September 29, 2014. This year, four new refrigerator hangars will be commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region, and new refrigerating equipment will also be launched at four agricultural enterprises, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports.

‘Storing locally produced vegetables through the start of next year’s yield will allow us to avoid potato and vegetable shortage, not to depend on suppliers from other locations, and, most importantly, to control food prices. Vegetable cellars fit for 8,000,000 kg of foods were commissioned last year, and this year, there appeared more cellars with storage capacity of 6,000,000 kg. Four agricultural enterprises will be reimbursed for 50% of their refrigerator equipment costs with the help of the local budget’s funds,’ said Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Food & Agriculture Mikhail Kopytov.

According to Petr Kuznetsov, who runs a farm in Bogdanovichsky District, the new equipment is fully automated, with temperature settings adjusted by a robot depending on specific needs. It costs up to 20m RUR to equip one storage facility with refrigerators.

‘30% to 40% of our vegetables used to go bad during storage because of unsuitable temperature conditions. The manufacturers of the new equipment we have installed guarantee that up to 95% of all the harvested vegetables will be safely stored until next spring. The benefits are obvious, and we are even planning in planting more vegetables next year,’ Kuznetsov said.