The fact that the problem of import substitution in the agro-industrial complex is extremely urgent is evidenced by the relatively recently approved national doctrine of food security. Honored Agronomist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Sciences Yuri Loginov, Head of the Center for Breeding and Seed Growing at the Agrarian University of Northern Trans-Urals Alexander Kharalgin and Head of the Laboratory for Breeding Vegetable and Technical cultures Alexey Starykh.
In the selection of grain crops, Russia is still in a strong position. Photo: Tatyana Andreeva / WG
Endurance test
In the selection of grain crops, Russia still has a strong position, and the Tyumen region is not on the sidelines here. The region reaps a decent harvest largely thanks to its own seed base. Meanwhile, even 40 years ago, food wheat was practically not grown here. Then a group of scientists from the Tyumen Agricultural Institute and the Research Institute of the Northern Trans-Urals was tasked with creating an original variety capable of ensuring a stable harvest of high-quality grain for these latitudes. For hybridization, the famous domestic varieties “awnless-1” and “Saratovskaya-29” were used as the base varieties, which were used to sow tens of millions of hectares in the country and abroad.
- Of course, there are no ideal universal varieties. So, in "Saratov-29" the stem is rather weak, with abundant fertilization it lays down. Having a good material and technical base, we have created a lodging-resistant "Tyumen-15" in 80 years. The variety, which has obvious advantages in a number of other positions and allows harvesting up to 50-60 centners per hectare, occupied at least 40 percent of the region's grain wedge. Farmers of the Sverdlovsk and other climatically close regions willingly used it, - says Yuri Loginov.
However, with the change in the country's economic structure, those farms that periodically or chronically experience a lack of finances, the "eightieth" has already ceased to suit, since a good return from it was received only with intensive fertilization. And they are not cheap. This circumstance prompted the creation of an alternative variety - much less dependent on the amount of feeding, but providing a stable result. This is how the "Tyumen Jubilee" appeared. It is included in the state register in 2019, it will take 2-3 years for the reproduction of seeds of the "elite" category. One of the advantages of the “jubilee” is its high resistance to stem rust, a disease that increasingly affects cereals in the fields of Western Siberia.
“Thanks to the international program for improving wheat and corn varieties, we used genetic material from Russia, Kazakhstan and Mexico. The hybridization of varieties from different countries and continents allows us to achieve high performance. And in general, selection involves bold experimentation. For example, we decided in the future to use both wild spelled and the endemic of Transcaucasia - Timofeyev's wheat for crossing, - says the scientist.
According to him, today in the Tyumen region in circulation of 14 varieties of grain. There are no foreign ones among them.
One in the garden, the other in the field
As for the second bread, the picture is ambiguous with it. One of the largest potato farms in the country operates in the Tyumen region. The holding has a powerful laboratory of primary seed production for growing elite seeds, starting from the stage of test-tube plants, in partnership with Yekaterinburg scientists, it has created five regional varieties, but, as before, it cultivates mainly Dutch varieties. They do not see a substitute for them here, since they are considered unsurpassed in terms of the combination of commodity and technological characteristics: yield, disease resistance, keeping quality, "correctness" of the size and shape of the tuber. The last two qualities are very important for mechanized cleaning of fruits, they allow minimizing waste in the manufacture of semi-finished products, products of deep processing. Non-compliance with the accepted standards will lead to the loss of contracts with large companies. The vegetable seed market was taken over by transnational corporations: buyers were presented with "excellent seeds for trial", as a result, the peasants fell into a marketing trap
At the same time, the sales market for seed potatoes is huge, and we must not forget that the main producers of potatoes in our country are gardeners, peasant farms. Not many people undertake to grow a "Dutch woman". Firstly, it requires strict adherence to the rules of care, careful repeated processing, otherwise you will dig up a nose from a gulkin in the fall. Secondly, not everyone likes it. To others, for example, serve the antipode of the Dutch - crumbly, starchy.
