The vast majority of products consumed daily by the global population is provided by the most important branch of agricultural production - crop production, the foundation of which at all times was considered to be grain and oilseeds.
Let's talk about these important components of the industry, achievements and prospects.
Cereal crops
Cereals make up the most significant part in the entire volume of agricultural products produced on a global scale. They grow by 60% of all arable land, and in some states they completely occupy sown areas. This is not surprising, since such cultures are the fundamental basis for the nutrition of the population of any country, a significant part of the animal diet and the necessary raw materials, often the main one for many industries. Almost 80% of the world's grain production was occupied by wheat, corn and rice. Let's talk about these plants.
Wheat
Known since ancient times, culture occupies a leading position among cereals. Breeding work to develop new, more resistant varieties does not stop for an hour, so that varieties adapted to local conditions are grown in different regions.
The most productive areas for the cultivation of this cereal are the plains of America and Canada, the cultivated arable lands of Argentina, Russia, Australia, China and other countries and continents.
Rice
Rice, which is the main food product for residents of Asian countries, ranks second in the world in the size of crops. This culture is the main component of many industrial areas, the waste of which replenishes the livestock feed diet.
A specific technology for rice cultivation is possible only in humid tropics, therefore, the southern and southeastern countries of the Asian continent are geographically determined by the areas of its production. The undisputed leader in the cultivation and harvesting of rice is China, and serious producers are Japan, Thailand, and India.
Corn
Its use is traditional: food product and forage crop. Mexican by birth, corn is a thermophilic plant, the cultivation of which is concentrated in places with a mild, warm climate in temperate latitudes.
The main areas of its production are the American plains located south of the Great Lakes. The largest exporters of corn recognized the countries of North and South America.
Oilseeds
Oilseeds are plants from whose fruits or seeds fatty oils are obtained .
Oilseeds contain up to 60% fat and are the basis for obtaining vegetable oils of invaluable nutritional or technical value. They are used as food or raw materials for the production of finishing and lubricants, used in the baking, confectionery, canning, pharmaceutical, perfumery industries, in the paint and varnish industry, etc.
Oil crops include botanical species of various families: pumpkin, olive, bean, beech, pine, euphorbiaceae, cinnamon, and many others. There are a lot of them, a complete list of the families of these plants consists of more than 30 items. Oils produced from them today account for 70% of the size of all fats consumed in the world.
The progressive ideas of replacing animal fats with plant fats and the relative availability of these products have significantly increased the intensity of their production and sale recently. Developing countries specializing in the cultivation of oilseeds reduce export supplies of oils in connection with the development of their own processing facilities and sell finished products rather than raw materials.
Oil crops are plants with valuable tonic properties - tea, madder (coffee), malva (cocoa). They are grown in very limited territories - in the tropics and subtropics, i.e., their production places are concentrated in several southern Asian countries - Malaysia, India, etc.
Features of oilseed production in Russia
Despite the fact that in Russia most of the territories are located in zones with a rather harsh climate, and sown areas are concentrated in temperate and continental latitudes (in the Volga region, Siberia, the Caucasus, the Urals and the Far East), traditional agricultural sectors, including oilseed cultivation plants are developing rapidly. Agricultural production in Russia covers many plant growing sectors, except for the cultivation of exotic plants that are not adapted to domestic conditions.
The three dominant types of cereals are also known as oilseeds of Russia - sunflower, soybean, rape. Their crops occupy almost 4 million hectares and they are cultivated to produce vegetable oil and flour with a high protein component. Oils are used in cooking, flour - as part of the diet of animals.
Factors affecting the cultivation of crops and the stages of their production
The cultivation of these plants depends on purely territorial factors: climatic characteristics, soil composition and fertility, and geographical location. For example, in arid zones on dry soil, corn is poorly developed, and high humidity and heavy rains prevent good wheat crops. Therefore, an important role has always been given to planning the volume of crops and the compliance of the requirements of certain plants with the climate of the region.
There are 4 stages into which the whole process of production of grain and oilseeds is divided:
• preparation of the seed bed;
• sowing;
• harvesting;
• ensuring storage conditions and transportation to potential buyers or processors.
Next, let's talk about the cultivation of oilseeds, which occupy the main cultivated areas of Russia.
Sunflower
Sunflower representing oilseeds is a universal plant. There is always a steadily high demand for it in the country, since the bulk of vegetable oils are made from sunflower. The oil is famous for its high taste, in the production process it is well cleared of impurities. The scope of consumption of this product is extensive: it is in demand for food purposes, it is used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, fuels and lubricants, and soap making. Waste - cake and meal - are an excellent basis for the production of feed.
Sunflower is cultivated as an ornamental plant and an excellent honey plant. Through the efforts of breeders, even rubber-bearing species have been bred into the culture.
Sunflower is most productive in warm areas with fertile chernozems. He needs a long growing season, and during flowering - a sufficiently high air temperature (25-30 ° C) and the availability of soil moisture. The maximum yield is recognized up to 45 centners per hectare. The most successful in growing sunflower in Russia are the Southern, Central and Volga Federal Districts.
Soybean
Oilseeds are also a native of East Asia - soy. It is cultivated in the country not so long ago, but it is already very popular and occupies vast territories in the Far East (in the Amur Region and Khabarovsk Territory) and the Black Earth region represented by Stavropol and Krasnodar Territory. The area of soybean cultivation as a long day crop is limited by the requirements of a sufficiently humid and warm climate. Market analysts have argued that in the next few years, soybean crops will double as a result of enormous selection work, the results of which are already a number of zoned varieties adapted to more severe growing conditions.
The insignificant consumption of soybeans in the food industry of Russia compensates for the constant increase in demand for it as an exported product willingly bought abroad. In addition, since the beginning of the century, there has been a sharp increase in the consumption of animal feed based on soy, providing a good increase.
Rape
A huge family called "oilseeds" includes rapeseed, the expansion of sown areas under which has become one of the priorities of the agricultural policy of the Russian Federation. Today, rapeseed is 1 million hectares. High unsaturated fatty acid rapeseed oil is an excellent food product. Abroad, it is preferable to sunflower, which occupies a leading position in Russia, so the market for this product is guaranteed in the foreseeable future.
Rapeseed is valuable as a fodder and honey plant. The green mass and seeds of the plant go to animal feed, the diet of which is replenished with waste from the production of oil - cake and meal. The duration of rapeseed bloom is 30 days, which allows the use of crops as a food base for bees.
We also note the phytosanitary effect of this culture, its ability to accumulate organic matter in the soil, significantly improving the structure.
Thus, oilseeds and cereal plants are the basis of the agricultural industry - crop production.