ASSESSING THE CHANGE IN THE SCALE OF FERTILIZER APPLICATION IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR OF THE NORTH-WEST

The article is devoted to the urgent problem of soil fertility management based on the use of fertilizers. The role of our country as the largest producer in the world market of mineral fertilizers and the dynamics of the scale of their national production are shown. In comparison with the all-Russian indicator, data on a rather low humus content on arable lands in the North-West are presented, which exacerbates the issue of its compensation. The analysis of the volume of application of mineral fertilizers per 1 hectare of crops in agricultural organizations of the North-Western Federal District is carried out. It has been established that, firstly, the territorial unevenness of the intensification process in crop production persists. Secondly, with the exception of two federal subjects, in the regions of the North-West there is a lag behind the all–Russian indicator of mineral fertilizers per unit area, and in seven regions - even from the average for the district. Very small amounts of organic fertilizers and their determining factors were noted, including the consequences of excluding manure and manure from the list of livestock waste. It is concluded that in order to solve the complex of issues of effective land use in the North-West, based on state support measures, it is necessary to increase the demand of commodity producers for mineral fertilizers and incentives for more active use of available resources of organic fertilizers.