The best soil in the world is literally a Russian word: Чернозём - Chernozyom, meaning black earth, of which Russia has the largest deposits of in the world.
Traditionally, the regions associated with it in Russia are the Central Black Earth Region, to the south west of Moscow, including and especially Voronezh, Kursk, and Belgorod, as well as Lipetsk, Tambov, and Oryol provinces. This traditional region extends into north-eastern Ukraine, especially the Chernigov province.
Hitler stole trainloads of the soil back to Germany, to compensate for their soil which is poor, by comparison to that in Russia and Ukraine - though not necessarily bad by itself. Though it is illegal to sell agricultural land in that fashion today, it still happens in Ukraine, as the post-Maidan regime rushes to sell the country and people, as Gogol described it in Taras Bulba:
One sells his own out like selling soulless grain in a marketplace.
In Russia, they aren't selling the land or the people, but they are successfully exporting a bountiful harvest, after saving millions of tons for the motherland.
RT quoted Putin as saying:
A record grain crop. The Minister of Agriculture Tkachev said it would be 130.5 million tons, probably more. In general, it is the largest harvest in Russian historyReally pokes a hole in the idea that sanctions are weakening Russia. No man can stop growth and prosperity in the God-preserved Russian lands. The Russian people will endure, and grow ever stronger. Agriculture has always been a symbol of Russian growth and endurance, hence the words of one of the most beautiful Russian folk songs in the world:
The bread harvest will be good this year - we've had worse, worse things have passed. Song for golden rye and curly fields of flax, and sing of how I am in love with Russia.You can listen to the song here with English subtitles, (though you may have to turn them on by pressing the "gear" button):
RT reports:
The growing production of grain in Russia is boosting the country's exports, which are close to a record 50 million tons this year according to the director of the SovEcon analytical center, Andrey Sizov. The director said that the country exported 48 million tons between July 2017 and the end of January 2018.Last year, the country ceded its status of leading wheat exporter to the United States. The Russian Agriculture Ministry expects to regain the status by the end of this agricultural year [July 2017 - June 2018]. It forecasts grain exports to be 45 million tons against 35.5 million tons in the previous year.
Overall, agricultural production in Russia is projected to grow three percent this year, from last year's 120.7 million tons. That would be the best-ever harvest for Russia, even counting the Soviet era.
The country's export market is actively expanding, according to Sizov. Russia supplies grain to Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran, and Saudi Arabia has announced plans to become a major hub for Russian agricultural products in the Middle East.
In the near future exports to Indonesia and Thailand will increase, as well as those to Latin American countries including Mexico.
Russia has a significant share of the European market; almost 12 percent of Russian agricultural exports, worth around $2 billion, go to the continent.
Three years ago, President Vladimir Putin set a goal of making Russia the world's largest supplier of healthy, ecologically clean and high-quality food.
Comment: Russia is beginning to surpass Western nations and their allies in a variety of fields, it's no wonder they consider them to be such a threat to their dominance: