"Haven't seen anything like this in 25 years." In the Don region, purchasing prices for food wheat have fallen below the cost of barley for livestock feed.

In the Rostov region, the average purchase price for food wheat has decreased—it is now cheaper than barley, according to monitoring data from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Rostov region. Wheat is divided into classes based on the quality of the grain. Wheat of the first, second, third, and fourth classes is considered food wheat. First-class grain is high-quality raw material with the highest indicators, with the highest level of protein and gluten. Fifth-class wheat is of lower quality and is used for non-food purposes—for example, it is sent to feed animals. "Do you know the cost of barley? I have been working for almost 25 years and have never seen this. The cost of feed barley per ton is 14,221 rubles. Do you understand what is happening? We have third-class food wheat and feed barley at the same price. This indicates that selling wheat today is, to put it mildly, not profitable. Precisely because there is no price for it," said Yuri Kornyush, an advisor to the president ...