The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation allocated 32 million rubles for the creation on the basis of the Yaroslavl State Agricultural Academy of the Federal Center for the Competence of Organic Agriculture.
The department of the agro-industrial complex and the consumer market of the Yaroslavl region said that the funds will go to laboratory equipment for conducting product quality research, as well as to equipping training, production and demonstration sites.
- Organic agriculture is one of the priority directions in the development of the agro-industrial complex of the region, - explained the Deputy Prime Minister of the region Valery Kholodov. - Today the Yaroslavl Region is the leader and the largest producer of organic agricultural products. The region's share in the total Russian production of organic meat and meat products, milk and dairy products is more than 30 percent. The opening of the center will make it possible to make a qualitative leap in the spread of organic agriculture both in our region and in the Russian Federation as a whole.
In the Yaroslavl region, 12 percent of Russian lands certified for the production of organic products are located. In addition, Yaroslavl experts in this field were the initiators and participated in the development of the corresponding federal law. And the agricultural academy is called the driver of the processes of development of organic agriculture in the region in the sectoral department.
In 2018, she even became part of the Union of Organic Agriculture Association. Her training programs at all levels of training include disciplines in the production, processing and certification of organic agricultural products. In addition, the university has established an exchange of information with German experts in this field as part of a cooperation project of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Federal Republic of Germany “German-Russian Agrarian and Political Dialogue”.
Organic agriculture disciplines have already been introduced in all training courses of the Yaroslavl Agricultural Academy
The center will solve the problems of training, consulting and providing organizational and methodological assistance to agricultural producers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which will expand their knowledge about the technology of organic production, said in the regional department of the agro-industrial complex.
According to the rector of the Yaroslavl State Agricultural Academy Svetlana Gusar, the opening of the competence center is planned for 2021. Now the equipment is being purchased and the premises allocated for it are being put in order.
- We have a large, good complex and a three-storey building in the village of Mikhailovsky, Yaroslavl District, and it is on this base that we will deploy training and demonstration sites. There are also our sown areas in the village: in Mikhailovsky itself - three hectares and next to it - another 60. Our main goal is to study not only organic farming, but also the entire process of organic production, including processing, to create the final consumer product. That is, it is not easy to show: we have grown organic wheat or corn, but that we fed a cow with them, received organic milk, processed it and, for example, made cheese. Again, using only environmentally friendly and with improved qualities. That is, we want to show a closed cycle of organic production.
A cheese dairy and a bakery complex have already been opened in Mikhailovsky - as the first result of negotiations on the "organic" topic of the Governor of the Yaroslavl Region Dmitry Mironov with the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Dmitry Patrushev.
According to the rector of YSAA, the university, apart from a good material base, which “just needs to be modernized and developed,” as well as serious methodological developments, has the most important thing that allowed it to go down this path - specialists.
- Academic disciplines on organic agriculture have already been introduced into all training courses - bachelor's, master's, postgraduate, additional education. We have courses on "organic" from 16 to 700 hours, depending on the needs of the students, - explains Svetlana Gusar.
Today, according to the rector, the university is moving towards the opening of a center of competence, which will be its structural unit, with leaps and bounds. And already at this stage, the Academy not only teaches its students the principles of organic farming, but also is engaged in continuing education for specialists from many regions of Russia.
The regional department of the agro-industrial complex and the consumer market said that in the near future it is planned to sign an agreement on cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, the government of the Yaroslavl Region and the National Union of Producers and Consumers of Organic Products, as well as a joint action program aimed at developing organic agriculture in the Russian Federation.
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In the Yaroslavl region there are six enterprises producing organic agricultural products. At sites located in the Uglich region, in accordance with the requirements of GOST 33980-2016 “Organic products. Rules for production, processing, labeling and sale "in 2019, 273 tons of organic meat products and 776,5 tons of dairy products were produced.
Organic products of Yaroslavl producers are delivered to more than 500 retail outlets in Moscow, Yaroslavl and Moscow regions.
Text: Elina Trukhanova (Yaroslavl)