Summer is drawing to a close, harvesting of early varieties of potatoes has begun in most regions of Russia, and it is possible to sum up the first results of a not very simple season, distinguished by droughts and sweltering heat in Siberia and the Urals, heavy rains in the southern regions and severe frosts in the second half of June, affecting half the country. However, Dmitry Belov, the head of the marketing department of the August company, who was asked by the editors of the Potato System magazine to talk about the features of the year, is convinced that most of the difficulties that Russian agricultural producers constantly face when growing potatoes are not caused by weather factors.
“The main problem of the industry so far is lack of quality seeds on the market,” he notes, “through seed tubers, in particular, there is a spread of bacterial infections, the issue with which is very acute in Russia today.” Under these conditions, according to the expert, farmers should take the most responsible approach to choosing a supplier of seed potatoes, ideally visiting the fields where the material is grown, participating in digging and be sure to send the tubers from the batch selected for purchase for analysis, trusting the results of only proven laboratories. .
A serious attitude to the choice of seeds is good insurance against another well-known misfortune - tuberous (stem) nematode. According to the observations of Dmitry Belov, this pest is now widespread in all the main potato regions of the country - both in the North-Western region, and in the Central Black Earth region, and in part of the Volga region. As the expert emphasizes, if the contamination of the land did occur, the agricultural producer will have to spend years to resolve the issue. “The chemical means of combating the nematode in the arsenal of farmers help to obtain relatively intact potatoes, but practically do not affect the pest population,” comments Dmitry Belov, “and sowing on infected areas of green manure (mustard, rapeseed, etc.), even carried out according to all the rules , is ineffective in the short term. According to the expert, new nematocides with the effect of reducing the population will contribute to the reduction in the number of nematodes (both tuberous and cyst-forming) in the soil, but so far they are only preparing to enter the market. In addition, experience is accumulating in the use of biological preparations based on strains of predatory fungi, which is also worth paying attention to and monitoring the results achieved in cooperation with specialists in this field.
A significant problem for Russian potato growers remains anthracnose. According to the head of the marketing department of the "August" company, today there are no preparations in the country that, when treated, can solve this problem with sufficient efficiency. But agricultural producers can prevent its onset using prevention methods, which, in addition to the treatment of tubers during planting, also include treatment for vegetation with preparations of the triazole and strobilurin groups.
This season caused some damage to potato growers and fitoftoroz (while we are talking about the southern regions: some farms growing early potatoes made deviations from protection programs and lost crops).
In the regions of central Russia, the Urals and Siberia, heavy rains occurred in July, but the expert suggests at this stage to consider this fact rather as a positive one. “Potatoes are a crop that is totally under-watered in Russia,” Dmitry Belov is sure, “some varieties react normally to this, but often this leads to losses.” From the point of view of a specialist, even hurricane rainfall that fell in the Omsk region, most likely, will not cause any complications - "if there is no destruction of the ridges and heavy lodging of tops."
In general, if agricultural producers manage to meet the deadlines for routine processing (which is almost guaranteed to be done by farms using the technical track in their work), the expert predicts, the situation will remain under control. Although the full picture of late blight in the country will be clear closer to autumn.
In a separate line, Dmitry Belov highlights blight - a disease, the launch of which is provoked by stress (drought, frost, impaired mineral nutrition, etc.). According to the expert, for a long time the fight against alternariosis in our country was not given due attention, but meanwhile it is harmful for a number of regions. The head of the marketing department of the August company urges owners of farms at risk to include specialized preparations in potato protection schemes (the most effective are those based on triazoles and strobilurins), not relying only on complex measures.
The positive characteristics of the current season include the full provision of agricultural producers with a full range of plant protection products. The market offers a wide range of both foreign and domestic drugs. “There were problems with the logistics of individual protective equipment, they were solved quite difficult, but quickly, without a shortage,” Dmitry Belov shares information, “plus, Russian companies, due to a certain strategy and the current situation, paid attention to low-income crops such as potatoes, and registration of specialized drugs, as well as their production, increased domestically. It can be said with confidence that there are practically no irreplaceable positions (objectively, in terms of ensuring food security, protection against pathogens, pests and weeds).
But the situation with prices for plant protection products, including domestic brands, becomes less optimistic for farmers by mid-July than at the beginning of the season. “The active ingredients of the drugs are produced outside our country, and the economy of these enterprises is determined by fluctuations in the world market,” the expert explains, “at the beginning of this year, prices for drugs were reduced compared to last season. The reason for this is a certain “overstocking” at Chinese factories caused by overproduction before the Beijing Olympics and a temporary drop in demand during the pandemic. Now demand has returned to its previous level, and in addition, the ruble exchange rate has noticeably dipped, so the cost of drugs in price lists is already being adjusted.”
It is impossible to predict how much the purchase of plant protection products for the new season will cost. So far, there are no preconditions for price reduction.