The development and survival of an enterprise in a modern world is possible when advanced technologies, which help to decrease the losses and increase production profitability, are implied.

National Movement for Conservation Agriculture (NMCA) — is the center for training, development and research of the technological and economic aspects of the adoption of conservation agriculture practices. The target of the Movement is the agricultural producer — the potential participant of the Movement — in his strive to uptake new technology. To achieve this goal — training seminars, conferences, and foreign expert consultations are organized, including annual conferences on academic and research aspects of conservation agriculture.

Resource and water conservation technologies are the main trends of the cereal and oilseed cropping. Zero-till and minimum till are currently being practiced worldwide on 60 million ha. and 200 million ha. respectively, the land being managed using resource conservation approach is constantly increasing spatially.

Conservation agriculture includes: minimum till systems (mulch sowing) and zero-tillage (direct seeding).

Minimum till system includes one or several minor types of soil management by using reares or disk tillers. Straw and stubble are left in the soil surface layer. Seeding is performed in to minimum managed soil, with mulch cover of crop residues and fine soil.

Direct seeding is performed in to stubble without any soil management.

The foundation for conservation practices application is the following determined consistent pattern: soils with a high content of organic matter (3.5% and over) do not need intensive management to regulate agrophysics. They are able to keep density of (1–1,24 gr./см3), which is the optimum rate for the majority of the crops, under the natural factors’ influence.

Conservation agriculture is a long-term management strategy for each farming system, which offers the increase of production efficiency alongside with the decrease of production costs and reducing the environmental damage due to the adoption and application of resource conservation practices and precise agriculture techniques.

Conservation agriculture is based on the plough rejection in managing crops. It is a set of practices targeted to reduction of soil structure degradation, soil infertility, improvement of the water balance without sacrificing yields.

Basic principles of conservation agriculture techniques:

• minimum soil disturbance or rejection of mechanical soil cultivation;
• keeping crop residue left on the soil surface;
• crop rotation, including production crops and crops improving soil fertility;
• integrated approach towards pests and diseases control;
• quality seeds usage responsive to the conservation practices.

Crop residue management is the most important and vital aspect of the systems of conservation agriculture. Crop residues are frequently burnt nowadays. However, stubble is an important source of the manure, which improves soil organic matter development to reduce soil water loss in other words being a replica of the natural biomechanism.

This technology is based on the input of the plant — friendly chemicals for crop protection, sustainable for the ecological aspect of the environment. Keeping crop residue on the soil surface helps to regenerate microflora and fauna, contributing to the soil biological activity.

The potential of conservation agriculture techniques:

• reduction of the direct losses from 165 up to 996 rub per ha.;
• fuel savings 2–3 fold;
• labour savings 2,5 — fold;
• reduction of the amount of machinery and equipment;
• operating efficiency of field activity on the conditions of time lack and tight schedule;
• soil erosion control;
• improvement of soil quality for the development of crops and reduction of the soil erosion;
• conservation of the soil moisture.

Modern cost-effective technologies in potato and vegetable management

Vegetables and potatoes are the most profitable crops for the Russian producers. Out of 100 farms specializing in potato managing more then a half reached the profitability level over 100% getting direct profits of 80–100 000 roubles per ha.

Potato and vegetable management practices, based on the local and foreign experience, introduced by CJSC «Amazone-Eurotechnica» with the yield output of 700–800 hundreds kilograms per ha, with all the main processes fully automated.

These practices are based on the multiple application of:

1. production effective and reliable machinery, manufactured by: Grimme, Asa-Lift, Gaugele Gmbh, Beinlich и Amazone Eurotechnika;
2. modern irrigation systems;
3. quality of the seed grains;
4. effective and safe plant-protecting agents;
5. reliable storage equipped with ventilation and climate control systems;
6. experience of the highly qualified specialists for consulting and training farmers, working on potato and vegetable managing.

Modern technology of ridge potato managing is typical for the majority of the farms with a developed system of potato growing. Operational tools, minimized intercultivation, enlarged spacings up to 75 cm. and herbicides for weed control — are the management practices applied.

The main goal of this technology is to provide mellow and optimal soil structure with minimum passage.

Autumn ridge-tillage allows:

• increase productivity during planting, because tractor use rows;
• apply early planting, because ridges warm-up faster in spring;
• reduce the amount of operations.

Potato planting, is possible when soil warms up to 7–8 °С at the depth of 10–15 см. The appropriate duration time for potato planting should not exceed 7–10 days. One of the major requirements while planting is potato tuber laying at the equal depth, because there should be a layer of mellow soil in-between the tuber and the pan. Crop tending is used to keep the soil mellow free of weeds and also to protect from pests and diseases. Перед уборкой картофеля ботву удаляют.

Topping — accelerates tuber ripening, lightens the operations of harvesters, reduces tuber losses and damage during harvesting. The appropriate time for topping should be 7-10days before harvesting.

The optimal depth is the layer level of the last tuber of the bush. On following the agritechnical requirements on potato management and precise adjustments of the harvester, mechanical damage should not exceed 12%.

More then 20 farms in the Samara region are involved in potato managing based on the new technology. On acreage reduction of the crop, the productivity increased up to 2–3 times, they achieved the level of reduction of harvest loss down to 3%, and the storage safety is 95%. The region needs are fully covered and potato crop is exported for the other regions.

There are examples of the successful adoption of potato managing based on the new management technology using the machinery manufactured by CJSC «Amazone-Eurotechnica», in many regions of Russia — Vologodskaya, Caluzskaya, Moscowskaya, Tumen, Irkutskaya, Stavropolskiy territory, the Republic of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan republic etc.