“First of all, [it’s] because we’re producing food, and people cannot live without food. We’ve mobilized all the resources we had and don’t feel the crisis at all,” Vyacheslav Pershin Mosselprom from Mosselprom’s slaughtering department said.

Agriculture has seen intense development over the past six years, since the Russian government decided it’s a priority sector, pumping huge investment into the industry.

Surging growth is expected to continue, with the government announcing it is increasing subsidies by half. Around $5.4 million is expected to be invested this year.

“State money has saturated agriculture. The volumes are not as big as in Europe or the US. But it’s been enough to help boost growth,” Deputy Chairman of the Agriculture Policy Committee at Federation Council Sergey Lisovsky said.

Agriculture, along with health care, education and housing, is one of the four so-called national projects. They were launched four years ago, with the goal of improving living standards in Russia. Now it is time to reap the harvest.