Ladoga region is mostly located in the zone of risky agriculture.
The agroclimatic conditions in general are however quite favourable for most
agricultural crops typically grown in the latitudes: vegetables, most cereals,
forage and some industrial crops, as well as cultivation of berry shrubs and
strawberry. Formerly, most of the region's territory was covered by forests and
wetlands, and thus agricultural lands appeared as a result of clearcuttings and
reclamation (see "Environment").
Agriculture in the area specialises in growing vegetables, potato, forage plants.
In terms of agriculture Karelian Priladozhje is the best agriculturally developed area of the Republic. Thus, Sortavalsky district contains over 10% of all cropland in the republic. The Lahdenpohia district is the smallest in Karelia, but one of the leaders in agricultural production in the republic (sown area is greater than everywhere else except for the Olonets district). Having wast open territories, the Lahdenpohia district agricultural enterprises are involved in meat and diary farming.
In Priladozhie districts of the Laningrad region agriculture is
playing significantly smaller role than in the Republic of Karelia (see "Economy. Agriculture.").
The total area of farmland in the region is 297,900 ha, including ploughed fields - 130,400 ha (Tables 4.2.1 and 4.2.2). An average agricultural enterprise has 2500 ha of farmland, the mean area of a private farm is 8.3 ha, household plot farm - 0.19 ha.
Catteling had been an important sector of the Region's agriculture
during the soviet period. However, most of the large farms had been concentrated
in the southern districts of the Ladoga region (Fig. 1.2). Such farms are manly specialising in cattling, pig-breeding and poultry.
Current trends in Region's agriculture are briefly described in
the sub-chapter "Economy. Agriculture.".
Table 4.2.1. Distribution of farmland and ploughed fields in municipalities (Leningrad region)
Farmland area (1000 ha)
Municipality
TOTAL
Priozersky district
Vsevolozhsky district
Kirovsky district
Volkhovsky district
Lodejnopolsky district
Total
43457
46819
32280
53645
28229
204430
Ploughed fields
19874
21468
13584
25468
10667
92061
Table 4.2.2. Distribution of farmland and ploughed fields in municipalities (Republic of Karelia)
