakes, let's analyze the main ones:

1. In Russia, wheat production is the most liquid business, but this does not mean that having less than 400 hectares, this business will become profitable for you.

2. Many foreign citizens coming from Asian countries can underestimate the cultivation of forage grasses on the territory of Russia, which give very good yields, and become profitable even with a land plot of 250 hectares in such areas as Yaroslavl, Tver and Ivanovo regions.

3. Many foreign farmers may not fully understand why, for example, German, French, English or Italian farmers form their business strategy for milk production and achieve very great success. The main success in milk production is the correct selection of land in the high humidity zone. The second important success is the processing of milk into sour cream, cottage cheese, and even better into cheese.