Use of peat in Russian agriculture: Current condition and prospects

Abstract

Russia possesses huge resources of peat – a natural raw material for the production of organic fertilizers, the use of which ensures an increase in the biological and energy capacity of agrocenoses, and the reproduction of soil fertility. Renewal and stimulation of agricultural peat utilization, as well as increase in grain output should hasten and facilitate the food and environment security of Russia. The article analyzes briefly the current peat industry and offers a substantiation of the main directions of peat use in the agro-industrial complex on an ecological and economic basis. The implementation of the proposals will go under increasing environmental, economic, technological, informational and competitive advertising requirements. The general conceptions are meant for the multi-structure agriculture and competent peat management not only at large agricultural companies, but also at farm households and private subsidiary plots, taking into account a wide range of levels of their organizational and financial capabilities in the emerging dynamic market conditions. Particular attention is paid to resource conservation, environmental and technological aspects of peat utilization, as well as to the choice of ways of using available peat resources in the productional bioanthropogenic cycle of substances in agriculture with the participation of the chemical industry in grain production. The ranges of using peat and peat soils in agriculture are broad and integrated. Peat effectively ensures circulation of nutrients, maintains high soil fertility, and plays an important role in the environmental protection. At the same time, in the years of intensive agricultural production and widespread use of mineral fertilizers, and then in the subsequent years of a general decline in the development of agriculture in Russia, the valuable experience gained in the use of peat was largely lost. The purpose of this study is to review agricultural peat utilization, develop methods for the rational use of peat resources and to promote advancement of Russian agriculture.