One of the scientific and practical problems of the economy of animal husbandry is to conduct a comparative economic assessment of breeds of farm animals, including cattle, dairy cows. The need for such an assessment arises as at the stage of selection, when analyzing the performance of breeding work; and at the stage of making economic decisions, when enterprises choose the best breed of livestock, to ensure maximum efficiency of investment projects. At present, there is no generally accepted methodology and a single economic criterion for a comparative assessment of the economic efficiency of various breeds of agricultural animals. In the presented study, a set of initial indicators was formed, which form the basis of the criterial model. The indicators are grouped into four blocks depending on the content and sources of production: biological, economic, market and estimated. Biological - determine the characteristics of rocks, are formed according to scientific research, breeding descriptions, special observations. Economic indicators characterize the production result of the use of farm animals according to actual data in the studied region. Market indicators represent the prevailing market prices for milk, meat, heifers; are included in the assessment of the same for all breeds at the level of the average for the studied region. Estimates include the cost of heifers, the salvage value of the cow, the cost of the produced milk and calves, comparable costs per head per year. The main calculated indicator is a generalized economic criterion - comparable yield. Based on the materials and conditions of the Kostroma region, a comparative assessment of the Holstein, Kostroma, black-and-white, and Yaroslavl rocks was carried out. As a result, the estimates of the breed are ranked by decrease in economic efficiency as follows: Kostroma, black-and-white, Yaroslavl, Holstein. The study confirmed the efficiency of the technique, the possibility of its use for comparative economic evaluation of other cattle breeds in different regions. The prospect for further research is the development of methodological approaches to the assessment of breeds of other species of farm animals.
The existing tendencies to decrease in profitability of grain production, unevenness of distribution of income between producers and intermediaries, strengthening of dependence of landowners on grain traders, a gap between the import and export prices of grain crops cause need of search of ways of increase in competitiveness of products in the internal and external markets. The authors analysed parameters of competitiveness of the Russian grain, problems of realization of competitive advantages in the world market are revealed. The comparative analysis of parameters of competitiveness of grain crops of Russia and other leading grain powers (the USA, Canada, the EU) is carried out. On the level of costs of production of grain crops under favourable weather conditions Russia has considerable competitive advantages in the world market. The minimum costs of application of fertilizers, low level of investments of restoration of fertility of soils, the underestimated amount of the rent for the earth, etc. are the main reasons for low prime cost of grain. For improving competitiveness of grain in the internal and external markets system development of all parameters of competitiveness of grain crops is offered: balancing of multidirectional economic interests of producers, support of competitive potential of the Russian grain market; realization of certain competitive advantages of the Russian grain in the world market.
The key problems of sustainable development of rural areas of the Central black earth region in the process of interaction of labour, business and government are considered. Only with the improvement of normative-legal, personnel, information and software is possible scientifically-based approach to sustainable development of rural areas, the place of support of the living space, where human potential with land, labour, material and technical, financial resources becomes the instrument of action, the prestigious authority of local authorities and business. The article analyzes the best practices associated with the complex development of rural areas, the system of measures that determine the activities of business structures and local governments to improve the efficiency of the agricultural economy, level and quality of life of the rural population in the perspective of the state social partnership, civil initiative. The presented results of the study can be used in the practical activity of the bodies of management of agriculture, business services at the exit of rural territorial entities to a new operating level of development of the economy and social sphere according to the Doctrine of food security of Russia.
The subject of our research is the mechanisms of development and functioning of local rural communities. We examine stable development of the rural region as a process of interaction between several elements: economy, population and resources, including human capital assets. We use the structural-functional approach as a methodological basis that allows for complex examination of the rural region development. Our main hypothesis which defines the research objective is a thesis that the most important mechanisms providing stable development of local rural communities can be represented as three key groups: productive-economic, socio-cultural and institutional. Intensive development of mixed economy against the decay in traditional forms of organization of agriculture leads to the diversification of socio-economic activity and changes in the rural way of life. These processes provide for the creation of effective instruments of innovative changes in local rural communities, maintenance of their socially oriented development and their transmission from the stability paradigm to the paradigm of rapid development. The proposed system of mechanisms and indicators can be applied to the process of rural regions development analysis.
Despite the fact that many problems of further development of agriculture and rural areas are systemic in nature, there is no a long-term strategy for agricultural and rural development. Research results show that in recent years significant results have been achieved in the production of certain types of products, increasing the country's food security, increasing exports of grain, oilseeds, poultry and pig meat, and a number of other goods. However, growth in agriculture was accompanied by serious structural imbalances: in the development of sub-sectors, various categories of farms, differentiation in terms of the level and efficiency of production both in the country regions and individual agricultural producers, and the social situation in the countryside intensified. There remains a set of problems related to the availability of food for low-income groups, the need to increase the profitability of the main part of medium-sized small agricultural producers, the development of domestic technological and resource base, the improvement of living conditions in rural areas and several others. The proposals for improving agricultural policy are based on the need to balance the interests of consumers and producers of agricultural products and foodstuffs, as well as to ensure consistency between the tasks facing the agro-industrial complex to achieve food security of the country, increasing the export potential of domestic agricultural products, sustainable rural development and state programs. measures, as well as allocated for the development financial resources.
