EkoNiva Group, Russia's largest dairy holding, has announced the completion of spring field works. With winter crops and perennial grasses, pastures and meadows, the total cultivated area to be harvested in 2024 exceeded 480,000 hectares.

The Group allocated over 130,000 hectares for cereals, more than 81,000 hectares for pulses and groats, upwards of 27,800 hectares for oilseeds and about 8,500 hectares for sugar beets. In addition, fodder crops will occupy over 195,000 hectares, exclusive of meadows and pastures.

EkoNiva's milking herd keeps growing – by the end of the first quarter of 2024, it totalled 246,400, including about 114,500 dairy cows (Q1 2023: 233,400, of which 112,700 were dairy cows). The Group strives to provide its herd with quality nutritious feed to the fullest extent.

‘This year’s changeable weather has affected the progress of the sowing campaign. In some regions, the timing was extended due to rainfall, while in others, the areas damaged by frosts had to be reseeded. However, having enterprises in different climatic zones is rather a benefit as it allows us to be less dependent on the vagaries of the weather in this or that area. Otherwise, the spring works went smoothly’, says Aleksandr Anpilov, Crop Production Director of EkoNiva Group.

The holding's specialists further employ precision farming technologies in their activities. As in previous years, they opt for variable-rate seeding and fertiliser application, which means using different amounts of fertiliser for each area of the field. Besides, new experiments on mineral nutrition of plants were set up in many regions. Their results will be analysed at the end of the 2024 harvesting campaign.