The secret of cheap potatoes: what vegetables should be stored for the winter

Even in early spring, when our ruble was either falling heavily or being squeezed out, it seemed to many that there would be a complete ambush with the harvest in the fall. Against the backdrop of sanctions, seeds, fertilizers, plant protection products have risen in price significantly. I didn’t even want to think about the autumn retail prices in the store in general and about the borscht set in particular. But here it is, autumn. And for vegetables – a real price fall! However, do not rush to rejoice …

Recall that exactly a year ago, vegetable inflation, compared to 2020, was measured in triple digits. So, in October, prices for potatoes rose by 147%, onions – by 110%, carrots – by 130%. But the record was set by white cabbage, which grew by 186% in a year!

Whether it’s the current season. Which, by the way, has been giving deflation instead of the usual inflation for more than one month. Potatoes in supermarkets, according to the action, are 11-15 rubles a kilogram, the same onion – 18 rubles, carrots – 11, cabbage – 12 rubles. As they say, it’s cheaper only for free …

Of course, during the period of mass harvesting vegetables always become cheaper, but a year ago they rose in price and very actively. What has changed over these 12 months in the domestic agro-industrial complex? Milky rivers with jelly banks definitely did not appear!

This year’s “second bread” harvest was not bad, but not a record one, slightly more than last year’s level. According to a survey of the Potato Union in the regions, only 13.2% of the territories reported a significant increase in tubers production. Approximately 40% reported that it is slightly higher than last year. Particularly distinguished themselves in the Astrakhan, Ryazan, Kaluga, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod regions. A third of the subjects admitted that their gross harvest will remain the same as in 2021. Only 21% of respondents have pessimistic assessments, and 5.3% even assess the current result as very low. Potato growers of the Yaroslavl region and Udmurtia were noted in a strong shortage.

As for the quality of tubers, the situation is as follows. Farmers from the Ryazan and Novosibirsk regions (those who received a high yield) and the Volgograd region set themselves a “two”. “One” in 5.3% of respondents, including the Yaroslavl region and Udmurtia. Here, as we see, neither quality nor quantity. And only 13% of the regions are sure that the quality of their tubers fully complies with the strict requirements of retail chains.

In general, potatoes are and will be, but it is not necessary to talk about its overproduction, and even more so about its high quality. Why such a discount in prices? After all, the sowing campaign this year cost farmers about twice as much as in 2021. Seeds, plant protection products, spare parts for agricultural machinery increased from 50 to 100 percent due to the imposed economic sanctions. And in retail trade prices, on the contrary, are much lower than a year ago.

This suggests the simplest assumption that retail chains have received a certain “setting” from above, and sell vegetables without a trade margin. After all, the situation in the economy is not very stable and it is not in the interests of the authorities to give an extra reason for the alarm of citizens.

But there are no miracles in the world, and no one will voluntarily-compulsorily refuse their margin. Most small producers (namely, they provide 65% of all potatoes) do not have storage facilities. And they sell root crops to dealers directly from the field in order to get at least something for them. After all, in the heaps, the tubers will rot in a month and no one will buy them. With the cost of potato production of 10 rubles per kilogram, intermediaries buy from them for 6-7 rubles, that is, farmers are forced to trade at a loss. In this situation, many peasants will not plant vegetables next year. If they don’t go bankrupt at all: there will be nothing to return the loans taken from the bank for the sowing campaign. ..

The situation repeats itself like a swinging pendulum. Last year there were shortages with cabbage, in retail it cost up to 80 rubles per kilogram. This spring, everyone who could, rushed to grow cabbage. Believing that she will break the price record again. And during overproduction, it fell in price to 12 rubles.

This example clearly shows that we have moved away from Soviet planning methods, not in words, but in deeds. As a result, no one knows how much and what kind of crops need to be planted for the needs of the domestic market.

Maybe this is real capitalism – without any five-year plans in three years, when the owner is not dominated by economic dogmas in the form of planning and forecasting. It’s just a pity that with such freedom of action, we often don’t know what we’ll reap in the end. Maybe a reduction in jobs and production volumes.

The question that matters is: does it make sense with the current price fall to stock up for the winter? The farmers themselves say that it would be useful. Now is the time to buy, in two weeks the frosts will begin. In Moscow, for example, they sell good potatoes for storage – 18 rubles per kilo, straight from the car. Not at all the same as in retail chains. From Kursk, Belgorod, Tambov – cool, succulent, which we prefer. The tubers from the field are therefore so cheap. When agricultural holdings, which have everything in order with warehouses, begin to store crops for storage, at the end of October-beginning of November, prices will go up. Experts predict that by the New Year a kilogram will cost at least 40 rubles.