In the “UMMC – agro” greenhouses, young specialists are working on the production of new high-yield hybrid tomatoes, resistant to the main diseases. This new variety has been designed to reduce the import of tomatoes of foreign origin. This brilliantly successful project enabled the young researchers from the Urals State Agrarian University to receive the prize from the Governor of the Sverdlovsk region.

The winners received their diplomas and a cheque for 200,000 rubles at a solemn ceremony held today, 6 February, in the Demidovsky Hall of the Federal University of the Urals.

“Our hybrid tomatoes have a more intense flavor and a higher yield – up to 50 kg per year per square meter. Our aim is to create a variety that is more productive than Dutch tomatoes,” says Valentina Kouimova, one of the winners of the Governor’s Award.

The researchers have worked on this project for three years. For this experiment, the branch of UMMC, founded and chaired by Iskander Makhmudov has allocated nearly 400m² of greenhouses for research. Modern greenhouses help to maintain the temperature at a necessary level (+15°C during the night and +17°C during the day), and regulate humidity between 68 and 70%. The first hybrid tomato seeds planted in November will give their fruits in March-April.

“Our farm follows technological developments very closely and introduces the best production practices into its business. This allows us to remain competitive and supply the market with high-quality vegetables. That’s the reason why we have supported our colleagues in their aspiration to create a new high-quality hybrid variety. ” – comments Liubov Tchernova, chief agronomist of the UMMC – agro.

The work on the creation of new hybrid varieties was rewarded with the Governor’s Prize, received this year by 22 projects of fundamental and practical nature, in the field of mechanical engineering, medicine, ecology, mathematics, metallurgy, and humanities. All the winners are under 35 years of age. 

The surface area of the greenhouses of the farm “UMMC- Agro” ( SA Teplichnoyé ) is 36.44 Ha – including 24.44 Ha dedicated to the innovative greenhouse where vegetables are grown all year round, without making a seasonal technological break. The total production volume is 26 000 tons per year, which provides the Sverdlovsk region with 40% of the greenhouse vegetables (tomatoes and cucumbers). The company also covers the entire demand for green salads in the region. Teplichnoye NV sells its products under the brand name “Mister Green”.