It is argued about the rural economy as an indispensable condition for the development of villages and rural areas. A high degree of feedback has been established between an increase in agricultural production and a decrease in the rural population in the Russian Federation. The development of agricultural and other production in rural areas should not be an obstacle to the well-being of rural areas and the quality of rural life. In many countries, the rural economy is steadily developing along with an increase in the number of rural residents. The influence of various segments of the rural economy on the state of rural areas and settlements has been revealed. Based on the conducted sociological research, the impact of various groups of economic entities on the social development of settlements and environmental improvement has been analyzed. Agricultural organizations that are not integrated into the structure of agricultural holdings have a beneficial effect on rural development, followed by peasant (farmer) farms and individual entrepreneurs in the field of agricultural production, as well as industrial, construction, trade and other enterprises that are not part of agricultural holdings. The cardinal differences in the attitude of large agribusiness and small and medium-sized forms of entrepreneurship to land and rural areas are substantiated. The axioms of the influence of rural economy and certain forms of its organization on rural development are formulated. The conclusion is drawn about the need for priority support for small and medium-sized forms of economic activity as a way to preserve and improve rural areas.
The well-being of agricultural workers is a multifaceted concept that covers not only material security, physical and psychological health, job satisfaction, social integration and the possibility of self-realization. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the need for professional growth on the well-being of agricultural workers, taking into account socio-economic, psychological and other factors, to assess existing practices and develop recommendations for the formation of effective policies in this area. The relevance of studying the relationship between the need for professional growth and the well-being of agricultural workers is due to several reasons. Firstly, in the era of technological transformations, traditional farming methods are giving way to precision farming, automation and environmental practices, which requires new competencies from workers. Secondly, agricultural labor is often associated with low social status, and professional development can increase its prestige and motivation of workers. Thirdly, uneven access to educational programs creates barriers to the realization of personnel potential, which negatively affects their well-being. The information base of the study was made up of the results of a survey conducted by the Institute of Agrarian Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences in rural areas of the Saratov Region (N = 1215). During the study, groups of skilled agricultural workers were identified, differing in the degree of expression of the need for professional growth, an analysis was conducted, as well as a comparison of their physical, financial, emotional and social well-being. As a result of the study, a set of measures was proposed that contribute not only to improving the skills of workers, but also to creating conditions for their comprehensive well-being, which is a key element of sustainable development of rural areas.
The importance of the influence of human capital on the dynamism of territorial economic development actualizes the task of developing a methodological approach to determine the degree of the latter's influence on this process. The article presents the author's methodology for assessing the efficiency of human capital utilization in the territorial-sectoral projection. Its methodological basis is the construction of relationships between changes in the value of human capital and socio-economic indicators of rural economic development. The advantage of the proposed methodology is a comprehensive approach to the study of human capital efficiency problems in the context of rural areas, which, together with the use of available and reliable statistical data, makes it possible to analyze and develop effective management decisions. The proposed methodology was tested on the statistical data of the Republic of Belarus, the interpretation of which generally allows us to ascertain the increase in the efficiency of rural human capital utilization. This is conditioned, first of all, by the increase in net socio-environmental investment, including expenditures on housing and communal services and housing construction, health care, education, physical culture, sports, culture and mass media, social policy, as well as environmental protection, formed at the level of local budgets, excluding cities of regional and district subordination. The use of such an approach allows us to form an objective picture of investment provision of human capital in the territorial context. The fluctuations of the indicators under consideration testify to the high sensitivity of the studied proportions to the value of human capital formed in the territorial-sectoral context. This circumstance not only empirically confirms the fact of intensive impact of human capital on the growth opportunities of the rural economy of the Republic of Belarus, but also forms the theoretical and methodological basis for effective management of this process.
