Farming in Russia

Russian crop growing is a much more challenging occupation than it is here in the UK. In the UK, the weather is by and large quite condusive to crop production. Rainfall ranges between 30 and 50 inches per year, which is good for a crop of wheat to maximise it’s potential. In Russia however the main wheat growing areas are where the rainfall is less than half of that. With the long cold winters there are only small windows of opportunity to prepare the large fields for both spring or winter cereals.

The machinery therfore needs to be large to “get over” the acreages involved. Large machinery is of course expensive and so has to last a long time. This is very evident in the crop growing areas of the country, where most of the “kit” is very ancient.

However, there seems to be some money creeping in from the West of Europe from large farming operations who are confident of their farming abilities in such extreme climates. The tractor in the photo is one such example. It is a 400 horsepower Cat Challenger pulling an 8 metre cultivator preparing an over wintered field for a spring cereal crop.With any luck the late spingtime rains will be sufficient to see the crop through to a state of maturity before the extreme hot conditions of the summer take their toll.