Mikhail Mishustin supported the Ministry of Agriculture’s ideas on systemic progress in the agricultural sector

The government, as follows from statements made at the annual agricultural exhibition “Golden Autumn,” is satisfied with the state of affairs in the agro-industrial complex and is refocusing on its systemic strategic support. As Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at the plenary session, the new goal is to make the sector more “knowledge-intensive and technologically advanced.” In parallel, however, a number of measures have been taken to promptly regulate what is happening in the industry. Thus, in the face of declining grain prices, the Ministry of Agriculture, as its head Dmitry Patrushev said on Thursday, is ready to support profitability with additional financing and grain purchases to the state fund.

This year, the theme of the plenary session of the agricultural exhibition “Golden Autumn” was formulated unusually for this inherently strategic event: “Investing in the future: a modern view of agricultural education.” In previous years, participants were invited to discuss more mundane problems: from dependence on imported seeds, equipment and machinery to the desire to increase the overall profitability of the sector (see, for example, “Kommersant” dated October 6, 2022). Now, when the industry is demonstrating steady growth in both output and exports, participants were able to abandon the traditional discussion of local problems for the sake of systemic ones.

After the usual brief report on the successes of the agricultural sector, head of government Mikhail Mishustin, speaking at the plenary session, actually formulated a plan for its further development: “This sector requires the introduction of innovative solutions. It must become more knowledge-intensive and technologically advanced to remain as effective.” We are talking, in particular, about strengthening the scientific base of the agro-industrial complex, developing selection and genetics, training specialists in “smart” field processing, genetic engineering and robotics.

The new strategy for the development of the industry assumes the preservation of programs for its systemic support – integrated development of rural areas, etc., focused on the qualitative improvement of life in rural areas. From 2025, additional “infrastructural” support will be deployed in the most promising, according to the authorities, support settlements: a draft resolution on this has been published on regulation.gov.ru. This mechanism of government, as follows from the discussions, is considered one of the main ways to attract qualified specialists to villages.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev, expanded on the prime minister’s speech, recalling that the agro-industrial complex industry, despite external restrictions, is demonstrating steady growth: agricultural exports have reached $33 billion since the beginning of the year, which is higher than a year earlier. Against this background, “investing in yourself” in relation to the agro-industrial complex looks profitable: the ministry increased the forecast for the grain harvest in 2023 from 130 million tons to 135 million tons, and the overstocking of the domestic market with grain against this background and, as a consequence, a decrease in prices for it (more details) see “Kommersant” on September 18) were discussed on Thursday as a technical problem for which there are operational tools. Thus, an additional 10 billion rubles will be allocated to the sector. to support grain producers, said Mr. Patrushev. He also mentioned another mechanism to support this market – purchasing interventions: according to him, by the end of the year the authorities expect to purchase up to 2 million tons of grain into the state fund.

Let us remind you that when prices sharply decline, the authorities remove “surplus” products from the market, purchasing them for the intervention fund. At the same time, although purchases have not been carried out since 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture has used mentions of them several times over the past year to adjust market sentiment. However, the minister’s Thursday statement was distinguished from previous ones by the context: in conditions of high exports and export potential, the promise to expand interventions did not look like an emergency measure or an attempt to influence the market, but as a routine adjustment to the profitability of the sector, the architecture of which the authorities were satisfied with.

Kristina Borovikova