In Irkutsk, Valery Falkov, Head of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, held a working meeting with Kirill Golokhvast, Director of the Siberian Federal Scientific Centre of Agro-BioTechnologies (SFSCA RAS). The Minister was presented with plans for the development of the Irkutsk Research Institute of Agriculture. In June 2023, it became a branch of the SFSCA RAS, the country's largest agricultural center.
Scientific research of the Irkutsk Research Institute of Agriculture is focused on the development of modern farming systems and new generation agro-technologies, development of new competitive domestic varieties and hybrids of agricultural crops.
Today the total land area of the Irkutsk Research Institute of Agriculture exceeds 26 thousand hectares, 14.2 thousand of which are arable land, and over 4.6 thousand are hayfields and pastures.
The Irkutsk Research Institute's development program is designed for the next 5 years, the required indicators will be achieved by:
· construction of a milk processing plant with a capacity of 5 tons per shift in cooperation with the Government of the Irkutsk Region: planned financing of 37 million rubles;
· participation in the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for Agricultural Development "Improvement of Genetic Potential of Cattle": 20 million rubles were allocated for the state task;
· participation in the federal project "Agrarian science - a step into the future development of agro-biotechnology": 25 mln rubles were allocated to the branch;
· renewal of the fleet of specialized agricultural machinery: in 2023 alone, 31 units of agricultural machinery were purchased for more than 148 million rubles under the Russian Ministry of Education and Science's agricultural machinery fleet renewal program.
The branch is tasked to significantly increase the share of the varieties and hybrids developed by the Institute's scientists in the total crops of the Irkutsk Oblast in the coming years.