Russian Farmers on Track to Increase Food Exports

     With food demand leaping in China and India, Russia has the potential to emerge as a new world food power. But first, Russian farmers need to overcome years of decline.

    One hundred years ago, Czarist Russia was the breadbasket of Europe, and the American John Deere company was selling horse-drawn plows¹ to Russian farmers.

    Fast forward a century, and John Deere is back in Russia. This time, selling quarter-million-dollar harvest combines complete with air-conditioned cabs.

    Tremendous potentialAlexey Berlin supervises the assembly of tractors and combines at John Deere’s new factory south of Moscow. He said given Russia’s vast territory, agriculture has huge potential.

    Russia has 10 percent of the world’s fresh water and arable² land, and only two percent of the world’s population. But in the 20 years since the collapse³ of the Soviet⁴ Union, the amount of land being farmed in Russia has shrunk by one third.

    Russia, the world’s-largest nation by territory, survives on food imports.

    Increasing wheat yieldsToday, Russian wheat yields are at the level American farm yields were in the 1930s. But gradually, Russian farmers are adopting better seeds, better fertilizers, and more efficient machinery⁵. The John Deere factory patio⁶ has more than 100 new combines awaiting shipment to Russian farmers.

    John Deere manager for Russia, Joe Barrett, believes the country will play a key role in meeting world food needs.

    “We have got an expected increase in world population that will be upon us in 2050 with an increase to 9 billion people," he said. "All of them will be fed. All of them deserve to be fed. That means agriculture productivity is going to have to increase dramatically. We think Russia has a terrific opportunity to help fill that void.”

    Last year, when a drought pushed Russia to suspend grain exports, food prices spiked⁷ to record highs around the world, fueling food riots in poor countries and some say the street revolts of the Arab Spring.

    Raising productionThis year, however, Russian farmers planted for a bumper⁸ crop on a land area larger than the U.S. state of California.

    Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered the resumption of Russian grain exports on July 1. This is expected to ease bread prices around the world.

    The head of agricultural research at Renaissance⁹ Capital investment bank in Moscow, Natalia Zagvozdina, said Russia could expand its harvests to meet world demand.

    "If we only had the capital to put all the previously¹⁰ cultivated land back to work, we could have increased the output by 50 percent, easily," said Zagvozdina. "That is easier said than done.”

    Trends are looking up, though. During the Soviet days, Russia was a wheat importer. This year, it is targeted to become the world’s third-largest wheat exporter, after Canada and the United States.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 plows   

n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• Alex and Tony were turning awkward hands to plows and hoe handles. 亚历克斯和托尼在犁耙等农活方面都几乎变成新手了。
• Plows are still pulled by oxen in some countries. 在一些国家犁头仍由牛拖拉。

2 arable   

adj.可耕的，适合种植的

参考例句：

• The terrain changed quickly from arable land to desert.那个地带很快就从耕地变成了沙漠。
• Do you know how much arable land has been desolated?你知道什么每年有多少土地荒漠化吗？

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

6 patio   

n.庭院，平台

参考例句：

• Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子，我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
• They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。

7 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

8 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

9 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

10 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。