Trump card up your sleeve: Russia has introduced an innovative solution for the grain complex

Due to the shortage of modern elevators, Russia annually loses about 10% of grain during its storage and transportation, this figure was announced by Peter Chekmarev, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the CCI Committee for Agricultural Development. Adapting resources to meet the real needs of the industry requires time and investment. Experts say that one of the solutions for agricultural producers is special polymer sleeves for storing grain, oilseeds and silage. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Risk to the agro-industrial complex

All infrastructure risks were identified in the long-term development strategy of the grain complex until 2035. The document, drawn up 5 years ago, listed the share of modern grain storage facilities in the federal districts. The anti-leaders of the rating were Uralsky (42%), Yuzhny (49%), Privolzhsky (57%) and Siberian (58%). The Ministry of Agriculture named an increase in transport and logistics costs, a decrease in product quality, a decrease in its competitiveness in foreign markets and an increase in prices in the domestic market.

There is no current district data available. However, there is an assessment by the Rosselkhoznadzor's center for industry expertise: the need for investments to expand elevator capacity is 300 billion rubles. Oleg Knyazkov, the head of the center, admits that farms that do not have the capacity to store grain and oilseeds are forced to sell their products from wheels, and this is not always profitable.

It is the lack of stationary containers that stimulates the spread of grain storage technology in polymer sleeves as an alternative. This is a virtually unlimited warehouse, the area of which can be expanded quickly based on current needs.

The vacuum saves

The method was first used in Argentina about 20 years ago in response to record crop yields. "As usual, everything ingenious is simple: there is a vacuum inside the sleeve — there is no air, moisture and sunlight," says Dmitry Khomyakov, professor at the Department of General Agriculture and Agroecology at the Faculty of Soil Science at Lomonosov Moscow State University. And he confirms that the main reason why farms are switching to this technology is the shortage of places in warehouses and elevators and the desire to reduce costs.

The scope of application is grain and oilseed crops, silage and other feed. And agricultural seeds say that their percentage of germination does not change from this.

Last year, the August Polymer plant (part of the August Group of companies, a leading Russian manufacturer of plant protection products and supplier of advanced agricultural technologies) launched its first production line of five-layer polymer hoses for storing grain, oilseeds and silage. In the second half of 2025, the company will launch full-cycle production using SIBUR's raw materials.

"We are talking about a product made by a unique method of multilayer co-extrusion. Each layer of the polymer sleeve is made of different polymers with special additives, which provides a set of properties: strength, elasticity, one hundred percent UV protection, tightness and resistance to temperature changes from -50°C to +50°C," says Sergey Luxuriant, Head of Regulatory Support for industry sales at SIBUR.

Characteristics of agricultural hoses: length 60-75 meters, width — about 3 meters, capacity — up to 250 tons of grain.

Vladimir Alin, General Director of August Polymer, clarifies: in a hermetically sealed sleeve, carbon dioxide is released as a result of the "breathing" of grain and the vital activity of microorganisms, which replaces oxygen and acts as a kind of preservative, stopping oxidative processes, preventing germination of grain, creating conditions for the destruction of insect pests trapped inside. In general, a stable environment is being formed, which, with the right approach to bag storage, ensures the long-term safety of products. In addition, due to post-harvest maturation in the sleeves, the grain after unpacking has a higher quality and, accordingly, costs more.

The Tatar miracle

The August Polymer plant operates in Tatarstan. In the same place, in the Kaibitsy district, on the territory of the August-Kaibitsy agricultural complex, on September 18, the region's first demonstration site of polymer hoses for storing grain, oilseeds and silage was opened so that farmers could see how the technology looks in real field conditions, and not in presentations.

"The technology of storing agricultural crops in polymer sleeves is actively gaining momentum in the Republic of Tatarstan, where our demo site of sleeves was opened for free excursions to familiarize farmers with the technology, and a study of polymer sleeve storage technology was launched with the support of the Kazan State Agrarian University and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Tatarstan," continues Sergey Luxuriant.

"During the work of the demo site, we clearly demonstrate how to reduce the cost of storage and logistics of agricultural products by 60-90%. And this is not a marketing ploy, but a real economic effect, confirmed by the example of August farms in Tatarstan," Vladimir Alin emphasized.

The choice of the republic is not accidental — a polymer cluster has formed in the region, and 40% of locally produced polymers are processed immediately. In particular, the raw materials of SIBUR's Kazan enterprise, Kazanorgsintez, will be used to manufacture hoses on August Polymer.

How much can be stored

Of course, the key question that farmers have when they get acquainted with the presented technological solution is how long is the shelf life of products possible without loss of quality? The answer to it varies depending on the moisture content of the grain. At humidity up to 14% — up to 18 months, at 14-16% — up to 6-12 months, over 16% — already up to three. External factors (temperature, rain, snow) do not affect these dates in any way.

"From what else you need to know about the agricultural sleeve. The first is to optimally use a flat ground area for it, but storage can also be carried out in the field, which is just shown on the demo site. Secondly— special equipment will be required for laying and unloading grain: grain packing and grain unloading machines, as well as reloading bunkers. These are expenses. But in any case, compared with the construction of new warehouses, storage in the sleeves is much cheaper," Khomyakov is sure.

The Ministry of Agriculture has not revised the forecast for grain harvest, Deputy Minister Andrei Razin recently told reporters. Expectations are at around 135 million tons, the harvesting rate is higher than last year's level. The plans are to increase production to 170 million tons in 5 years. This means that the demand for modern storage facilities will also grow in parallel. The polymer sleeve can relieve the severity of the problem to a certain extent. In the context of strategic objectives, this is a chance to strengthen food security, primarily in regions with a lack of appropriate infrastructure. In the context of the interests of a single agricultural producer, it is possible to optimize processes and reduce costs.