Soy production in the Russian Federation: basic trends and development prospects
In solving the global problem of deficiency of animal protein and replacing it with protein of plant origin, the leading position is given to soybean, which is a universal food, feed and industrial crop containing up to 48% of protein and up to 20% of fat, which makes it an extremely important agricultural raw material for strategic purposes. World soybean cultivation areas exceed 100 million hectares; they are cultivated in the main agricultural regions of 90 countries. World production of this crop reaches 300 million tons. Successful promotion is due to both its huge capabilities in food industry, and the agronomic and even environmental benefits compared to other crops. In recent years, sown areas of soybeans have expanded significantly in the Central region of Russia, largely due to adoption of the Targeted Sectoral Program “Development of Soybean Production and Processing in the Russian Federation for the Period of2014-2020". Currently, the soybean harvesting area in Russia has reached 2.5 million hectares. So, if in 2000 soybean production volumes amounted to 340 thousand tons, then already in 2010 they reached 1 million tons, and by the end of 2018 they exceeded 3.6 million tons. The main region for soybean production in our country remains the Far East, where 70%o of its crops are concentrated, and about 15% in the Central and Southern federal districts of the Russian Federation. The soybean yield in our country remains low and amounts to 15 dt/ha - according to this parametre, Russia is at the level of India and China, while in the countries of Central Europe, the USA, Argentina and Brazil, the soybean yield is 2-2.5 times higher Currently, the State Register of soybean varieties approved for production in Russia includes about250 varieties, of which 30% are foreign. However, the overwhelming majority of the country's soybean is of the Russian selection. Russian soybean is valued both domestically and on the world market, as it is grown from seeds that are not genetically modified.