jrv--i'm pretty sure you need to leave russia out of your statement. knowing maybe a little more than your average bear about history, i know russia's always had a problem with very little of their soil being arable at all. i think it's one of the worst situations of any developed country-i'm guessing the us/canada/france are 3-5x superior to it in terms of % of land being viable and russia's been so stupid with their pesticide usage and poor fertilization practices it's going to get worse.

this is why the ukraine had to serve as their bread-basket-you can mention that country as a potential source. i doubt agricultural products are even in their top couple of exported commodities.if there's even a trend, it's illusory and someone's not paying attention.

didn't see the latest reply, i still say russia can't grow dick.