Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 04, 2022 7:28 pm
I wonder what the effect of all this on growing crops in Russia might be this coming summer.
I mean, if the ruble has lost 95% of its value, can the farmers buy seeds?
Can they buy fuel for the tractors?
Can anyone
buy the crops, even if they manage to grow them?
Maybe the agrarian economy can survive without cash in the 21st century. I'm going to have to see that, though.
Foggy,
here is a somewhat recent report on Russian agriculture from the 'Merican Gubmint, courtesy USDA:
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/ap ... 9-2018.pdf
This only lists major food items, like grain, poultry, eggs, dairy, meat, sugar beets, vegetable oil.
(Did you know that Cargill and Pepsi are mentioned as major players in Russia's large-scale agricultural endeavors? It is right there in the report. Maybe it is time to drink Dr Pepper, boycott Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, and shun the monolithic Cargill's products in our every day lives. Cargill is immense.) But I digress.
According to the interwebs, Pepsi is a major industrial potato and raw milk processor in Russia. Cargill trades in grain, oilseeds, poultry and animal feed. They also have massive plants for chemical conversion of plant materials into derivatives like starches, syrups, and stabilizers.
Anyhoo, the farmers, regardless of size, probably don't have to buy seeds. They can collect seeds from harvest and reserve them for next year's crop. Grains like wheat, barley, rye, oats, and millet grow true to variety each and every time. Corn, no, but I really don't think that corn is a biggie in Russia. Potatoes can be grown for seed (not real seeds, but potatoes are grown from the eyes you see that are on the tuber. Just cut them up and stick into the ground.) Poultry, eggs, swine, beef, and dairy all have AI programs to inseminate the breeding females to sustain the population for harvest.
The report goes on to say that the majority (53%) of agriculture in Russia is large-scale, commercial endeavors. This is followed by individually-owned farms generally less that a section in size. Bringing up the rear is the mom-and-pop truck farm for personal use and occasional forays into the local marketplace.
Whether export embargoes will put a sizable dent into their ag is beyond my knowledge. But I do believe that there will be enough to feed the population--even if it is bare-bones and lacking variety. While a lot of the processing that Cargill does might cease temporarily if there is no money or market for those products, potatoes, dairy, grain, and animals can all be consumed with minimal additional work.
It should be noted that in the agricultural world, commodities that are grown on massive scales are the ones that get the most publicity and the most money. If the crop is traded on commodity exchanges, then that commodity is going to be analyzed and researched. Everything else we eat or wear (food and fiber) is considered a
specialty crop. Tree fruit, vegetables, melons and squash, herbs, spices, and the like, while important, typically do not receive the same amount of attention. These foods are generally more perishable, and require more money for proper storage and shipment. I don't know how extensively these food crops are grown in Russia. My guess is that not much outside the very southern latitudes and locally if microclimates are suitable. At one time Russia was a pretty significant importer from the ole US of A of table grapes, raisins, prunes(!), walnuts, and almonds.
We went for a ride,
Breaking
