On June 26, 2020, the Russian international agricultural forum 'The Greenhouse Industry: A New Reality' was held in an online format. Representatives of greenhouse plants and peasant farms; companies that produce fertilizers and special equipment for greenhouses, representing innovative energy-saving technologies for the production of vegetables in greenhouses; farms, seed companies, construction companies (greenhouse construction); companies that produce equipment for irrigation, heat supply, microclimate; representatives of retail chains and authorities participated in the forum. The organizer of the forum was "Agribusiness Magazine", while Syngenta, Geffen, PJSC Rostelecom were sponsors. The event was officially supported by the Transportation and Logistics Subcommittee of the RSPP International Cooperation Committee.

The session was devoted to the analysis of the state of the Russian vegetable growing sector in closed ground. The moderator was Valery Kochergin, Director of the Agribusiness Journal, who addressed with a welcome speech on behalf of the forum organizers.

The session was opened by Guriy Shilov, CEO of Greenhouse, with a report on the topic "Russian vegetables growing in closed ground: state of the industry, prospects for development, state support in current conditions". He not only spoke about the positive factors for the development of the industry, but also about a series of challenges for the industry, including the increase in energy costs, the reduction of traffic in stores due to quarantine, a drop in wholesale prices of vegetables, high costs of loans, devaluation of the ruble, cheap imported products and others. He mentioned the initiatives of the Fruit and Vegetable Union and the Ministry of Agriculture related to additional state support for soft loans (possible repayment of principal and interest on a loan by 2021), partial subsidy of energy costs and a temporary restriction on imports. Furthermore, the speaker expressed confidence in the future growth of the tomato market: the 2020 crisis could become a new trigger for growth under certain conditions.

The session was continued by Mariya Ivasenko, project manager of the Rostov Technologies research company, with the report "Price trends in the greenhouse vegetable segment in 2020". She spoke about the stressful state of the protected soil industry, which has developed due to a decrease in purchasing power, increased competition between domestic plants, increased capacity, and restrictions in interregional logistics. Most of the report was devoted to a detailed review of the price dynamics of tomatoes and cucumbers for different varieties.

Tamara Reshetnikova, CEO of research company Growth Technologies, forecast changes in the balance of supply and demand in the greenhouse market in 2020–2021. She cited facts and predictions about changes in the area under winter and spring greenhouses; The dynamics of the gross harvest of industrial greenhouses in the last 5 years and the predicted dynamics of the gross harvest of industrial greenhouses until 2024. He ended his presentation with a forecast of changes in the deficit of national production in greenhouses to replace the imports into the Russian Federation.

The first session of the forum was completed by Alexander Lyskovsky, CEO and co-founder of iFarm. His presentation was dedicated to vertical agriculture and its opportunities for the greenhouse industry. According to many experts, hyperlocal production is the future of various agricultural sectors, including a part of the protected land sector. The speaker told forum participants about the growth of the market for ultra-fresh products, in Russia this growth is faster due to the "recovery" trend. She pointed out the problems of product delivery and spoke about an innovative solution: small and medium vertical farms to grow ultra-fresh products, a digital marketing platform. The speaker described the economics of vertical farms and the stages of the launch process for these greenhouses.

"Agrology: from seeds to the supply of finished products" is the theme of the second session of the forum, moderated by Oleg Dunaev, director of the Center for Strategic Development of Logistics, vice-president of the RSPP Committee for International Cooperation, Transport and Logistics.