June 10, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region-based agricultural enterprises completed their summer crop sowing campaign, the local Agriculture & Food Ministry's press service reports.

All the jobs were completed in time and in full. This year's summer crop cultivation area was 489,000 hectares (compared with 535,000 hectares a year earlier), including 377,000 hectares of grain crops, 18,000 hectares of corn, over 17,000 hectares of rape, and 17,000 hectares of potatoes and other vegetables. The rest was used for sowing annual grass and perennials.

'Despite the challenging weather conditions we had to face at the start of the sowing campaign, the local agricultural producers managed to meet the best agronomic deadlines all in all. The campaign's final results were comparable with those we had last year, that is, very close to the year's average. However, everything was done faster. What the farmers really need right now is plenty of rain,' Sverdlovsk Region Agriculture & Food Minister Mikhail Kopytov says.

This year, cultivation area (including that used for autumn sowing and the perennials left over from the previous years) will amount to 810,000 hectares in Sverdlovsk Region, including 397,600 hectares of grains and beans, 48,100 hectares of annual grass, 9,200 hectares of achlamydeous perennials, and 17,400 hectares of potatoes and field vegetables. In 2013, the figure was 840,000 hectares altogether. The cultivation area for potatoes and field vegetables was 16,800 hectares.