Kremlin

The Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Finance stood arguing in front of President Ivashov. There were unexploited area's of the country that would be excellent for the production of crops... the only trouble would be building the infrastructure to get there and actually ridding the area's of the wild life that had over run them, a significant investment to say the least. This was only strengthened by the general consensus that they had enough food, and they had enough oil, why would they need to exploit it? But Ivashov was no fool, he could see the bigger picture. The worlds oil was fastly running out, and even Russia had maybe 45 years of oil left now, after the new reserves were discovered in the mid 2030's at a time Russia's oil was dwindling to perhaps 10 years remaining on the clock. The country now felt secure in the knowledge that they had nearly half a century of oil remaining, but some were fearful of what would happen when it ran out.
"If we developed the land in these places, we would be able to use them for crop production... I'm sure you are aware our country has great potential for such, and we would be able to grow more Energy Crops to reduce our reliance on our oil as a result" The minister of agriculture said as he pointed to the circled area's of the map, but the Minister of Finance shook his head
"Developing it is too costly, besides, we have enough proven oil to last us for a few decades still, and there could be unproven reserves. It's too costly to invest in the infrastructure to get low energy yield biofuels" The Minister of finance said slowly
"But what if there are no more reserves. What if this is it? A few decades and that is it, all the oil gone? Then WE start importing? Then a huge chunk of our economy is taken out? Your the minister of finance, you know exactly what will happen to our economy if we have no fuels"
"We don't have the funding to create the infrastructure you are proposing, we would require more investments to turn that land into something usable again it's over run!"
"If we did we would be able to reduce our reliance on..."
"Reduce our reliance? But it cannot fuel our entire country and our military, can it?" The minister of agriculture rolled his eyes
"Not at the moment, but with the rate of development of alternative fuels across the world it is possible that..."
"Can it or can't it?"
"It can't... Yet."
"Then that settles that, it doesn't produce enough energy" The minister of finance stood tall, feeling victorious while the minister of agriculture slumped beneath him with a sigh. But it was for the president to have the last word here, and he would indeed for a moment later he raised his hand to silence them before speaking
"You say our oil will last decades more and that is brilliant, I agree. But the more we reduce our reliance on it, the more with have to export and at the current global rate for oil we need more to export if we wish to keep our profits high. The investment into this infrastructure and clearing of the fields is a great one, but it is required for Russia to keep her economy going past a few decades down the line. The choices we make today could give us sizable rewards within a few years, even your reports figures agree with this" He said, glancing to the minister of finance, before continuing "Thus I think it is an entirely good proposition for us to go through with this agricultural investment. We can produce biofuels with the excess agricultural land and should our population grow we can convert it to provide food for our people. Let us move on the metal industry." The Minister of Finance piped up a moment later
"Yes, well. Profits are down, as to be expected, the demand for metal has dropped exponentially now there is no longer a war on, as can be said for our weapons industry. However, given the state some countries are in while rebuilding, our metal exports are still profitable as they are being brought for many reasons but... it is simply not the same boastful economy boost we used to be able to spout. I would advise we move some funding away and to Minister Bodrov's agricultural fund if that is the way we are heading, and the dairy fund, now that land has been ravaged and crops destroyed, we stand to make more money on food exports, if we able to produce enough. The same cannot be said for the arms industry, our 'private' dealings are certainly reigning in money in that respect, particularly to area's with high civil unrest and to where the fighting has yet to come to a conclusion."
"I see, put these changes into effect immediately" The President said as he lent forwards over the map. Russia had much less people than the NAF, only a third. Some thought this a curse, but Ivashov saw this as a blessing. Russia required less food than it's land could provide, opening up windows of oppurtunity for biofuel production. While it was true there were parts of Russia that were frozen all year round, this popularized view was not true for all of Russia, and there were parts of it perfect for agriculture.