Last year was a record year for agricultural production in the Vologda region

First Deputy Acting Governor of the region Yuri Umerenko spoke about this at the government hour held as part of the 32nd session.

“2023 was a record year in terms of agricultural production in absolute numbers – 48.7 billion rubles. Food production amounted to 67.4 billion rubles and also tends to grow. Last year was a record year for the production of grain, potatoes, flax fiber and feed procurement. There is a slight drawdown in vegetables and rapeseeds, but here we need to take into account adjustments for agroclimatic conditions and market price conditions,” – said Yuri Umerenko.

In 2023, about 298 million rubles were allocated for updating equipment on farms. At the initiative of Acting Governor Georgy Filimonov, an additional 240 million rubles were allocated. Thanks to this, it was possible to update more than 400 units of equipment.

“As for the main indicators for livestock farming, there is a decrease in the number of cattle by 1.5 thousand heads. This happened due to the bankruptcy of a number of agricultural organizations. There are also problems with the decline in poultry numbers, which is associated with the outbreak of the bird flu epidemic. Now we have already begun to restore the livestock. We plan to reach maximum capacity in October – November of this year,” — explained the First Deputy Acting Governor.

Last year, the agricultural sector was distinguished by an increase in investment in the construction of new facilities. Almost seven thousand new livestock places were put into operation. Another important area is the introduction of agricultural land into circulation. If last year about five thousand hectares were put into circulation, then this year we plan to introduce about 10 thousand hectares.

An important topic of discussion was the issue of milk processing. As parliamentarians noted, a fairly large volume of raw milk is currently exported to other regions. To reverse this trend, according to the ZSO deputies, it is necessary to develop the region’s processing industry.

Another question concerned the implementation of the Vologda Hectare program. According to Yuri Umerenko, the program is currently ineffective. Basically, plots are taken in order to cut down the forest that has grown on them under the guise of carrying out cultural and technical reclamation.

“We plan to use the experience of the Moscow region, where plots are provided for free use for six years with the right to purchase after five years, subject to the criteria for land development. But in the Vologda region, due to climatic conditions, I would propose as a criterion the introduction of land into circulation and the declaration of the types of crops that will be used, as well as the inclusion in the contract for the provision of a plot of a condition on the possibility of controlling the use of land,” – said Yuri Umerenko.

Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Vologda Region, head of the United Russia faction Andrei Lutsenko emphasized that the development of the agricultural sector is of utmost importance for the region: “Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly noted the strategic importance of this area, because it is the agricultural sector that ensures food security for both the country as a whole and individual regions. Currently, we see a number of problems in the production of agricultural products in the Vologda region, but these issues are already being studied. For our part, we are ready to discuss and work on all the identified issues.”.