Russian agriculture.

Russia has always been a great agricultural country.

Russian agriculture produces almost all the farm crops known in the world. The total area under cultivation is largely occupied by grain crops such as wheat, maize, barley, rye, oats, etc. The rest is occupied by potatoes and other vegetables, legumes, fruits and industrial crops. In the orchards and fruit gardens one can see plums and apples, pears and peaches and berries of all kinds. Horses, oxen, cows and sheep feed in the meadows. Cattle farming gives us meat and milk. Poultry farming supplies us with eggs and meat. Producing corn is the main specialty of Russia

Corn cultures of Russia. (2013)

Traveling through Russia, we can observe pretty much the same picture: abandoned villages with uncultivated fields, overgrown with huge weeds. Even though Russia has such a huge amount of agricultural land, it is still not able to provide enough food for own people. In summer-the height of crop-yield season, Russia has to import fruits and vegetables that could be traditionally grown on its fields. If you go to any of the Russian stores, you will see potatoes and carrots from Israel, cheese from Germany, meat from Brazil and butter from Finland. With all modern agricultural technology, Russia still cannot effectively manage its vast fertile lands, and small Israel or Northern Finland help to feed Russian people.

In the beginning of XX century, the rural inhabitants comprised 85% of Russian demographic potential.. During XX century, the share of rural workers in Russia, as in other developed countries, was decreasing. The history of Russian economy shows that over the time of its existence all the attempts to introduce agrarian reforms and raise agriculture failed. Why for several decades Russia was unable to settle the problem?

First of all, the Russian village went through a number of historical cataclysms, connected to society changes during October Revolution in 1917, Civil War 1918–1920, devastating Great Patriotic War 1941–1945. All these events were disturbing the natural-historical evolution of agriculture and undermined the productive forces in village.

Secondly, a number of radical changes in agriculture were accomplished during the short historical period in Russia (Stolypin reforms of 1906–1912; social reforms of 1917–1918; collectivization of 1929–1932; agriculture reforms of 1990-s). During these reforms, the property relationships and social-economic situation within the business activities were radically changing.

Thirdly, the decrease in agricultural employment was not accompanied by adequate growth of the efficiency of agricultural labor. Because of that, the country constantly has problems with food, and farming – lack of workers. As a result, the rural areas were depopulated.

The share of agriculture in GDP is 3% (2013).

According to leader world experts in agribusiness Russian agriculture faces with the following 4 basic problems.

The first problem is climate in the country. Only 30% of Russian territory is situated in favorable and predictable weather conditions. Harvest in Russia is affected by negative climate once in 2-3 years. And, for example, in France colds or draughts happen only once in five years.

The second problem for Russian agriculture is financing. The state support level in the country is well below than financing in European countries. And even founds allocated within the World Trade Organization do not always reach farmers and agricultural organizations. Moreover, this money sometimes is not used effectively.

High shortage of agricultural machinery is the third problem. Russian farmers are not able to compete with European indicators because of low machinery productivity. This problem may be solved only after solution of a problem with financing.

And finally the 4^th problem is human factor such as problems with management and knowledge.

Barley, rue and wheat are the main corns of Russia. As for vegetables there is a tough competition of China and India, as for fruits- with Turkey, Iran and states of Central Asia.

The structure of agricultural lands in Russia. (2005-2012)

The situation in agricultural system in Russia is not simple enough now. There are no state supported collective and state farms any more as it was during the Soviet period. Now there are agricultural joint-stock companies and individual farming. Russian agriculture is undergone the process of economical changes. It is rather difficult to survive in the conditions of deep economic crisis, especially for individual farmers. But we hope that country-men will overcome all the difficulties of our times and our agriculture will make steady advances, that will naturally mean better living standards for the Russian people.