More than 1.5 million hectares will have to be cultivated by Stavropol farmers this spring: it is planned to carry out early spring nitrogen fertilization on such an area of winter crops. Preparations for seasonal work have already started in the region: farmers are accumulating the necessary material and technical resources, purchasing mineral fertilizers.
According to Elena Tambovtseva, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Stavropol Territory, the need of agricultural producers for mineral fertilizers for spring field work is estimated at about 337 thousand tons.
“According to the monitoring results, a plan was drawn up for the purchase of mineral fertilizers by agricultural producers in the first half of this year,” said Elena Tambovtseva.
The focus of the regional agrarian department and the state of winter crops. According to the ministry, overwintering after the cessation of the growing season of winter crops generally took place under favorable weather conditions.
– Of the more than 1.9 million hectares of winter crops sown (without rapeseed), 99% sprouted, which is higher than last year. The highest percentage of good crops is noted in Izobilnensky, Novoselitsky, Budyonnovsky districts. Winter rapeseed for the harvest of 2023 was sown on 97.1 thousand hectares, 98% sprouted, the state of the crop is assessed mainly as good and satisfactory, – said the Minister of Agriculture of the Stavropol Territory Sergey Izmalkov.
The situation in the fields is also monitored by experts from PhosAgro-Region, the largest Russian distribution network of mineral fertilizers, which is represented in the region by the regional company PhosAgro-Stavropol.
The agronomic service of the company annually lays experiments with the use of various mineral nutrition schemes in the Stavropol Territory. They help to determine the most effective methods for working with fertilizers. In the conditions of the region, among the options for early spring top dressing, an increase in yield of 7-10% ensures the introduction of ammonium nitrate on frozen and thawed soil or snow cover up to 5 cm high. The norms of nitrogen fertilizers also depend on the content of productive moisture in a meter layer: from 60 mm it is necessary to apply no more 30 kg a.i. according to the recalculation of the planned yield. With a reserve of productive moisture of more than 130 mm, the norms of mineral fertilizers can be significantly increased.
The new PhosAgro-Stavropol service, which is based on integrated monitoring of soil fertility with GPS-reference, helps to determine the exact dosages of fertilizers and plan the most effective strategy for mineral nutrition. With its help, experts make recommendations on the use of fertilizers and the adjustment of mineral nutrition schemes. Last year, the company covered twice as much space with the new service as in the previous period.
Nikolai Aivazov, chief agronomist of Proletarskaya Volya, Predgorny District, spoke about how Stavropol farmers are preparing to enter the field. He plans the first top dressing with saltpeter at the end of February at a dosage of 150 kg / ha. The second – in 15-20 days, the same dosage.
We have been working on this technology for a long time. With the help of PhosAgro-Stavropol, we receive fertilizers on time. Since autumn, the planned volume of ammophos NP 12:52 – 100 kg / ha has been introduced for winter crops, the state of crops is now not bad. We regularly conduct agrochemical surveys, monitor the content of nutrients in the soil, and maintain the level of fertility. This is important for stable harvests,” Nikolai Aivazov noted.
Farmers can share their experience and discuss the situation in the fields before the start of seasonal work at industry seminars. One of the first such events will take place on January 27 at the PhosAgro-Stavropol distribution center in Zelenokumsk. At the seminar, farmers will receive recommendations on spring field work and the most effective methods of mineral dressing that are relevant this season.
— Conducting seminars has already become a tradition for Stavropol farmers. We are glad that this is happening on our site, and there is a valuable experience that we are ready to share with agricultural producers. The experiments that we annually lay in different natural and climatic zones of the region, including jointly with the Stavropol State Agrarian University, allow us to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of various mineral nutrition systems, the prospects for switching to liquid fertilizers in arid conditions,” said Andrey Tikhonov, director of PhosAgro-Stavropol .
He also said that by the start of spring field work, the distribution centers of PhosAgro-Stavropol in Svetlograd and Zelenokumsk have the necessary volumes of nitrogen group fertilizers, including ammonium nitrate, urea and UAN, as well as a wide range of phosphate and complex mineral fertilizers, in including those enriched with sulfur, boron and zinc, for spring spring sowing.
Full version on the website Stavropol farmers are preparing to feed winter crops
