Assessment of agricultural business activities and its contribution to the formation of food security of the country

The article examines the issues of agricultural production by the agrarians of the Russian Federation in the context of import substitution and their contribution to the formation of food independence in the region. The dynamics of agricultural production in such sectors as crop and livestock production has been analyzed. In recent years, thanks to new innovative technologies in crop production, there has been a positive trend towards an increase in gross harvest, as well as an increase in crop yields. So, in particular, for more than thirty years of the analyzed period of time, gross agricultural production increased by 6110.4 billion rubles, and in the sectors crop and livestock production there was an increase in production by 3276.8 billion rubles. and by 2833.8 billion rubles. These indicators were influenced by such innovative developments in crop production as binary crops, new varieties of agricultural crops, as well as a significant increase in the use of fertilizers on agricultural land.

Reconnecting Grazing Livestock to Crop Landscapes: Reversing Specialization Trends to Restore Landscape Multifunctionality

Closely integrated crop and livestock production systems used to be the rule in agriculture before the industrial revolution. However, agricultural landscapes have undergone a massive intensification process in recent decades. This trajectory has led to uniform landscapes of specialized cropping systems or consolidated zones of intensive livestock production. Loss of diversity is at the core of increasing side effects on the environment from agriculture. The unintended consequences of specialization demand the reconciliation of food production with environmental quality. We argue that the reconnection of grazing livestock to specialized crop landscapes can restore decoupled biogeochemical cycles and reintroduce the necessary complexity to restore ecosystem functioning. Besides, the reconnection of crops and livestock promotes several ecosystem services underlying multifunctionality. We focus on the capacity of integrated crop-livestock systems to create biophysical and socioeconomic resilience that cope with weather and market oscillations. We present examples of redesigned landscapes that leverage grazing animals to optimize food production per unit of land while mitigating the externalities of specialized agriculture. We also debate mindset barriers to the shift of current specialization trends toward the design of multifunctional landscapes.

Future of Food Safety and Possibility of Its Realization in Russia

The possibilities of minimizing the negative impact on food security of the likely changes in the external conditions of agricultural production, which are not eliminated by the efforts of enterprises, are discussed. Attention is drawn to the increasing decline in agriculturally suitable land, especially land with high rental potential – ​near cities and accessible transport routes. Negative for food security may be in foreign trade geopolitical changes, unfavorable for the economy as a whole, and for the consumer market. Known climatic anomalies, the danger of pandemics and epidemics are among the most adverse factors. As an effective direction of agricultural policy, the state considers possible options to help enterprises to acquire and develop high-performance new technologies in crop and livestock production, financing the expansion of sought-after agricultural land. These measures are considered in addition to the current practice of supporting low-profit farms.

Diversification strategy in agro-industrial complex

The relevance of the topic of the article is determined by the importance of diversification of production aimed to increase the competitiveness of agro-industrial complex at the present stage of economic development. The goal is to analyze the features of transformation of organizational and production structure of agricultural enterprise, which consists in supplementing it with new types of products, technologies, suppliers, etc. Objectives to show the importance of diversification processes to ensure sustainability of agricultural producers to negative changes in the external and internal environment. Results – it is noted that the priority areas of diversification in agro-industrial production include the organization of new branches of crop and livestock production, the inclusion of productive species, varieties or hybrids of crops in crop rotations, the development of processing sectors, the system of material and technical supply and marketing of products, etc. commodity diversity, reorientation of sales markets in agro-industrial complex is especially important in view of high risks of doing business associated with the high dependence of its results on weather conditions of the year, soil and natural-climatic factors, etc. The conducted analysis shows that the important conditions for deepening structural restructuring include developed agricultural policy of the State, a system of effective measures for regulating and supporting the industry, attracting investment in the development of agricultural sector and financial markets. The performed studies allowed us to draw the following main conclusions – diversification of production is a promising direction for the development of economic activity of enterprises, ensuring the growth of their proceeds from product sales, profits and profitability.

IMPROVING THE PROCESS OF COST OPTIMIZATION IN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

The international advanced method of cost accounting used in the main branches of agriculture is based on the generalization of costs for technological processes related to the stages of work provided for by the production technology in crop and livestock production, and can be described as a process-by-process approach. The article considers that the successful solution of the problem of increasing the efficiency of cooperation, the organization of procurement and supply and marketing structures of the agro-industrial complex and the improvement of accounting in them is the most important factor in the stabilization and development of the economy in the new economic conditions. The article discusses the main directions of development of agricultural cooperatives. The process of cost optimization at agricultural enterprises of the Republic of Kazakhstan is considered. The main ways to improve the management system of the cost optimization process in agricultural cooperatives of the Republic of Kazakhstan are outlined.

The political economy of unsustainable lock-ins in North American commodity agriculture: a path forward – Response to Struckman

In this commentary, I argue that in North America, the overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is due to institutional and technological lock-ins, which are the result of historical policies with deep roots in an agricultural system focused on increasing production of commodities with disregard for their full social costs. Further, excessive fertilizer use is integral to production systems that have disconnected crop and livestock production to the extent that manure is a waste product, which further creates environmental problems. In order to address the environmental and social problems associated with industrial agriculture, it will be necessary to bring market prices closer to true social costs, thereby eliminating overproduction of commodity grains and oilseeds, and to promote more diverse agricultural landscapes.

Analysis of the development and support of agriculture in the regions of the Non-Black Earth Zone

In order to develop a forecast of the regional agri-food systems, carried out at VIAPI named after A.A. Nikonov, an analysis of the development of agriculture in the regions of the Non-Black Earth Zone is carried out. The conclusion is made about the adaptation of agricultural producers in the zone to market conditions due to the contraction of agricultural production in comparison with 1990, while establishing the profitable work of most agricultural organizations. The uneven development of the regions of the zone was revealed in terms of the indices of agricultural, crop and livestock production (comparison of 2018 with 1990 and 2000), the structure of production by categories of farms, indicators of financial activity, state support, recommendations for its improvement were given. It is concluded that it is premature to exclude the Non-Black Earth Zone as a priority development area from the State Program for the Development of Agriculture and Regulation of Agricultural Product Markets.