The aim of the study is the development of tools for evaluating the effectiveness of agricultural consumer cooperatives’ activities. It is revealed that to assess the effectiveness of agricultural consumer cooperative a specially developed system of criteria reflecting different aspects of the efficiency of consumer cooperatives is required. To this end, the authors suggested methodical approach to evaluating the effectiveness of agricultural consumer cooperatives, based on the calculation of individual, group and integrated indexes according to four clusters: financial condition, business activity, social unit and operating profitability. The developed approach allows carrying out multidimensional rating and analysis, which allows to evaluate the degree of achievement of the economic interests of all members of agricultural consumer cooperatives and to achieve the effect of integrity or the effect of emergence. Assessment of agricultural cooperation in the Ulyanovsk region according to accounting (financial) reports of cooperatives for 2016 was executed
The influence of technological features of production on the development of agricultural industries, in particular, the duration of the production cycle was analyzed. Technological features are largely due to the biological characteristics of the production of one or another agricultural product, for example, early maturity characteristics of animal growth, cropping complexity. In recent years the intensive growth of the most complex industries in the technological relation, in particular, of poultry farming is observed that is explained by the short production cycle attracting a rapid turnover of the invested capital. Specific features of production technologies play a large role in the solution of business on capital investments in this or that industry. Agriculture in general loses to other branches of economy at the expense of the long turnover of the capital and numerous risks connected with big dependence on climatic conditions... These circumstances determine the necessity of the state support for agriculture. However, the volume of state support for agriculture in our country is far inferior to the level of developed countries. The consequence of this is the technological lag of the Russian agro-industrial complex from the indicators of developed countries in the provision of agricultural machinery, mineral fertilizers, pesticides, high-quality seeds and in innovative development as whole. Many innovations that are used in production are of foreign origin and are in urgent need of import substitution. Agriculture in Russia is characterized by a wide variety of technological paradigms, a range of economic and social conditions. The influence of economic attractiveness factors - capital intensity, level of manufacturability and payback period according to a three-point assessment on the production growth of the main types of livestock and crop production is considered. It is concluded that there are significant impact of technological factors on the livestock industries development and there are lesser impact of it on the crop production development.
Depopulation processes are observed in the rural areas of the Russian Federation. In these conditions, an increasing number of economic entities in the agrarian sphere use robotics. This allows soothing this problem, improving production and economic indicators. The article summarizes the results of the study of rural areas of the Russian Federation, where robotics is used in agrarian production. The study aims to identify the general characteristics of these territories, their isolation from cities and the proportion of the rural population in them. This makes it possible to increase the effectiveness of decision-making on development and introduction of innovative agricultural development programs, and to increase the effectiveness of robotization of the agrarian sector of the economy. The study covers all regions of the Russian Federation, where robots are used in agriculture, 71 municipal units, 103 economic entities. As of January 1, 2017, 393 robots were used in the agrarian sector of the economy, primarily in animals milking. The conception and classification of rural areas is the most fully described within the methodology of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. A significant number (39‰) of economic entities using robotics is located not far (up to 80 km) from regional centers. This is due to as the need of entities to overcome the shortage of the personnel because of a high level of labour migration to cities, and as the availability of a necessary infrastructure for service of robotics. The maximum density of robotics is observed in areas with a share of the rural population of 15-50‰, the minimum - with a share of the rural population of more than 50‰. According to the isolation criterion, the maximum density of robotics is observed in mixed suburban (114.0) and mixed remote (94.2) territories. This is explained with the fact that agricultural organizations in suburban areas have a significant shortage of personnel and are forced to use robotics. Remote rural areas have the minimum density of robotization (50.4), which necessitates the development and use of the mechanism, and higher priority for robotization to overcome technological inferiority and stagnation processes.
In article the existing methodical approaches according to efficiency of investments into technical and technological modernization of agricultural production are considered and adapted. At assessment of efficiency of investments into technical and technological modernization of agricultural production it is possible to proceed from two various situations: stage-by-stage investment depending on financial opportunities and existence of necessary technical means; full formation of technical base. The efficiency and riskiness of investments is offered to be estimated on the basis of the combination of the "tree of decisions" method and various scenarios providing calculation of population mean of the net discounted income of the project and degree of its riskiness defined as the probability of unprofitability of investments.
The study made analytical calculations for groups and indicators proving that in modern conditions of agricultural production is not always the scale of production determine its effectiveness. Efficiency in unstable economic systems is determined by the level of organization of agricultural production, the coherence of managers and chief specialists. In addition, it is shown that in stable economic conditions the scale effect has a certain impact on the profitability of agricultural production. We are talking primarily about self-sustaining agricultural organizations. The paper proves the influence of the level of specialization on the profitability of agricultural production. Despite the fact that due to the high level of diversification of agricultural production, agricultural organizations have a low level of specialization, calculations show that the profitability and level of specialization are directly dependent. The paper presents a comparative description of farms producing grain using intensive technology and biological farming system. The biological system of agriculture has undeniable advantages here, due to the more pronounced influence of technology, scale of production and the level of its specialization on the profitability of production.