ILRIC officially invited and hosted a delegation of high level officials from The Russian Federation Ministry of Agriculture to come to Australia and inspect our quality livestock and handling practises.
The officials included; Mr. Kharon Amerkhanov – Deputy Director 
of the Veterinary and Livestock Department of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Ivan Dunin – Director of the Federal Institute for Cattle Genetics of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Oleg Demkin – Minister for Agriculture of the Republic of Kalmykia, Mr. Vasily Burka – Managing Director of Breeding Station “Zimovnikovskiy”, Rostov Region, Mr. Vladimir Belousov – Deputy Director of the Federal International Inspection Services Department for Animal Health, Mr Alexey Alekseenko – Deputy Director of the International Protocol Department for Rosselhoznadzor, Ms Olga Osadchaya – Director of the Federal Agricultural Institute for Livestock, Mr. Sergey Vorobyev – Deputy Managing Director, Agrarian Livestock Breeding Union “Agroplemsoyuz” and Mr. Vladimir Soloshenko –Managing Director of the Federal Siberian Livestock Institute.
During their visit they met with Landmark, Genetics Australia, AQIS, DAFF, DFAT, Bio-Security Australia, Beef CRC, TAFE and a number of the breed societies and enjoyed tours of Iron Bark Hereford Stud, Barraba NSW, Bald Blair and Eastern Plains, two Angus breeding properties in Guyra NSW and Ranger Valley Feedlot, one of Australia’s largest feedlots located in Glenn Innes NSW.
ILRIC have been actively marketing Australian genetics to Russia over the past two years as Russia topped a list of 214 countries having the greatest potential for livestock genetics exports.
The Russian cattle herd has plummeted from over 120 million to 25 million in the last 20 years with the current herd dominated by Dairy cattle.
Russian authorities are determined to rebuild their agricultural sector and are looking to Australia to supply beef and dairy cattle because of our lack of disease, quality genetics and proven ability to succeed in a harsh environment.
Initially the Russians wanted to ship live, pedigree beef and dairy breeding cattle from Australia however we believe that Live Exports are just the beginning and the real opportunities for 
Australia lie in value-adding the whole of supply chain. The Australian cattle breed societies are unanimous in their belief that product integrity and consistent quality are paramount in capturing the Russian market. It is estimated that in the next 12 months, Australia will be exporting 65,000 head of elite breeding cattle to Russia.
The Russians are looking for expertise and joint-venture partners to help get their agricultural sector back on track. There are definite opportunities for Australian businesses to run large scale breeding operations in Russia.
