Cereal and Oilseeds

The overwhelming number of products, consumed daily by the world population, is provided by the most important branch of agricultural production - plant growing, the foundation of which at all times was considered to be grains and oilseeds. Let's talk about these important components of the industry, achievements and prospects.

Cereals

Cereals constitute the most significant part of the total volume of agricultural products produced on a global scale. They grow by 60% of the volume of all arable land, and in some states fully occupy the sown areas. This is not surprising, since such crops are the fundamental basis for the nutrition of the population of any country, a significant part of the animal ration and the necessary raw materials, often the main one for many industries. Almost 80% of the world's grain production was taken by wheat, corn and rice. Let's talk about these plants.

Wheat

Known since ancient times, culture takes a leading position among the grain crops. Selective work on the breeding of new, more resistant varieties does not stop for an hour, due to which in different regions grown adapted to local conditions of the variety. The most productive areas for cultivating this cereal are the plains of America and Canada, the cultivated fields of Argentina, Russia, Australia, China and other countries and continents.

Rice

In terms of crop size, rice, which is the staple food for Asian residents, ranks second in the world. This culture is the main component of many industrial areas, the waste of which replenishes the feed ration of livestock. Specific technology for rice cultivation is possible only in wet tropical regions, so the geographic areas of its production are geographically determined by the southern and southeastern countries of the Asian continent. Undoubted leader in the cultivation and collection of rice - China, serious producers - Japan, Thailand, India.

Corn

Its use is traditionally: food and fodder. Mexican by origin, corn is a thermophilic plant, the cultivation of which is concentrated in places with a mild warm climate of temperate latitudes. The main areas of its production are the American plains, located to the south of the Great Lakes. The largest exporters of corn are the countries of North and South America.

Oilseeds

Oil plants are plants, from fruits or seeds of which fatty oils are obtained.

Seeds of oilseeds contain up to 60% fat and are the basis for obtaining vegetable oils, which have invaluable nutritional or technical value. They are used as food or raw materials for the production of finishing and lubricating materials, they are used in bakery, confectionery, canning, pharmaceutical, perfumery industry, in paint and varnish industry, etc.

Oilseeds include botanical species of various families: pumpkin, olive, bean, beech, pine, euphorbia, scrofula and many others. There are a lot of them, a complete list of families of these plants consists of more than 30 names. Oils produced from them, today account for 70% of the size of all the fats consumed in the world.

Progressive ideas of replacing animal fats with plant products and the relative availability of these products have significantly increased the intensity of their production and sales in recent times. Developing countries, specializing in the cultivation of oilseeds, reduce the export of oil in connection with the development of their own processing capacities and sell not raw materials but finished products.

Oil plants are plants that have valuable tonic properties - tea, lime (coffee), malt (cocoa). They are grown in very limited areas - in the tropics and subtropics, ie, the places of their production are concentrated in several southern Asian countries - Malaysia, India, etc.

Features of oilseeds production in Russia

Despite the fact that in Russia most of the territories are located in zones with a rather severe climate, and the cultivated areas are concentrated in temperate and continental latitudes (in the Volga, Siberia, the Caucasus, the Urals and the Far East) traditional agricultural industries, including the cultivation of oilseeds Plants, intensively develop. The production of agricultural products in Russia covers many crop sectors, except for cultivating exotic plants that are not adapted to domestic conditions.

Three dominant species of cereals are also known as oil-bearing crops 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 content. 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

Cultivation of these plants depends on purely territorial factors: climatic features, composition and fertility of the soil, geographical location. For example, in arid zones on dry soil maize is poorly developed, and high humidity and heavy rains prevent good wheat yields. Therefore, an important role has always been assigned to planning the amount of crops and meeting 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 oil plants is divided:

• preparation of the seedbed;

• Seeding;

• harvesting;

• Provision of storage conditions and transportation to potential buyers or processors.

Next, let's talk about growing oilseeds that occupy the main crop areas of Russia.

Sunflower

Presenting oilseeds, sunflower is a universal plant. It always has a consistently high demand in the country, since most of the vegetable oils are made from sunflower. The oil is famous for its high taste qualities, it is well purified from impurities during the production process. The scope of consumption of this product is extensive: it is in demand for food purposes, it is used in the production of paints, varnishes, fuels and lubricants, and in soap making. Wastes - cake and meal - are an excellent basis for the production of feed. Cultivate sunflower as an ornamental plant and an excellent honey plant. With the efforts of breeders, even rubber species have been introduced into the culture.
Sunflower is most productive in warm regions with fertile black earth. He needs a long vegetation, and during flowering - a fairly high air temperature (25-30 ° C) and the provision of soil moisture. The maximum yield of up to 45 centners per hectare is recognized. The most successful in growing sunflower in Russia are the Southern, Central and Volga federal districts.

Soybean

An oil crop is also from the native of East Asia - soybean. It is not so long ago cultivated in the country, but already very popular and occupies vast territories in the Far East (in the Amur Region and Khabarovsk Territory) and Chernozemye, represented by Stavropol and the Krasnodar Territory. The range of soybean cultivation is limited, as a culture of a long day, the requirements of a fairly humid and warm climate. Market analysts have argued that in the next few years soybean crops will double as a result of the huge selection work, the results of which are already today a number of zoned varieties adapted to the harsher conditions of growth.

The insignificant consumption of soy in the Russian food industry 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 on soybean basis, providing a good increase.

Rape

In a huge family called "oil crops" is rape, expanding the acreage under which has become one of the priorities of the agrarian policy of the Russian Federation. Today, rape crops have grown 1 million hectares. Rapeseed oil with high content of unsaturated fatty acids is an excellent food product. Abroad, it is preferable to sunflower, occupying a leading position in Russia, so the market for this product is guaranteed in the foreseeable future.

Rape is valuable as fodder and honey culture. The green mass and seeds of the plant go to feed animals, the diet of which is replenished and the waste from the production of oil - pumice and meal. The duration of rapeseed blossoming is 30 days, which makes it possible to use crops as a food base for bees.

We also note the phytosanitary action of this culture, its ability to store organic matter in the soil, significantly improving the structure.

Thus, oilseeds and cereals are the basis of the agricultural sector - plant growing.