Vladimir Putin has agreed on financial backing for an ecotourism plan to draw visitors to Russia’s national parks ‘after hearing that US parks earn $14.5 billion a year‘.  Grain supplies between regions will be monitored daily to ensure that farmers in wildfire-hit areas are not left without feed.  The country’s dwindling grechka (buckwheat) supplies are causing ‘doom-and-gloom reactions‘ in Russia because the grain is one of the country’s staples, says The Guardian, and the Independent suggests that the grechka shortage is what caused the results of a recent VTsIOM poll to show increased public pessimism about the future of the economy. Russia may allow the merger of potash producers Uralkali and Silvinit to create a national monopoly – though such a deal ‘can only be permitted with restrictions‘, says a Federal Antimonopoly Service spokesperson.  The airline industry is apparently recovering from a crisis dip, with authorities marking a 2010 passenger increase of 30%.  On the early success of low-cost airline Avianova’s $8 tickets, which are riling Sky Express.