Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev, speaking at the VIII Congress of the National Union of Milk Producers, said that, despite the difficulties, the dairy industry showed a positive trend last year. Across the country, milk production remained at the level of 2015 and amounted to 30.8 million tons. According to the minister, a dairy farm, which has 5,000 kilograms of produce per cow, should increase profits, with state support, up to 18%.
The minister said that within five years Russia could reduce milk imports by 5-10% due to state support for dairy farming, which almost doubled in 2016 to about 26 billion rubles. In order to stimulate further investment in the industry, Russia has changed the rules of subsidies, increasing the amount of time during which the dairy farm can be built and increasing compensation to 35% of the cost of assembly. Long-term development includes attracting investment in dairy cattle breeding, building 800 new dairy farms by 2020, and achieving milk self-sufficiency by increasing the average yield to 6000 kilograms per cow. 
