March 29, 2011. The event, which became the event of the year: the "Potato Union of Russia" was created!
Let's face it, until now, many were puzzled why in Russia, despite the presence of a strengthened potato business, there was no branch union. It is very gratifying that the desire of all participants in the potato market and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation for a conscious unification coincided, and the constituent assembly of the "Potato Union" is a clear confirmation of this.
Venue The constituent assembly was the boardroom of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, which brought together the leaders of leading producers of potatoes and vegetables, suppliers and manufacturers of agricultural machinery. In total, the meeting was attended by representatives of 14 regions of Russia.
Start is given!
Participation in the constituent assembly of the “Potato Union” of the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Elena Skrynnik gave the event a special status.
In her opening speech, Elena Borisovna emphasized the timeliness of creating such a union in the potato industry. The question has been raised for a long time. All that was missing was the “push”, the decisive factor that was precisely what happened last year: the unprecedented drought, the shortage of crops, and, of course, the low preservation of products, which caused a significant increase in imports of potatoes and vegetables.
“For the Ministry, it is very important when there is an opportunity for dialogue with industry unions. - Elena Skrynnik explains her position. - We have already felt the effectiveness of interaction with the grain, dairy and sugar unions. The Public Council under the Ministry of Agriculture is gaining strength, which organizes the work of sectoral unions. In order to make informed decisions, it is very useful for us to contact the leading producers ... Potato occupies a special place in Russia, and I am sure that the Potato Union has a great future. I believe that after the birth of the Union, it is necessary to start creating a sectoral program for the development of potato growing. "
and immediately the work “boiled”
As soon as all the bureaucratic issues were resolved, the charter was approved, the chairman and members of the board of the "Potato Union" were elected, the participants of the event decided to continue their work and discuss the most acute moments from which it is worth starting work in the "Union".
The real discussion flared up. Everyone wanted to expose those problems that had long demanded at least the attention of officials. Now it has become possible. In our brief review, we can give only some moments of heated discussion.
In general, it can be said that already from the first day of its existence, the Potato Union announced its active position in solving the problems that have piled up in the potato industry.
Well, let's see what happens next! In turn, the editorial board of the Potato System magazine congratulates all potato growers in Russia on the creation of the Potato Union and promises to tell us more about its work in the next issues.
The discussion was started by the chairman of the meeting - general Director of Malino OJSC Sergey Lupekhin (Moscow Region)who made a brief overview of the state of potato and vegetable growing in the Russian Federation.
He also did not pass by the topic of potato processing, which has long been sore for many potato growers. As one of the promising areas, Sergei Nikolaevich named the creation of polylactides - biodegradable polymers. In short, in the near future we should expect the production of chips in self-degradable starch packaging.
Andrey Samoshin, General Director of Maxim Gorky LLC (Tula Region),
spoke about the foreign experience of interaction between the state and business. The cluster approach, combining large processing enterprises and a raw material base, seemed especially interesting to everyone.
Sergey Filippov, founder of Dmitrovsky Vegetables LLC (Moscow Region), touched on the burning topic of interaction with retail chains. According to Sergey Nikolaevich, additional payments of Dmitrovsky vegetables to retail chains amounted to more than 50 million rubles a year. Thanks to the adopted law on trade, work with networks has improved markedly, but here in the future the Potato Union will be where to make its efforts.
Vladimir Molyanov, General Director of Solana-Agro-Service LLC (Samara Region), spoke about the problems of seed production. He proposed to abolish the procedure of regionalization of varieties and create 2-3 independent testing centers for research.
Gennady Ryazanov, General Director of LLC “CRIMM” (Tyumen region), spoke about the experience of his enterprise in the development of an artificial irrigation system. In his opinion, investments in the irrigation system at the usual time pay off in 3 years, in an abnormally hot payback period is 1-1,5 years.
Oleg Chichmarenko, General Director of Prikubansky Agrocomplex LLC (Krasnodar Territory), shared his experience of accelerated seed production and spoke about the technology of growing mini-tubers using phytotrons.
Evgeny Simakov, Director of the A.G. All-Russian Research Institute Lorha, stressed the need for a potato seed production program. From his point of view, it is necessary to clearly regulate the belonging to seed enterprises, as well as to clearly define their list. (Currently, work is underway to create a new Russian national standard for seed potatoes. - Ed.).
