In 2017, the Uralsky Potato Seed Breeding Company was established in the Sverdlovsk Region. The participants in the formation of the company were AO APK "Belorechensky" and the Ural Research Institute of Agriculture. Currently, it is one of the largest enterprises in Russia for the production and diagnosis of diseases of elite seed potatoes. One of the priority goals of its foundation is the creation of a modern selection and seed-growing center for the production and sale of high-quality potato seed material on an industrial scale, with an annual sales volume of 10 tons of elite seeds.
Since 2018, the Ural Potato project has received federal status. It is recognized as strategically important for ensuring the country's food security and was included in the state program to support Russian potato growing.
In terms of equipment and equipment, Ural Potato is one of the most modern centers today. The Potato Plant Micropropagation Laboratory is capable of producing over 100 in vitro plants per year. This is a special technology, when under sterile conditions, with optimal parameters of temperature, lighting and humidity, microplants are grown from pure cellular material taken from a bank of healthy potato varieties. An individual approach to each variety and our own laboratory for diagnosing potato diseases using real-time PCR analysis allow us to obtain seed of the highest quality.
The greenhouse complex, consisting of 8 greenhouses, makes it possible to produce more than 560000 potato minitubers annually, which, after a dormant period, are planted in specialized plots to obtain the first field generation of tubers. Each stage of the original and elite seed production in Uralsky Potato is under the strict control of the Rosselkhoztsentr and is accompanied by a PCR analysis to check for hidden bacterial and viral infections.
Today, LLC SSK Uralsky Potato is the owner of two promising varieties of the Ural selection: Terra (very early, for table use) and Alaska (mid-season, for table use). From 2023, each of them will be sold in the volume of 1000 tons in the elite category.
The varieties are included in the FNTP program for 2017-2025. According to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 15.02.2017, 76 No. 10, the production of elite categories of such varieties is subsidized from the federal budget. The company has more than XNUMX promising and popular varieties of domestic, including the Ural, and foreign breeding in various directions of use at different stages of breeding. Among the varieties produced by the enterprise, one can note such varieties as Alaska, Terra (selection of the Ural Research Institute of Agriculture), Gulliver (selection of the Federal Research Center of Potatoes named after A.G. Lorkh), Samba (selection of the TatNIISH), Innovator (selection HZPC Holland BV) and others. The organization is actively working to popularize domestic varieties and expand their geographic potential.
The team of the company consists of real professionals in plant growing and agriculture, including masters, postgraduates, candidates of agricultural sciences. All energetic, passionate, constantly developing and professional employees.
Along with production, Uralsky Potato, in close cooperation with the Ural Agrarian University, actively conducts research in the field of micropropagation, diagnosis of diseases and agroengineering technologies for potato production. Research results are published in leading scientific journals.
For three years of effective work of the seed-growing complex, it was possible to achieve all the goals outlined for this period. In 2020, despite the difficult agro-climatic conditions and restrictions associated with the pandemic, specialists have grown more than 560000 minitubers, produced and stored 200 tons of seeds of the "first field generation" category and 1750 tons of seeds of the "super-super-elite" category. After reaching the design capacity in 2021, the enterprise will produce 10000 tons of elite potato seeds per year, which will meet the needs of not only the Urals District, but also other regions of the country.