Reviewing changing institutional conditions for private farming in Russia

Abstract

With independence and the abolition of the Soviet era's planned economy the dominant organisations of agricultural production, i.e. kolkhozes and sovkhozes, had become obsolete. These organisations had to be restructured and family farms, or more generally private farms, were supposed to form the backbone of farm production. However, development since then has been difficult. Based on a literature review, this study reviews and assesses this development in terms of the changing institutional conditions. The Russian government's policies, by interchangeably supporting large-scale farming organisations or private farming, have created uncertainties for private farmers. Russian farmers were once strongly influenced by the mentality from Soviet times, but there are indications that they are gaining strength, possibly as a consequence of a more benevolent political order, more entrepreneurial attitudes and developing organisational arrangements.

Networking among Russian farmers and their prospects for success

“…These farms have little in common with the peasant farmers in Russian history and the model of private farming in the minds of the reformers during the early 1990s (Van Atta, 1993;Wegren, 2000). Present-day private farmers are fully commercialised and linked to the upstream and downstream sectors (Wolz et al, 2016).…”

Education Is an Important Factor of Human Capital Development in Rural Territories

“…Science and practice have a comprehensive argument for this: 1) not all employees have the financial capacity to invest in future (risky) earnings; 2) the requirements of employers can be so specific that only they can arrange training according to production needs; 3) many skills are easier and cheaper to learn on the job using modern training technologies. And yet, analyzing the educational opportunities of the residents of rural areas engaged in agricultural production, we note that only one in ten professionals acquires any new professional skills at the initiative of the employer, although the heads of farms in the conducted surveys constantly express their complaints about the initial training of personnel [10].…”

Legal means of supporting the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation

“…We believe it is necessary to improve and centralize the management and support of entities working in this field. Secondly, we should pay attention to the comprehensive provision of guarantees for the stability and effective functioning of state regulation, which will make it possible to achieve a positive reduction in energy costs for small and medium-sized enterprises of the agroindustrial complex [13]. They also pay special attention to proposals that explore the socioeconomic development of the country as the most important priority of the Russian Federation.…”