In spite of a number of objective factors hampering the development of agriculture (such as being zone of risk agriculture, high urbanization level in the region, etc.) the agro-industrial complex takes an important stand in the economic structure of the Chelyabinsk region -- its share in the Gross Regional Product has been 6%.
The greater part of agricultural production falls on crop raising (55.6% in 2005), mainly on corn growing. In 2005 corn production was 1473.6 thousand metric tons a year (in weight after reprocessing), meat -- 182.7 thousand metric tons (in live weight), milk -- 531.0 thousand metric tons, eggs -- 1210.5 mln. Chelyabinsk region has a big fund of forage lands -- more than 500 thousand ha of hay-fields and more than 1 mln ha of cattle-runs.
At the beginning of 2006 population of the countryside amounted to 655.6 thousand people, or 18,6 % of the region’s population.
Investments in agriculture totaled more than 1.3 billion rubles. Special attention is paid to strengthening of a logistical base in the form of technical equipment supply with the help of leasing, industry reconstruction and introduction of modern technologies. In 2005 owing to leasing schemes more than 4 thousand pieces of agricultural equipment to the sum of 910 million rubles were purchased.
Development of agriculture is one of the strategic courses of the economic policy in the region. There has been adopted a regional target program of realization of national project “Development of agro-industrial complex” in the Chelyabinsk region for 2006-2010 which provides for building and modernization of cattle- and poultry-breeding complexes, and subsidizing the rate per cent of credits for building and modernization. The program provides as well for acquiring of highly-productive breeding stock under leasing contracts, organizing of credit, procuring and trading cooperatives, building of privileged dwellings for young specialists.
The main objectives of agro-industrial complex development are: increase of production efficiency by means of energy-saving technologies and new high-yielding varieties and cultures introduction, increase of lands’ fertility, development of pedigree cattle base, a wider use of protein-vitamin additives, integration and cooperation of production, growth of volumes of agricultural enterprises crediting (including that at the expense of the federal leasing fund), further training of managers and specialists of agricultural enterprises and organizations.