Russia’s grain belt region at risk for wildfires

May 21, 2013

Hot and dry weather is expected to persist in Russia’s agricultural regions, which may prompt wildfires in the coming days. The Federal Hydrometeorological Centre said that the Southern District faces a very high possibility of wildfires, while Central and Volga Districts are under watch as temperatures are expected to rise.

Russia is the world’s third-largest grain exporter and the Southern District is the country’s grain belt, which accounted for 40% of the wheat crop in 2012. Experts have said that a lack of rain will likely cut spring grain yields, but if the weather persists for a long period of time it could also cut yields of winter grains. In 2010, wildfires in the region cut a third of the country’s feed crop harvest.

Russia’s wheat export prices have fallen in the past week – ahead of its new crop expected for next month. Grain farmers are hoping for a good harvest this year after many lost about a quarter of last year’s crop due to drought in late May and early June of 2012.

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Border View Farms is a mid-sized family farm that sits on the Ohio-Michigan border. My name is Nathan. I make and edit all of the videos posted here. I farm with my dad, Mark and uncle, Phil. We also have a part-time employee, Brock. My dad started the farm in 1980. Since then we have grown the operation from just a couple hundred acres to over 3,000. Watch my 500th video for a history of our farm I filmed with my dad.

I started making these videos in the fall of 2019 as a way to help show what I do on a daily basis as a farmer. Agriculture is different from any other industry and I believe the more people that are showing their small piece of agriculture, helps to build our story. We face unique challenges and stressful situations but have some of the most rewarding payoffs in the end. I get to spend everyday doing what I love, raising my kids on the farm, and trying to push our farm to be better every year. I hope that I can address questions or concerns that you might have about farms and agriculture.