The article focuses on such an urgent issue as the development of the vegetable market. The human diet should contain vegetables throughout the year, therefore, the primary task is to provide the population with vegetable products year-round through an optimal combination of its production, rational processing, proper storage, pre-sale preparation and timely sale. The specifics of vegetable production have a significant impact on the development of this industry, the distribution of vegetable crops across the country's regions, and the organization and efficiency of their production. This study analyzed the state of the vegetable market in the Central Federal District (disclosure by region) by main elements (production, consumption), identified positive and negative trends in production and consumption for the period 2019-2023. The "personal" capabilities of the district in ensuring food security are assessed based on the calculation of the level of self-sufficiency, the level of saturation tension and the level of sufficiency of self-sufficiency, which indicates that vegetable consumption clearly does not reach the rational norm. The main directions of expedient implementation on the vegetable market have been identified.
The article presents the forecast of the main types of agricultural products production in Russia in 2025, made in line with the methodology developed in Agrarian policy and Agro-industrial complex development department of FSBSI FRC VNIIESH. The main forecast indicators are: areas and agricultural crops yields, livestock and productivity of animals, gross production. As a result of agricultural crops yields analysis from 1980 years onwards, the multidirectional dynamics of yield changes by regions of Russia and types of crops has been established. Favorable years for grain crops are not the same for other ones. In our research the basis for determining the year’s favorability degree was the yield of grain crops, covered over 22% of the gross agricultural output and about 40% of the gross crop production output. Within the framework of the grain yield conditions and production results (outcome of conditions and results), relative indicators of variation and average square deviations are calculated, which were used to predict yield deviations by outcome (favorable, average, unfavorable). A quantitative assessment (probability) of the outcomes occurrence in Russia and in the Russian Federation regions in terms of grain yields has been determined. According to our estimates, in 2025 we should expect the implementation of the average weather year with grain production in the amount of 131.4 million tons (69% probability), a favorable year - 147 million tons (17%), an unfavorable year – 91.8 million tons (14%).
The main problems of reproduction of fixed assets of the agro-food complex of Russia on the basis of innovations, including the Siberian Federal District, are considered. Among them there is the reduction of the machine and tractor fleet at a relatively low rate of renewal, the low level of development of innovative agricultural production technologies, and the use of most of the investments to replace worn-out fixed assets and in limited quantities with the replication of new technologies. The share of innovative products in the total volume of agricultural products shipped by large and medium–sized organizations was only 3.8%, including 4.3% in animal husbandry, 3.1% in annual crop cultivation, and 5.1% in food production. At the same time, the efficiency of investments in farms engaged in innovative activities is higher than in the surveyed organizations as a whole. Capital efficiency increased by 14.3%, and employee productivity increased by 7.7%. The necessity of modernization of the material and technical base in accordance with the model of innovative development of the agro-food complex is shown. Investment priorities are substantiated based on the strategic goal of developing agriculture in the Siberian Federal District, increasing the efficiency of using the region's material, technical and land resources, and taking into account global trends in investing in agri-food systems. Investments should be aimed at increasing agricultural production based on the development of scientific and technical innovation projects and achievements of the digital economy, the creation of production facilities for the production of highly processed products, the greening of production, the introduction of "green", organic and waste-free technologies, and the expansion of socially transformative investments.
The dominant role of Internet technologies in matters of informing all layers of society has led to the emergence of such a digital tool for assessing the activities of organizations and individuals as a digital footprint. Therefore, in the work, based on the state of information resources on the websites of agricultural research organizations (RO), their ability to adequately respond to emerging threatening political and economic challenges for the country using such a tool is assessed, both for those that have undergone the reform procedure started in 2013 and for those that have retained their previous status. For this purpose, based on the conducted classification of digital footprints, appropriate methods for their formation are proposed with subsequent verification using the materials of two monitoring sessions of RO websites. The information resources of the websites are defined as scientific and educational resources, the demand for which was ontologically identified based on an extensive survey of businesses and budgetary structures, including scientific and educational ones in 22 regions of the country. A comparative analysis of the response to the challenges of the above-mentioned RO groups to emerging requests for science from various layers of society is provided. Research has shown that the science reform has proven to be untenable, since at first not a single RО group responded to business requests during the pandemic, and now to requests related to sanctions, which to a large extent served as the reason for large holdings to create their own scientific laboratories and IT structures due to the lack of a mechanism for transferring innovations to the economy in the country. Thus, the head of one of the agricultural holdings at a meeting on June 7, 2023 in the Voronezh Region on the digitalization of agriculture said that science owes a great debt to production.
