Potato breeding center will be built in the Tomsk region, Russia

The plans for its creation were considered by the interdepartmental commission for the implementation of investment projects in the agricultural sector under the leadership of the Deputy Governor of the Tomsk Region for agro-industrial complex and nature management Andrei Knorr.

In total, at the investment hearings, the experts studied 15 investment projects, including two new ones - on the construction of selection and seed-growing centers.

The first one will be located in the village of Nashchekovo, Shegarsky district, where Agrofirm Mezheninovskaya plans to start producing seeds of grain and oilseeds. The company will purchase reproductive seeds from research centers in Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo and Tyumen.

Elite seeds are intended for the Siberian Premier agricultural holding, which includes an agricultural firm, and other farms in the region.

Currently, all engineering and survey works have been completed, design estimates are being developed and the main equipment supplier has been identified. The investor plans to begin construction and installation work in May, the deadline for the completion of all work, including the installation of equipment, is August 2020.

The second breeding and seed center will be built in the Tomsk district. It will focus on the creation of new domestic varieties of potatoes, as well as on the development of new technologies for seed production of potatoes and biological means of its protection.

The project is implemented by the agricultural enterprises Kolpakov and Agrofirm Zorkaltsevskaya together with the Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture and Peat as part of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture in the Tomsk Region.

Upon reaching the design capacity of the center by 2025, it is expected that 1370 tons of potato seeds of domestic elite reproduction per year will be sold on the market.

More than 80,2 million rubles have already been invested in the project (including more than 29,1 million rubles from the federal budget, 1,82 from the regional budget and 49,3 million rubles from extrabudgetary sources). In 2020, scientific work is planned, as well as the construction of three modern vegetable stores and agricultural machinery.

Andrei Knorr, Vice Governor:

“The creation of seed-breeding centers is of strategic importance for the Tomsk region. The implementation of the projects will provide Tomsk farmers with quality seeds and a good basis for increasing the yield in the region.”

In total, in 2020 in the Tomsk Region 20 investment projects are being implemented with a total investment of about 8 billion rubles.