The concept of a peasant (farm) economy

Peasant (farm) farms in Russia date back to Stolypin’s agrarian reforms, the essence of which was that each peasant, by the Tsar’s Decree of November 9, 1906, was allowed to leave the community with his own plot and become an independent and independent owner.

After the proclamation in 1990 - 1992. agrarian and land reform began a new stage in the history of the transformation of domestic agriculture. The formation of a competitive environment in the agricultural sector of the country's economy has become one of the main goals towards which the reformers' actions were aimed.

However, the process of formation of agriculture was complex and contradictory. In 1991, the reform took the first practical steps in shaping the structure of the agricultural economy. One of these ways of life was farming - a small form of agro-industrial business on a family basis.

A farm is a business enterprise, the business management of which includes and combines marketing, competent management of resources (including natural, financial, technical and human), planning and forecasting1.

A farm is an association of citizens related by kinship and (or) property, having property in common ownership and jointly carrying out production and other economic activities (production, processing, storage, transportation and sale of agricultural products), based on their personal participation (Art. 1 of the Federal Law of June 11, 2003 No. 74-FZ “On Peasant (Farming) Farming”).

Along with farms, peasant farms or personal subsidiary plots of rural residents exist and function in rural areas. They, unlike farms, are of a consumer nature and have a different motivational mechanism.

Running a peasant or personal subsidiary plot is essentially an activity based on the labor of members of a peasant family, with minimal recourse to the market. This type of activity for the production of agricultural products is focused primarily on the consumption of products within the farm itself and does not require legal registration of economic activities and the maintenance of official records. The development of such farms into farms is associated with the development of new technologies, an increase in the level of mechanization, and the general and professional culture of peasants.

The peasant farm as a subject of agrarian, civil, land, financial legal relations and an independent organizational and legal form of agricultural entrepreneurship is characterized by the following features:

firstly, it represents the sum of three components: a property complex, a land plot and citizens united to carry out agricultural and other related activities;

secondly, it acts as a single-subject formation of an independently economic entity and a bearer of rights and obligations;

thirdly, a business entity1

A farm is an association of citizens related by kinship and (or) property, having property in common ownership and jointly carrying out production and other economic activities (production, processing, storage, transportation and sale of agricultural products), based on their personal participation2.

In accordance with current legislation, a farm can be created by one citizen (Clause 2, Article 1 of the Federal Law “On Peasant (Farm) Farming”). According to paragraph 3 of Art. 1 of the Federal Law “On Peasant (Farm) Economy”, the rules of civil legislation regulating the activities of legal entities that are commercial organizations are applied to the activities of farms, unless otherwise provided by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The activities of a peasant farm are dominated not only by economic tasks related to the implementation of agricultural and other related activities, but also by commercial tasks aimed at making a profit. Therefore, the law gives the peasant (farm) economy the full range of rights and responsibilities that it needs to carry out private entrepreneurial activities.

The special nature of the peasant farm is also expressed in its endowment with the rights of a legal entity. In modern conditions, in accordance with the prevailing view in the theory of civil law and practice, the property of a legal entity behind a peasant farm is denied. This view is reflected in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and in the Law of the Russian Federation “On Peasant (Farm) Farms,” which do not recognize the status of a legal entity for such farms.

A peasant farm is a special kind of economic organization, which, as a general rule, is run either by an individual citizen or a family. The peasant family is the simplest, most widespread organizational and legal form of peasant farming.

The legal definition emphasizes that a peasant farm, on the one hand, is based on family ties of persons engaged in joint agricultural activities, on the other hand, it is a family-labor association of persons engaged in private entrepreneurial agricultural activities.

On this basis, peasant farms were created in pre-revolutionary Russia, the legislation of which considered the peasant household not only as a kinship, but also as a labor union. In the legal literature of that time, the dominant view was that “the right to family property or its share is determined both by the beginning of consanguinity and the labor principle...” An opposite interpretation of the social and legal nature of the peasant household was given by the Governing Senate, which, formally relying on peasant customs, but essentially, for political reasons, in contrast to individual property enshrined in Volume X of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, he recognized that the family, within the meaning of ordinary peasant law, is not a kinship union, but is a labor union. Accordingly, the householder was viewed as a representative of the collective, and not as a legitimate owner. In fact, the power of the householder was unlimited: it extended not only to property relations, but also to the family members themselves. This explanation of the legal essence of the peasant household was fully consistent with the autocratic regime of state power1.

