Agriculture

The Altai territory is one of the biggest agricultural regions in Siberia and Russia. The part of Altai in agriculture industry of the Russian Federation is 3% and in Siberian agriculture industry – 21%.

Crop sector

The total amount of agriculture land in Altai comprises 12522 thousand hectares including 6428 thousand hectares of ploughed field, hayfield and pastures – 3731 thousand hectares. Altai farmland comprises 10609 thousand hectares.

Altai has seven climatic zones that have different agricultural conditions:

1. Kulundinskaya zone with two sub zones: West Kulundinskaya sub zone and East Kulundinskaya sub zone .

2. Prialeyskaya zone.

3. Prialeyskaya zone.

4. Biysko - Chumyshskaya zone.

5. Prisalairskaya zone.

6. Prialtayskaya zone.

7. Altaiskaya zone.

The average annual amount of precipitation changes in the zones from 150 till 650 mm and 50% of that amount during the vegetation period.

Kulundinskaya and Rubtsovsko – Aleyskaya steppe has 67% of total Altai ploughed field.

Total area of crops in Altai comprises 5,2 million hectares each year; cereal crop and leguminous plants take 3,6 million hectares.

This comprises the biggest crop land in the Russian Federation.

Spring wheat occupies 2,5 million hectares.

Oat and barley also occupy big amount of crop land.

Several farms grow soya beans and corn.

Sunflower for oil production is sown in 300 – 350 thousand hectares that comprises 87% of all sunflower crops in Siberia.

Altai is the only sugar beet producer to the east from the Urals. Sugar beat cropland comprises 20 thousand hectares each year.

Three districts of the Altai territory: Zalesovskiy, Togulskiy and Tselinnyi produce flax in the area of 7,5 thousand hectares.

22% of the crop land is occupied by feed crop that is over 1 million hectares.

Livestock sector

Livestock sector includes 9 branches: milk and meat cattle-breeding (560 farms), hog breeding (54 farms), sheep breeding (26 farms), poultry farming (egg and broiler; 29 farms), horse breeding, reindeer breeding (33 farms), animal breeding (11 farms), apiculture (198 farms), fish breeding (5 farms).