In 2018 in the Russian Federation sown area of maize was 3.7 million hectares. The share of silage corn traditionally represents about 30% of the total area, and some regions specializiruetsya on the cultivation of only that segment of the corn. The acreage of silage corn are stable and remain at the same level. Maize grain accounts for 70% of the total cultivated area in Russia. This is due to the economic benefits of the grain corn, but this direction is more exposed to risks, especially in recent years. Chart 1 shows the changes in acreage over the last three years by type of crop use.

Figure 1. The acreage of corn by type of use of the crop in thousands of hectares.

In 2018, compared with the previous year there was a reduction of acreage by 18% and this affected primarily the grain corn. The cultivation of corn silage is stable. The decline has been the main corn regions of the Northern Caucasus, Central black earth and Central regions. In more detail the change in acreage by regions is presented in graph 2.

Figure 2. The change in acreage of corn in Russia by regions, in thousand ha.

The distribution of acreage between domestic and imported hybrids of corn is about 50/50 but there is a small shift towards imported hybrids. So in 2016 the share of foreign selection was 57% of the total cultivated area under maize, and last year 55%.

When treatments of corn seeds of foreign agronomists spend more on average on 30%. In 2018 the average cost of one hectare of imported hybrids amounted to 1570 R/GA, the domestic hybrids - 1140 p/ha.

The average cost to farmers to protect corn increased by 20% in 2018 compared to the previous year. Basic processing of corn have on the 3-6 leaf stage (figure 3), which is in may and June. Major purchases of pesticides farmers make in February, March and April.

Chart 3. Area single treatment of maize in stages, in thousands of hectares.

Farmers choose different pesticides company, crop protection corn. Major domestic companies — it's August and Schyolkovo Agrochim, among foreign companies can mark Bayer, Syngenta and BASF. The main criterion for farmers when selecting the means of protection of corn crops is the efficiency of the used pesticides.

Ludmila Gerasimova, senior project Manager at AMIS, Russia and Belarus, Kleffmann Groups

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