4th Agricultural Forum : Volga and the Caspian littoral grain

At the IV annual forum “Volga and Caspian grains 2015” was adopted the principles of sustainable development of agro-industrial complex

17 August in Saratov was held the IV annual agricultural forum “Volga and Caspian grains”, in which has participated more than 200 companies from Saratov and other regions. The Forum was organized by the Ministry of agriculture of the region of Saratov  and the company Rusmet with the support of Saratov state agrarian University. N. I. Vavilov.

 The delegation to  the forum was composed  by representatives of leading CHP and agro-holdings, banks and leasing companies, suppliers of agricultural machinery and equipment, scientists and reputable experts of the agricultural industry.

At the official opening of the forum participants warmly welcomed the Minister of agriculture of Saratov region Kravtsev Tatiana and the CEO of Rusmet Victor Kovshevny.

Starting the first expert discussion, Tatiana summarized the sowing campaign in the region and provided forecasts of harvest in 2015. In General, the work is carried out on an area of 1 million 360 thousand ha, which is 49% of the total volume of the planned works. Sugar beet is seeded completely (area of crops amounted to 7.9 thousand ha), sunflower — at 37% of the area of the planned amount. The planned rate of harvest of grain this year - about 4 million tons, of sunflower seeds - 1 million tons.

 Viktor Viktorovich told about the history of the forum, the outcome of the event from previous years and the significance of this event in the development of country's agriculture. He noted that the annual holding of the forum on the Saratov earth was not accidental and is a bright tradition of agriculture in the Volga and Caspian regions.

The agro-industrial complex of the Saratov region accounts for 20% of the gross regional product, including about 15% – on agriculture. The volume of gross output of agriculture in the region is among top ten regions of Russia and the three leaders of the Volga Federal district.

 The business program continued on  expert’s overview of global and domestic markets of grains and oilseeds, presented by  Chapaevym Vitaly Anatolievich, General Director of the company Agrostar.

 One of the topical issues was the evaluation of grain quality. The problem revealed in detail by Meleshkina Elena Pavlovna, Director of "all-Russian research Institute of grain and  processing products " (VNIIS).

 For the first time in the history of the Forum, in the topics  was included a detailed review of the sugar market in Russia. The achievements and trends has been presented by LOMANOV Alexey Yuryevich, Deputy Chairman of the Union of sugar producers of Russia "Soyuzsahar", General Director of "Sugar".

Closing the first plenary session, Arsent'ev Denis Aleksandrovich, President of the Association of roadside service and tourism in his speech  has demonstrated the project of forming a network of multi-functional complexes (IFC) suggested in the concept of the Federal state program. Using European experience, it was proposed to develop in the region the IFC for the use of roadside service market which objective is to increase sales of farm products.

 The program continued with the official part of the agricultural forum - the award Ceremony "Leaders of industry".The Deputy Minister of agriculture of Saratov region Ondrova Svetlana Aleksandrovna has welcomed the nominees and participants with congratulatory speech. The awards were presented by the Minister of agriculture of Saratov region Kravtsev Tatiana.

 In the nomination "Golden heritage and family succession in agriculture" the winners  have become the company of FSUE "Solianskoe" from Pugachev district and  the Head of PFO Chains E. V. Balakovo district.

 Leader in gross cereal production is OJSC "MTS "Ershovskaya".

Saratov plant of bread products" was distinguished  as "the Leader of grain-processing enterprises". And the head of SP Kulagin V.P. Balakovo’s District -"For the effective application in the production of resource-saving technologies" .

The best in the category "Reliable supplier in the social sphere" became JSC "Sokur-63". The winner of the  title of "Leader in the transportation and logistics of the grain" became  the company "Rusagrotrans" (Saratov branch).

The awarding ceremony of special awards, dedicated to the leaders of the sugar industry, took LOMANOV Alexey, who is honored  the winner on behalf of the Union of sugar producers of Russia "Soyuzsahar".

In honor of the delegates and winners of the Ceremony was given a concert by the famous musical group "Crystal Balalaika".

