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Dairy industry of Vologda Region: centuries-old traditions and modern approach
28.11.2018 08:57
The 2nd Russian Dairy Industry Forum “Vologda-Dairy Capital of Russia” will be held in Vologda on November 30-December 1. The Vologda Oblast is one of the most well-known Russian producers of dairy products where the continuity of the old cultural traditions has been kept up by close and continuous ties of successive generations.
The 1st Dairy Industry Forum held in Vologda in October 2017 was visited by more than 500 participants from 15 Russian regions and 5 foreign countries. Representatives of the RF Ministry of Agriculture, Russian experts of agribusiness and dairy industry, leading scientists, farmers, as well as foreign guests from the Republic of Belarus, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and China came to Vologda to participate in the forum.
Vologda was chosen as a venue of the Forum for a number of reasons. The leading branch of agriculture in the Vologda Region is dairy farming. Farmers of the Vologda area are amongst the most productive in Russia. They supply the essential foodstuffs for the region; they feed other parts of Russia as well.
Due to historical conditions and convenient geographical location (the region is situated in the vicinity of consumption markets of Moscow and St.Petersburg), dairy farming is the primary commodity sector in agricultural production of the Vologda Oblast.
Over the last 200 years the Vologda Oblast has evidently become a major centre for dairy farming. It boasts the Vologda Dairy Academy, creameries, a research institute and numerous livestock breeding farms. Here prominent dairy experts take important and innovative initiatives and work hard to create the institutional framework of the Vologda butter production and trade.
Every region has its claim to fame, but there's none sweeter than Vologda's position as Russia's butter capital. Vologda's history is also the story of many exceptional men and women. This is the case also with the Vologda butter trade that was built up from scratch and rapidly turned into a flourishing industry of huge dimensions, involving thousands of peasants, local and foreign merchants.
Nikolai Vereshchagin (1839-1907, born in Cherepovets, Vologda Region), the then most influential Russian dairy expert, is considered the founder of modern Russian dairy farming. He had a talent for organizing that enriched the Russian language with the notion of "Vologda Butter."
At present the agroindustrial complex of the Vologda Region is also on the increase. In 2017 it showed one of the highest indicators for milk yield (436,1 ths tons). The region ranks high in milk production in agricultural organizations - it takes the 4th place per capita and 12th place in gross milk yield.
In 2017 the average for milk production in the Vologda Region is approximately 6914 kg per cow. It is planned that milk production at the end of 2018 will exceed 7000 kg per cow.
The Vologda Region is one of the few Russian regions that supplies about 80% of high-grade and first-grade milk to enterprises. It is among region-leaders of production efficiency level in the dairy industry of the Russian federation.
Today a number of investment projects concerning construction and modernization of milk processing facilities are being implemented in the Vologda region.
Some farms of the Vologda Oblast changed over from a milking parlour to automatic milking. For the first time ever in Russia a milking robot was installed on a dairy farm in the Vologda Oblast in 2007. Automatic milking is a serious alternative for a traditional milking parlour. A successful use of automatic milking depends largely on the farm conditions and the management skills of farmers. There is a tendency to increase the number of farms milking with an automatic milking system throughout the Oblast.
New milking technology reduces the labour input during milking, resulting in a higher output per man-hour. It also leads to big changes for both farmers and cows. With automatic milking, the milking process does not require permanent supervision. Automatic milking places emphasis on the cow's motivation to visit the AM-system to be milked more or less voluntarily.
Numerous kinds of dairy products from Vologda are delivered to 60 Russian regions. They are presented to Russia's key agricultural buyers at such exhibitions as the Russian Agricultural Exhibition Golden Autumn (Moscow) and an international exhibition - fair AGRORUS (St. Petersburg) that traditionally cover all aspects of agricultural industry.
The Dairy Industry Forum in the Vologda Region will be a well-reputed venue to discuss the most relevant issues related to the milk products market, business and dairy industry as a whole.