Putin’s Day was decorated with a turkey – MK

Expensive beef found a replacement

While Russia does not celebrate Thanksgiving like the United States, Vladimir Putin on Monday showed interest in growing turkey, which is known to be the holiday’s gastronomic symbol. As the president was explained, turkey meat is not inferior in quality to beef, but at the same time it is noticeably cheaper. Therefore, according to poultry farmers, the government needs to ensure large-scale public procurement of this product for schoolchildren, the army and reserves. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev, confirmed that beef consumption in the country has decreased this year, but this, according to him, is a global trend.

The announced launch of a breeding center for the reproduction of turkeys in the Tyumen region, in which the president was supposed to take part via video link, by the time of the broadcast was transformed into a larger-scale “event on breeding and genetics.”

Vladimir Putin said that today the whole country (namely, the whole country, he stressed) is dealing with issues that “we consider absolutely priority”, but now is not the time to go into details. “Today we will deal only with issues of a sectoral nature. At the same time, they are extremely important for the economy and for increasing our sovereignty in such an important area as the agro-industrial complex,” he specified.

The GDP noted that Russia already ensures its food security in terms of grain, sugar, vegetable oil and fish products. And now it is actively working to increase the production of its own vegetables, fruits and milk. As far as meat is concerned, according to his estimates, the successes are significant: in addition to satisfying domestic needs, Russian livestock and poultry farmers export products to 110 countries of the world.

Only pork, as the owners of the pig-breeding complex told the president, is supplied with about 2 million tons. This volume could be increased by another 500,000 tons and earn $1 billion for the country. But China’s intractability is getting in the way. Negotiations with Beijing have been going on for years, but no significant progress has been made on this issue, pig farmers complained to Putin about a strategic ally. The Chinese refer to African swine fever (ASF), which Russian pigs can allegedly pick up. But at the same time, they are quietly signing a regionalization agreement with France, which guarantees that the export of French pork to China will not stop even in the event of an ASF outbreak in that country. “We also need to sign such an agreement,” the farmers told Putin. “We will work calmly, rhythmically, I am sure that we will come to an agreement,” the president reassured.

Dmitry Patrushev was broadcasting from the turkey breeding center, which became the headliner of the entire event. (Chicks scurrying between the feeders could be seen through the large windows behind the minister.) He said that agriculture is a unique industry that does not need parallel imports at all. More products are exported abroad than supplied from abroad. This year, according to Patrushev, the production of cereals, pasta and sugar has increased. But the production of cattle meat decreased by 300 thousand tons per year. “We are concerned about this situation and will support manufacturers with a new subsidy. But this is a reflection of the global trend – there is a shift in consumption from beef to more affordable chicken and pork,” Patrushev explained.

The owners of the breeding center said that it will work at full capacity in the summer of 2023. But already now you can press the symbolic button and start production. The button that was shown to Putin looked like an egg yolk, and, apparently, this was not accidental – the complex will specialize in the production of hatching eggs needed to increase the number of turkeys. The Tyumen reproducer will produce 12 million of these eggs, which will bring the total volume to 34 million. “This will completely cover the needs of Russia,” the producers assured. They told the president how to painlessly compensate for the decline in meat production and consumption in the country. To do this, instead of beef, you need to switch to turkey. “We would ask you to include turkey meat in all types of public procurement. In terms of quality, it is not inferior to beef, and in terms of price it will be cheaper for the budget,” the poultry farmers explained.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28916 dated November 22, 2022

Newspaper headline:
Expensive beef will find a replacement