EkoNiva Group, the largest dairy holding in Russia, has started reaping cereals in Altai area and Novosibirsk oblast. Favourable weather conditions and the degree of crop ripeness allowed combines to get down to business in the fields as early as in late July, so the harvesting campaign started ahead of schedule. So far, 1,100 ha of winter wheat and 250 ha of peas have been gathered.

‘In spite of scarce rainfall in April and May, the prospects for the wheat crop are still bright – we’re anticipating the yield capacity to exceed 4 t/ha on average. In Altai, the first amounts of the harvest topped 4.9 t/ha. We have ambitious plans for cereals and it’s clearly evident that the crop output meets the set goals’, comments Sergey Lyakhov, EkoNiva’s Regional Director for Siberian region.

In total, the farmers expect to gather more than 36,000 tonnes of winter wheat, 2,500 tonnes of which are supposed to be saved as an in-house reserve and 1,000 tonnes will be reaped for seeds. The rest of the amount is going to be allocated for commercial sale.

The overall area seeded with cereals, peas, lentils, soya beans and rapeseed in Siberian and Altai enterprises of the Group surpasses 93,000 ha. Notably, in 2022, EkoNiva-Altai sowed oilseed flax for the first time having allocated 600 ha for this crop.