- Статьи
- Economy
- Heavy codes: farmers asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to cancel labeling of their products
Heavy codes: farmers asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to cancel labeling of their products
Agricultural producers appealed to the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a request to cancel labeling of products due to the growth of bankruptcies and the withdrawal of a number of farms into the shadows. Similar cases are recorded in the Krasnoyarsk and Perm Territories, Karelia, the Leningrad Region and other regions. According to the Association of Agricultural Producers, the cost of labeling implementation on average reaches 1 million rubles with revenue of 2.5–3 million. According to experts, the situation is aggravated by losses associated with the death of livestock from pasteurellosis: as of March, they ranged from 87.5 thousand to 90.5 thousand heads. Whether the situation can lead to a decrease in tax revenues and an increase in rural unemployment is discussed in the Izvestia article.
Why labeling turned out to be unbearable for farmers
A number of agricultural producers in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Leningrad Region, St. Petersburg and other regions were forced to cease their activities due to labeling requirements for dairy products. The Association of Agricultural Producers "Narodny Farmer" appealed to the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a request to cancel the identification of such goods. Izvestia has reviewed the letter addressed to the head of the department, Anton Alikhanov.
"After one and a half years of mandatory labeling for peasant (farm) farms, all the risks that we warned about have been realized. The problems that did not receive a systematic solution caused the mass closure of small milk processing enterprises," the document says.
This problem is especially acute in border and remote areas where there is no stable mobile Internet and no dedicated cable. According to farmers, because of this, there are situations when it is impossible to put products into circulation, which leads to damage to perishable goods and forced downtime.
Labeling for different categories of dairy products was introduced in the Russian Federation in stages. Since June 1, 2021, it has become mandatory for cheeses and ice cream (except ice cream without milk fat and/or protein). From September 1 of the same year — for such goods with a shelf life of more than 40 days. From December 1 — with a shelf life of 40 days or less. Starting from September 1, 2022, retailers selling labeled products are required to scan the codes when selling and use online sales registers to transfer information to Honest Sign. Mandatory labeling of dairy products for farms and agricultural production cooperatives was introduced on September 1, 2024.
Another reason is the multiple increase in costs and administrative burden.
"The implementation of the system required small farms to increase their staff (additional operators, storekeepers, IT specialists), purchase equipment (printers, scanners, specialized software, scales), as well as incur regular expenses for cryptographic protection, membership fees in international identification systems and staff salaries," agricultural producers tell Anton Alikhanov. noting that the cumulative increase in production costs ranges from 30 to 50%, and in some cases, profitability decreases by 100%.
As the association explained to Izvestia, on average, labeling costs can reach 1 million rubles with revenue ranging from 2.5 million to 3 million rubles.
"A number of farms were forced to completely stop processing, switch to the sale of raw materials or reduce the assortment and livestock by three to five times. Up to 70% of small businesses either move into the gray zone or close down, which leads to direct losses of tax revenues and job cuts in rural areas," industry representatives say.
In addition, they note that the labeling system records the movement of the package, but does not guarantee the authenticity of the contents.
"Counterfeit products continue to arrive on the shelves. At the same time, the share of counterfeit milk on the market in the Russian Federation reached 17.68% by the end of 2025 (official data from the Rosselkhoznadzor)," the farmers emphasize in the document.
— In some industries that have been labeled, exceptions have been made for so-called artisans. For example, it is not present today in the non-mass production of shoes or clothing. It was immediately obvious that it would be difficult to introduce an identification system. We also asked for an exception to be made for farmers who produce small amounts of products, but are sources of taxes and jobs for their territories," Babken Ispirian, deputy chairman of the association's council, explained to Izvestia.
According to him, when labeling was introduced, agricultural producers were promised that the process would take place without difficulties, but in practice this did not happen.
Izvestia sent requests to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies (CRPT, the operator of the Honest Sign labeling) with a request to comment on the farmers' proposals.
How do farmers assess the situation
An increase in staff, rising costs, and an unstable Internet are the main, but not the only, difficulties that farmers face when working with labeling.
— The number of returns has increased due to the fact that codes are damaged during transportation, — said Nina Shklyaeva, the head of one of the farms in Udmurtia.
She noted that after the introduction of labeling, the financial burden on the farm has increased significantly. In addition, according to her, the difficulties lie in the unavailability of equipment for farmers that allows them to automatically paste stamps.
— If in large enterprises the labeling process can be automated by purchasing modern equipment, then 70% of the process is manual labor. About 3 thousand stamps are printed and pasted daily in manual mode," she said.
Andrey Bolsunovsky, the head of a farm in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, believes that soon there will be no small producers left in the villages.
— It is impractical to keep four employees, a programmer, and a manager on paperwork processing up to 2 tons of milk per day in order to sell it in your store. How could industrial processing and farming be equalized in all production requirements? — the agricultural producer, who decided to close his small production, is perplexed.
The experience of our microenterprises shows that labeling costs go far beyond 1 ruble per unit of production, said Mikhail Shkonda, head of the farm in the Leningrad region.
— Some market participants are talking about the cost of 30 rubles per brand with the wholesale price of a bottle of milk at 60 rubles, which corresponds to a 50% increase in costs. This is due not only to the cost of the brand itself (0.60 rubles), but also to annual expenses: 3 thousand rubles — VLSI type program, 3 thousand rubles — payment of the membership fee to connect to the GS1 international system (through the UNISCAN/GS1 RUS company); from 50 thousand rubles — the salary of the person who handles the registration because it's a laborious process of filling in the data yourself," the farmer shares his calculations.
According to him, because of this, many agricultural producers leave to work in the gray zone or close down.
Objectively, small and medium-sized businesses have labeling problems, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Leonid Kholod told Izvestia. In his opinion, the initiative should be heeded, as agricultural producers play an important role in the economy of the agro-industrial complex. Some kind of special control mechanism should be applied to them, the expert believes.
Georgy Ostapkovich, Scientific director of the HSE Center for Market Research, noted that assistance to farmers is especially relevant now against the background of the situation with the mass death of livestock due to the epidemic of pasteurellosis. According to data for March of this year, from 87.5 thousand to 90.5 thousand died. animals.
According to him, in the current circumstances, such initiatives require support, especially since it will not entail significant costs for the state, but will allow farmers to restore farms and maintain their activities in rural areas, especially in the current economic situation.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
