Mayor of the Fields

Yuri Luzhkov unveiled recipes for overcoming rising food prices

Moscow authorities expect that the autumn rise in prices for basic food products in the Russian capital will not be as noticeable as in the provinces . In any case, this hope was expressed on Saturday by the mayor of the city, Yuri Luzhkov, who appeared at the ninth agro-industrial exhibition “Golden Autumn”. Recognizing that price tags have been rapidly rising lately , the mayor emphasized that “in Moscow, price increases are two times lower than in other regions,” and unveiled a program to overcome the crisis. And although Mr. Luzhkov, apparently out of modesty, did not mention his agricultural merits, it followed from his speech that the agricultural talents of the mayor, who, as is known, even registered a new technology for planting corn in central Russia, could save the capital.

In fact, the mayor himself suggested growing corn and soybeans more actively in the Moscow region and other regions. Yuri Luzhkov demonstrated his knowledge in the field of agronomy, announcing the composition of the protein in soybeans (40%) and corn (12%). The mayor cited the example of the United States, where these high-protein crops “make it possible to provide the population with milk and meat.” He called for forgetting the mistakes of Nikita Khrushchev, who tried to plant corn even in the northern regions of the country with the “party boot,” and also not to buy into the promises of those involved in genetic modification of plants. According to him, proper selection of varieties will allow corn to be grown in cool areas. It is noteworthy that agricultural holdings close to the capital’s authorities this year reported record harvests of corn planted using the “Luzhkov” technology - in special capsules that make it possible to sow even at sub-zero temperatures in April and count on a harvest in early August.

However, agricultural holdings created with Moscow money or with the active participation of the city government are also a kind of “know-how” of the mayor, which he did not forget to mention. According to Mr. Luzhkov, it is investments in agriculture that will allow the capital to get rid of many years of dependence on imports, which, according to the mayor, has become one of the main reasons for the current rise in prices for bread, milk, meat and other important products. The fact that Russia, which has 11% of the world's cultivated area, is forced to import food, “does not honor the country,” he said, calling, however, not to blame the Ministry of Agriculture for all the recent troubles. The mayor believes that the Ministry of Agriculture and agricultural producers have become hostages of the indifference of the authorities, who allowed the collapse of the agricultural industry in the 90s and opened the borders to imports.

According to the Moscow Department of Food Resources, the capital today is forced to import up to 70% of meat and 58% of dairy products. At the same time, according to the head of the department, Vladimir Kholodkov, domestic vegetables, pasta, and poultry products have practically displaced imports from the shelves. The city also receives 80% of flour from friendly agricultural holdings and capital entrepreneurs. In fact, this has made it possible to keep the rise in bread prices for the time being. As Yuri Luzhkov stated, about 70 thousand tons of grain from the city’s food reserve were supplied to flour mills at old prices. The city intends to continue to make more active use of the reserve to combat rising prices in the future, while expanding the range of products. The mayor of Moscow assured that the reserves of potatoes and vegetables accumulated for the winter allow, if necessary, to quickly saturate the market and prevent “those who like rising prices from profiting.” It seems that the mayor’s office is planning to form a “meat reserve” for the capital. “We plan to invest 46 billion rubles in pig farming, cattle, dairy and meat production in the Russian regions,” the mayor of Moscow shared his plans for agricultural investment.

Fedor SEREBRYANSKY