The plenary session of the Golden Autumn 2022 agricultural exhibition was dedicated to food security in Russia and the world over.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin

“Demand for agricultural products and food in Russia is rising every year. Sanctions from unfriendly countries or other challenges are not an obstacle for the agricultural sector today. From expanding the product range to new high-tech plants - all this is now in our regions. From training professionals for to meet farm needs to building state-of-the-art infrastructure for rural areas. These successes are a credit to people working in the agricultural and food industries”.

Opening the plenary session, Mikhail Mishustin highlighted the export successes of the oil and fat industry. Thanks to Russian agribusiness, our country will end this year having achieved most of the key indicators of the Food Security Doctrine, including vegetable oils.

However, full realisation of the potential of local agriculture requires a comprehensive approach and the participation of the government, science and business.

EFKO CEO Evgeny Lyashenko shared his perspective on the most sought-after areas in agribusiness.

A key source of such information at EFKO is the Fuel for Growth corporate venture fund.

“Over the past two years, global venture capital investment in biotechnology has surpassed $8 billion. That is twice as much as in the previous ten years," Evgeny Lyashenko explained. "The most popular areas among the world's leading investors are fundamentally new food ingredients: pre- and probiotics, specialised enzymes, sweeteners, personalised nutrition, which considers food as medicine, as well as microbiological fertilisers".

A separate challenge for agribusiness is the need to keep up with new knowledge and technologies.

“With the current rate of progress, even the boldest fantasies can turn out conservative 5-7 years down the line,” Evgeny Lyashenko warns.

This demands a consistent approach to working with universities and established research schools.

At EFKO, this is done with the participation of three science and technology councils and the company's Biryuch Innovation Centre.

EFKO CEO Evgeny Lyashenko

“Another obvious challenge today is occupational prestige. Unfortunately, in this regard, we are still losing to the banking sector or IT, for example. We have to change the perception of a job in agriculture among young people. What will agriculture of the future look like?

We believe the future belongs to automated systems, drones, digital technologies, genetics and biotechnology. And this means work will increasingly shift from physical to intellectual.

It is primarily business that should set trends and predict new niches through active participation in creating new curricular programmes and improving the living standards of workers in the agribusiness industry”.