“Today, agriculture exports exceed arms sales by more than a third. $28.8 billion from agricultural sector, $15.6 billion from the defense industry,” Putin told farmers in Krasnodar on [March 12].
He said that Russian exports of agricultural products and foodstuffs had grown 16-fold since 2000. In 2016, Russia became the world leader in wheat exports. Since the early 2000s, the country’s share of the world wheat market has quadrupled, from four to 16 percent.
Russia will soon sell more produce abroad than the country imports.
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The president said that Russia should be aiming at exports of environmentally friendly and quality products. GMO has been banned in Russia since 2016. Putin previously said he wants to make Russia the world’s largest seller of GMO-free food.
Read full, original post: Agriculture makes much more money for Russia than arms exports – Putin