The megacities growing all over the world determine the transformation of the rural space of entire macroregions and new challenges for spatial planning and management. The influence of Moscow and St. Petersburg on the development of rural areas in nearby regions is not sufficiently taken into account in practice and needs to be studied. Therefore, the aim of the study was to identify changes in the distribution of population and agricultural production in the Central and Northwestern economic regions in 1991-2023, in the context of the impact on the ongoing structural shifts in the location of the regions relative to Moscow and St. Petersburg. According to the "center-periphery" concept, the regions are typified in terms of their remoteness from these megacities. The pattern of population growth in megacities, their near periphery, and its reduction in the semi-periphery and periphery is revealed. The article examines the trends of structural shifts in the production of most types of agricultural products in the Moscow region, regions of the periphery and semi-periphery, as a result of the substitution of agricultural activities around the metropolis with industrial and other infrastructure facilities. It is shown that the production of vegetables, potatoes, poultry and pigs for slaughter has structurally shifted from the Leningrad region to the periphery, while the periphery has lost its position in the production of livestock and eggs. It was found that in cattle breeding, structural changes in the area of influence of megacities occurred due to different rates of production reduction in the regions, in meat and poultry farming due to differences in production growth rates, pig and egg poultry farming were equally affected by upward and downward trends. Peripheral regions with high rates of reduction in the production of most types of products and an unfavorable demographic situation have been identified, where there are risks of an increased downward trend in the agricultural sector and an accelerated outflow of villagers. Organizational and economic measures have been proposed for such areas to solve these problems and attract large-scale investments here.
Agriculture plays an important role both in ensuring national food security and overcoming agflation and solving critical macroeconomic problems. The purpose of the article is to justify high tech as a means of accumulating value added. It argues that the scale of value added accumulation depends on the depth of technological processing rather than the difference between revenue and costs so that the deeper processing the higher the value added. Therefore, the technological policy in agriculture aimed either at its modernization and at the introduction of new product technologies is very important. Technological diversification is a promising path for technological development of agriculture. High tech diversification aimed at high and highest technological processing is considered as most favorable for the accumulation of value added. The author explains the multiple intra industry and macroeconomic effects that result from high tech diversification such as increasing investment opportunities, risks adjustment, reduced environmental damage, accompanying the existing mode of agriculture, increased private and public benefits, S&M development, reduced dependence on import and many others. The author proposes measures for technological and economic development of agriculture aimed at achieving this pathway.
The work is devoted to a comprehensive study of ESG factors in the functioning of economic structures of the agro-industrial complex with the aim of systematizing and expanding them, taking into account national development goals. As part of the study, a system of ESG factors for the agro-industrial complex was formed, which includes basic ESG factors that are currently generally accepted, as well as additional factors that reflect the specifics of the activities of economic structures in the agro-industrial complex. Additional factors are the following: indirect wastewater discharge, biofuel, use of green spaces, soil restoration, animal biodiversity, veterinary and phytosanitary control, green building, fertilizers, staff turnover without taking into account seasonal work, food quality. It has been established that for large forms of business all ESG factors are significant, while for small forms of business they are not; Of all the ESG factors, the least significant for small business structures are those of the management group. ESG factors must be considered taking into account the business model within which a particular economic structure operates, especially within the framework of a heterogeneous agro-industrial complex. It was revealed that the ESG factors of the group of environmental factors, as well as three ESG factors of the group of social factors - average wages and motivation system, human resources development, social investments - are most consistent with national development goals. To the least extent, management factors appear as ESG factors reflecting national development goals. In general, the work has created a system of ESG factors adapted for large and small forms of business in the Russian agro-industrial complex, reflecting the national development goals of the Russian Federation until 2030 and for the future until 2036.