 After the break, the busy agenda  continued with three thematic activities:

- second plenary session;

- round table "the results of the implementation of the pilot project on approbation of measures to support domestic producers and processors of agricultural products in the framework of the "green basket"  of the WTO and further development of internal mechanisms of food aid";

- meeting of the Ministry of agriculture with the chiefs of districts of the Saratov’s region.

  At the plenary session   the report of the Director of PKF Mayak Iron Lyubov Dmitrievna rouse a lively interest about the substitution of a range of legumes and their products, as well as  the supply of high protein products to retailers.

 The Deputy Director of the Saratov regional branch of Russian agricultural Bank Shmelev Alexei Petrovich received a large number of questions and resposes on the result of his performance. Alexey Petrovich presented a detailed presentation on financial services in the field of agriculture.

 The participants also discussed the issues of modern farming systems in the arid Volga region. The lecturer was Victor Narushev Bisengalievich, Professor of the Saratov state agricultural UNIVERSITY. I. N. Vavilova.

 The innovative methods of plant protection was reported by Yakushev, Boris Serafimovich, leading agronomist of the branch of the agricultural centre of the Saratov region.

 The seed market was reported by Lugovsky Mikhail Alekseevich, associate Professor, principal agronomist in seed Department on science, implementation, and information consulting provision of the branch of the agricultural centre in the Saratov region.
 
Effective methods to increase the rentability of agriculture in short term, is proposed by Kharchenko Alexander H., General Director of NPO Biocenter DON, Head of agricultural technology,  in the National technology chamber.

 About features of cultivation of wheat in conditions of extreme farming,the participants learned from the interesting presentations of the technical expert of the company Syngenta Alexandrov Alexey Evgenyevich.

 On the issue of the Forum on open voting by the majority of participants has adopted by open voting system  a resolution, which reflected the main conclusions of the event and decisions on the development of the industry.

 The main message of the Forum to the public opinion, to the industry and members of the government is that Russia is a country of natural, intellectual and human resources. So they need to be protected. The slogan of the forum "let's Save the Russian breadbasket!"

 Today Russia is subject to external standards of production and consumption. It is relied on to meet today's demand, not thinking about future generations: destroying land, polluted water, more and more space on the market is filled by genetically modified foods.

The Saratov region is Russia's leader  making  responsible approach to agriculture and real support to agricultural producers.The Forum "Volga and Caspian grains" is an event of national scale, there are ideas that are important for the future of the agricultural sector.

 Agriculture is a sector of the economy, the stability of which which stability depends on 4 components: commodity capital, financial capital, manufacturing capital, human capital.

 All manufacturers in the world regardless of the industry today are faced with the problem of lending. The key problem is the conflict between production and financial capital. Farmers were no exception. Extreme shortages of working capital, heavy debts of the past years lead to the impossibility of the existence of small peasant farmers and large agricultural companies. It is urgent to ensure the provision of interest-free loans in amounts sufficient to solve the problems of the village. To do this, Russia needs its own rating system, to launch investment projects in agriculture, according to the national interest

A special place is devoted to industry education. It is necessary to create new educational standards, in cooperation with the Ministry of education and science of the Russian Federation, to determine for agrarian educational institutions of the higher professional education-SPO-NGOs (higher, secondary and primary professional education) the list of required professions and qualification requirements for professions from employers to farmers. This requires the creation of sectorial associations of agricultural producers of the Saratov region, based on the principles of self-regulatory organization (SRO). The new organization will form their requests, as the public education system, and to develop standards from preparation and seed selection to processing  of the harvest, including its storage and further implementation.

This requires a new approach to natural resource management and agriculture based on the principles of sustainability. The forum welcomes and encourages the expansion of the state system of measures to support the village, such as the State program "Sustainable development of rural territories for 2014-2017 and for the period till 2020", government grants for beginning farmers and for families who is engaged in farming from generation to generation. The forum particularly supports private agrobusiness, annually putting into operation apartments  for their new employees.

The Russian village will provide future joint efforts. On the basis of the reports and expert opinions expressed at the forum, decided within two months to develop new program to support agricultural producers of the Saratov region for the period up to 2030-2050 and to create additional regional subsidiary program within the framework of existing state programs.