- We are guided by the demand of the army of owners of farmsteads, dachas, small farmers. With students in canteens we tried dishes from two unpretentious varieties we received with working names "Kuznetsovsky" and "Nadezhda". They are the first fruit of the university's participation in federal and regional specialized programs for breeding competitive potato varieties. Note that withdrawing is not just getting a sample that suits the farmers, it is important to multiply the seeds, on which the process often stops, - emphasizes Alexander Kharalgin. - Those who do this, investing heavily, in accordance with the recent government decree on subsidizing the production of seed material, are compensated for 70 percent of the expenses. A logical step in the light of the national doctrine of food security. Let me remind you that it aims to ensure that at least three quarters of the seeds of cultivated crops are domestic.
Return Russian "citizenship" to carrots
As for fodder crops and vegetables, the situation in the Russian Federation is alarming: according to the Ministry of Agriculture, the dependence on imports reaches 90 percent in certain items, in general, foreign supplies in ruble terms account for half of the volumes. Carrots, onions, beets cannot be grown without foreign seeds. Is it time to shout "guard"?
- Maybe you shouldn't take the situation so painfully? It seems like a sin to complain about seeds, the suppliers are reliable. What's the danger, catch? - I ask Alexey Starykh.
- In the share of seeds in the cost of production. At first it was invisible, now it is prohibitively high - 25-40 percent. The market was captured by transnational corporations selling plant protection products. The buyers were presented with “excellent seeds for trial”. It is difficult to refuse free money. As a result, the peasants fell into a marketing trap: the price gradually increased, while at the same time the transition to imported seed led to an increase in the cost of chemical treatment, fertilization, maintenance, - explains the researcher.
The industry has almost lost the vast network of experimental stations that worked, and not without success, even in the Far North. In Salekhard, for example, the “Arctic” turnip variety was developed. Funding for vegetable seed production is insultingly meager, unattractive for investment. It, unlike grain, where volumes are large, and future export earnings serve as an additional incentive, does not guarantee solid demand and quick profits. The Agrarian University undertook - at its own peril, risk and modest funds - for the implementation of a university research program on adaptation, crossing, growing traditional and unusual vegetables for our latitudes.
- The usual Russian vegetable set includes a maximum of 7-8 species. In Japan, for comparison, there are more than one and a half hundred in the consumer market. Using the collection of the Vavilov genetic bank of seeds and other sources, we tested about 90 species of crops growing in different countries of the world. We grow them on open-air plots. The selection criteria are as follows: a variety of trace elements necessary for a person in fruits and tubers, survival rate, the possibility of minimal use of chemicals, mineral fertilizers. That is, we are following the path of development of organic farming, - Alexey Starykh reveals the essence of the work.
If you don't sow, you won't reap
The problems of breeding seed production, which my interlocutors spoke about, are not purely local - they are inherent in all regions. Both the experience and suggestions of Tyumen scientists can help colleagues in solving them.
- We have at our disposal an excellent aeroponics department that meets the modern requirements of potato breeding. However, for the most part, the special equipment of both the university and the research institute of agriculture of the Northern Trans-Urals is morally obsolete or badly worn out. It is not affordable to buy something abroad, like a pneumosorting table worth 17 thousand euros, there is no domestic analogue, - one of them formulates Alexander Kharalgin. - At the same time, try to buy what Russian factories produce, even if you enter the state support program. Mechanical engineers do not start the assembly line assembly of expensive specific equipment - they are afraid to burn out. They are ready to deliver, say, a licensed harvester at the cost of 10 million rubles in six months, but the auction rules require urgent purchase of real equipment. The way out is in the formation of a state order by the relevant ministry with a preliminary collection of applications from breeding institutions.
Alexey Starikh considers one of the main problems in the training of qualified employees:
- Without personnel and with sufficient technical equipment, you will not achieve breakthrough results. Everywhere in breeding centers, specialists are being washed out. If earlier 7-8 people worked on one culture, now there may be four times less of them. There is not a single university in the country that trains professional breeders. It remains to rely on the enthusiasm of students studying in the specialty "general selection" on the enthusiasm of colleagues. Only you won't last long on it, - he states.