Officials at the meeting discussed the progress in implementing an agricultural programme to support family-owned dairy farms, support for Russian seed breeding and the overall development of Russian agriculture.

"As a whole, prices in the dairy market have been stable this year. Procurement prices for unprocessed milk averaged 11.5 roubles, which is a good level. This is 23% higher than during the same period last year," the first deputy prime minister said, opening the meeting.

Viktor Zubkov stressed that an agreement between the National Union of Milk Producers and regional milk processing facilities on minimum prices for unprocessed milk had played a significant role in stabilising the situation in the dairy market. "More than 3,500 agricultural manufacturers and some 180 processing facilities in 45 regions have already joined it," the deputy prime minister said.
Viktor Zubkov emphasised that the government had taken a series of additional measures to support the country's dairy industry, such as amending technical regulations for milk production to improve the economic conditions for developing daily farming (e.g. by improving quality standards for unprocessed milk), protecting consumers (by limiting vegetable fat in milk products to 50%) and introducing additional customs regulations for certain dairy products (milk, cheese, butter).

"Combined with overall government support for livestock, dairy husbandry and programmes to modernise farming, these measures will lead to a healthy economic situation for dairy farming," Viktor Zubkov stressed.

"Since early 2010 milk production has increased by 2% for all agricultural enterprises and 7% for family farmers," the deputy prime minister reported. "This trend in farming shows that the programme to support family-owned dairy farms has been successful overall. In 2009, 52 family-owned dairy farms, four dairy plants and two sales and supply cooperatives were launched."

The first deputy prime minister also highlighted regional authorities' support for the programme, which included assistance in securing land rights, providing access to infrastructure and providing trading floors.

"We need to intensify these efforts in 2010 and continue them in subsequent years," the deputy prime minister concluded.
Viktor Zubkov also emphasised the importance of improving Russian seed breeding "in light of the adverse weather conditions prevailing in several regions of the country." "Both a package of measures and a relevant programme must provide agricultural producers with available seeds capable of withstanding difficult weather conditions."

Mr Zubkov also reminded that the Russian government had provided financial assistance for this objective: "In the first three years since this government programme was launched, the government has spent more than 1.6 billion roubles of federal funds for its support. We have continued the trend this year with allocations of 472 million roubles. The registry of selectively bred plants includes about 12,000 varieties. There are 42 selective breeding centres."

"Better seed breeding is a guarantee of large harvests, the competitiveness of Russian grain, and subsequent economic stability of agricultural producers," concluded the first deputy prime minister.