The most complete information about how the season is developing, what harvest can be expected and what prices to expect, only the market participants themselves - agricultural producers and representatives of potato processing enterprises - have. They have the floor.
Nikolay YUZEFOV, head of farm Yuzefov, Rostov region
1200 hectares for potatoes.
On the basis of the enterprise for the second year in a row the Field Day "The Second Bread of Russia" dedicated to potato cultivation has been held.
- Our farm also grows wheat (4 thousand hectares), corn (800 hectares), peas (500 hectares), onions (300 hectares) and other crops, the total land bank is 8 thousand hectares.
But we pay maximum attention to potatoes. Part of the area is allocated for chip varieties: we supply the crop to the PepsiCo plant in Azov. We produce large volumes of ware potatoes and transport them throughout Russia: we sell them to Kaliningrad, Moscow, Murmansk, Chelyabinsk. We export early varieties to Belarus. Last year we sold 54 thousand tons of products. It is too early to summarize this year.
I see no point in talking about weather conditions. It was a normal year, I would like it, maybe better, but I will not complain. The yield of potatoes this season is lower than last year's: the average indicators are 510-520 c / ha, a year earlier - 550-590 c / ha (potatoes are grown on irrigation). Harvesting continues, another 400 hectares of potatoes remain unharvested (as of August 28 - from the editorship). We plan to complete the work by the end of September.
I will say a few more words about market prices. Three years ago, our farm spent about 75-80 million rubles on the purchase of fertilizers and plant protection products. This year we paid 128 million rubles for the chemistry. (the cultivated area has not changed!), another 40 million were allocated for spare parts (which also went up very noticeably). Diesel fuel has practically not risen in price this season, but it passed this stage earlier. And the potatoes, as they were 10 rubles / kg, remained.
Sergey MARCHENKO, Development Director, Belaya Dacha Lipetsk LLC, Lipetsk region.
- The Lam Weston Belaya Dacha plant was successfully launched on August 1 after 3,5 months of downtime. During the break, the enterprise carried out a modernization of production at a cost of 650 million rubles, which made it possible to significantly increase the processing speed and improve the quality of finished products.
Now we are actively processing potatoes according to the plan and the contracted volume. In early August, for the production of fries and slices, early harvest potatoes were used, which were supplied to us by farmers of the Astrakhan Region and the Stavropol Territory, and from August 10 they switched to the main one - the Innovator potatoes are now supplied to the plant from the farms of the Central Federal District (from Lipetsk, Tula, Bryansk and Voronezh regions). The quality of raw materials "from the field" is traditionally excellent!
Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Executive Director of SSSK Ustyuzhensky Potato,
Vologda region
300 ha under potatoes
- The 2020 season had its own characteristics: there was high humidity in our region, especially in the second half of summer. I had to work actively on phytophthora. Fungicidal treatments were used, quite frequent: in a certain period they had to be carried out literally every 5-7 days. But today there are many good drugs on the market, so the situation was dealt with.
Now we have started harvesting seed potatoes. The yield in these areas is traditional, not the highest. But on marketable potatoes, we expect indicators in the range of 45-55 t / ha, depending on the variety.
Harvesting work has actually just begun (the terms have been slightly shifted, since the sowing campaign in our region was delayed by 10-14 days), we plan to complete them in early October.
Some of the seeds have already been sold (such varieties as Riviera, Evolution, Arizona), some are awaiting implementation. This year, for example, we received enough seeds of several promising domestic varieties (Krepysh, Meteor, Ariel, Flagman).
Seed potato prices are still in the same range as last year, although the final target will be set by October-November. We do not sell table potatoes yet, therefore there is no information on the cost. But I predict that the price of marketable potatoes should be good by December.
Mikhail RUBLEV, IE Head of KFH Mikhail Petrovich Rublev,
Bryansk region
100 ha under potatoes
- We completed the harvesting of grain (as of September 1 - from the editors), but we have not started digging potatoes yet (the start of work is scheduled for September 5). And in neighboring farms - if we talk about small farms - they are in no hurry to start. Therefore, I can only say roughly about the yield: I think that, on average, we will get more than 300 c / ha (judging by the test digging).
In general, the season passed without any noticeable features, everything was in the usual mode. We hope that the weather will not let you down during cleaning.
Leonid TYUDYUMOV, General Director of TAV LLC, Chuvash Republic
LLC "TAV" produces dried potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage
- Our enterprise will start its work in the very near future: the shop will open after major repairs.
We planned the repairs in advance, however, the pandemic forced us to move the approved dates, but only by a week. After the announcement of quarantine, production was stopped, the employees went on vacation.
During this period, sales of finished products continued in the usual volumes, the coronavirus did not affect the number of applications in any way. The fact is that, basically, we supply dried vegetables according to the state order, and in the spring there is always a peak in demand for such goods. This year the situation in this regard has not changed.
Also, among our customers there are enterprises that use dried vegetables as ingredients for their products. These companies also kept their purchases at the same level.
In the near future, we do not plan to reduce production volumes. Now we are actively preparing for the purchase of raw materials. Judging by the feedback from Chuvash agricultural producers, this year the yield indicators are lower than usual, many complain that the potatoes have grown small. And we are just buying a small fraction, therefore, we think that we will not have a shortage of suppliers.