October 8, 2012. ‘One of the main problems Sverdlovsk Region faces in the agro-industrial sector is the shortage of suitable storage facilities for the local farms. For one, cold storage facilities are very expensive,’ Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Agriculture & Industry Mikhail Kopytov said at a briefing.

‘The lack of cold storage facilities is particularly keenly felt in May and June of each year: this is exactly the reason why in these months, vegetables are imported in Sverdlovsk Region from the southern countries like the former Soviet republics,’ Kopytov said.

Now in the Ural Region, potatoes have been harvested off more than 12,000 hectares of land; this is nearly 80% of the target figures. The yield comes to 115 clods per hectare. According to the growers, this is a good figure, given the dry summer.

It has been forecast that at least 620,000 tons of potatoes will be harvested all in all this fall, including the potatoes harvested at private dachas. This is quite enough to fully meet the regional population’s needs.