Vegetable and potato growing in Altai Territory

An overview of the state of vegetable and potato growing in the Altai Territory is presented. The dynamics of consumption of vegetable and melon crops in 2016-2020 in Russia has increased, however, the supply of vegetables to the Altai region population not only lags behind the all-Russian indicator, but has been significantly decreasing since 2019. The situation with potato consumption in a comparative assessment looks different. The supply of potatoes to the population of the Altai Territory is higher than in Russia as a whole, but since 2017 there has also been a reduction in consumption. The area of potato planting in 2018-2021 decreased in all categories of farms. Factors hindering the development of the potato market in the Altai Territory are the instability of the sales market, the lack of sufficient storage capacity and, as a result, the volatility of products. According to many producers, the development of local potato processing could change the situation. But today in the Altai Territory there are virtually no enterprises focused on deep processing of potatoes. According to the types of farms, there is a kind of specialization. enterprises and peasant farms grow mainly crops that allow mechanizing basic technological operations that have a high level of consumption and are suitable for long-term storage in fresh form. The population grows a more complete range of vegetable crops, in relation to the natural and climatic conditions of the region. Industrial production of greenhouse vegetables in the Altai Territory is concentrated mainly in a single greenhouse plant and leaves about 70% of gross production. The share of the population accounts for up to 30%. The import of onions and garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables (pepper, eggplant, green crops) remains consistently high. The current situation can be corrected by expanding the production of own vegetables or increasing the volume of imports of vegetable and melon crops. In the Altai Territory, subsidies are provided to support agricultural producers, including peasant farms and individual entrepreneurs engaged in the production of potatoes or vegetables in the open ground.

Key words: vegetable growing, potato growing, areas, yield, dynamics, import.