The importance of oilseeds in increasing the sustainability of crop production in the natural and climatic conditions of the Southern Urals and Trans-Urals

Abstract

The high aridity of the climate of the Southern Urals and Beyond the Urals, where the Kurgan and Chelyabinsk regions are located, forces farmers to constantly look for ways to increase the sustainability of crop production. It is easier to tolerate drought due to their biological characteristics and thereby stabilize the production of oilseeds, while the high domestic and export demand for oilseeds contribute to the fact that in Russia the acreage of sunflower, rapeseed, soybean and oilseed flax is increasing every year. Their cultivation in combination with grain allows you to distribute the organizational load during field work more evenly over time, use technical and labor resources more efficiently, reduce the need for equipment and depreciation. The purpose of the study is to determine the importance in increasing the economic and environmental sustainability of crop production of oilseeds, the most cost-effective for cultivation in the conditions of the Southern Urals and Trans-Urals. The tasks are to analyze weather conditions, the results of variety testing at state export sites and production data on the cultivation of oilseeds in the Kurgan and Chelyabinsk regions. The methods of monographic, mathematical, statistical analysis of data from scientific literature, open statistical sources, agronomic and economic reports of agricultural enterprises were used. The scientific novelty of the research consists in studying the importance of oilseeds in increasing the sustainability of crop production in connection with changes in the natural and climatic conditions of agricultural production. The results of the study showed that high prices for oilseeds, stabilizing the incomes of enterprises, contributed to the expansion of the acreage of oilseeds. It was revealed that with the same level of costs for the cultivation of oilseeds, material resources are used more efficiently compared to grain. It was found that under the prevailing weather conditions and prices for oilseeds during the years of research, the economic stability of crop production among oilseeds was stabilized, first of all, by the most drought-resistant sunflower. The yield of grain crops in the Kurgan and Chelyabinsk regions over the past five, including acutely arid, years has tended to decrease, and sunflower – to increase and less fluctuations over the years.