Current Status

Russian Agricultural Division :: About RAD :: Current Status

As of November 1, 2009 Russian Agricultural Division controlled over 150,000 ha of land. The company envisages to increase this amount to at least 500,000 ha in the next few years.

In 2009 sowing season RAD cultivated about 40,000 ha, achieving average crop yield of 17.4 hundredweight per ha.

Committed to using only the highest quality inputs, in 2009 sowing season RAD has almost fully supplied the needs of the company farming units own primary elite and superelite seeds bank.

RAD farms have conducted significant upgrade of agricultural machinery and enlarged the fleet with modern aggregates from world-known manufacturers such as Morris, Salford, New Holland, Lemken and John Deere among others. This will serve as a basis for large-scale sustainable farming operations, bringing the project onto a breakthrough level of efficiency.

Moreover, the company has negotiated with western producers of agricultural machinery looking to establish long-term dealership relations.

In the current sowing season, RAD has started introduction of precision agriculture techniques, equipping the machinery of Altay Territory farms with GPS-devices. The first sensors were installed on the transport vehicles and tractors working alongside the sowing complexes. This allows the company agronomists to have better control over the fuel consumption and the use of seeding material, as well as efficient real-time tracking of the vehicles and aggregates.

Russian Agricultural Division implements gradual transition to mini-till and no-till cultivation methods, seeking reduction of costs and minimising environmental impact of farming operations.