The practice of the pre-revolutionary Senate was subject to justified criticism in the pre-revolutionary legal literature, in which attempts were made even before the Decree of November 9, 1906 to extend the provisions of Volume X of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire on individual ownership to property relations in a peasant family. After the implementation of the Decree of November 9, 1906, this position became dominant in legal literature. This is how, for example, Prof. characterized the legal essence of the peasant household. A.A. Leontyev. “The right of hereditary use of a household allotment is determined not only by the family relations of the peasants among themselves, but also by belonging to the composition of the working family in the name of whose householder the given one was issued.” This understanding of the legal essence of the peasant household was based on the Decree of November 9, 1906, which broke with the Senate theory of the peasant household as a labor union, as well as the common family property of the household, and took the position of personal family property of a householder who left the community.

The Land Code of the RSFSR of 1922 (Article 65) characterized the peasant household as a family-labor association of persons jointly conducting agriculture.

Modern legal practice also contains many arguments in favor of the legal construction of a peasant farm as a family-labor association of peasants engaged in private entrepreneurship in the field of agriculture.

Based on this design, issues related to the regulation of land, property, and labor relations arising from the joint labor activity of members of a peasant family should be included in the scope of legislation on peasant farming. The rights of members of a peasant farm in relation to property are determined by legal norms that take into account both the beginning of family kinship and labor relations.

At the same time, the law allows the existence of peasant farms that are run by a group of people who are not related by family ties, but have united for joint agricultural activities. With such a broad understanding of the composition of the peasant economy, the question arises of how these collectives differ from other agricultural enterprises, which, according to the law, can act as participants in market agrarian relations. This duality of the position of the peasant (farm) economy gives rise to conflicting explanations of its essence. With generalized and incomplete regulation of the activities of peasant farms created by a group of citizens, other difficulties arise. They are mainly due to the fact that participants in civil transactions have no idea with whom they should deal in civil transactions. The question also remains unclear: who is the owner of the property, on what grounds is it assigned to a group of citizens who are not related to each other by family relations? Can a peasant (farm) enterprise be considered an agricultural partnership or cooperative under certain conditions?

The provisions concerning the social and legal nature of peasant farms have been supplemented, clarified, and modified in the Law of the Russian Federation “On Peasant (Farm) Farming”1.

At the same time, the possibility of using other legal structures of a group of citizens, in particular, joint activities without creating a legal entity, is not excluded. Along with this, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. provides for the creation by members of a peasant farm of a business partnership or production cooperative on the basis of the property of the farm2.

The legislation connects the concept of “peasant farming” not only with the form of an agricultural enterprise, but also with land ownership, lease of agricultural land, land circulation, and organization of land territory. The issue of the legal regime of peasant farm lands has been resolved, in essence, by paragraph 1 of Art. 1 of the Law on Peasant Farming. This refers to such title land rights of citizens leading peasant farming as the right to lease, lifelong inheritable ownership of land or ownership of a land plot. A plot of land can be part of the real estate of a peasant farm on various legal grounds: part of the land - as the private property of a citizen who has been issued a certificate of land ownership; the other --- as a lifelong inheritable possession; the third - under a lease agreement.

Law of the Russian Federation. “On the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to receive private ownership and to sell land plots for personal subsidiary and dacha farming, gardening and individual housing construction” confirms the importance of the institution of lifelong inheritable ownership of a land plot, establishes the rule that citizens who have upon entry into force of this Law, land plots whose size exceeds the maximum permissible norms, in all cases retain the right of lifelong inheritable possession or use of the part of the land plot exceeding the specified norms. With the entry into force of Art. In the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Russian legislator reaffirmed the existence of such title land rights of citizens running a peasant (farm) economy as the right of lifelong inheritable ownership of citizens' land. It is enshrined not only in Ch. 17 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, but also in Art. 216 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which also includes the right of lifelong inheritable ownership of a land plot among the real rights of persons who are not owners. In accordance with this, we can conclude that despite the absence of any mention in the current Land Code of the Russian Federation about lifelong inheritable ownership, a peasant (farm) economy, as a family-labor association of persons leading it, carries out private entrepreneurial activities either as an owner or as a landowner or as a tenant of a plot of land.

The answer to the question why exactly a citizen who has expressed a desire to create a peasant farm and has applied to the relevant authorities to provide him with a land plot is recognized as the owner of the land plot is contained in Art. 7 of the Land Code. It provides that citizens have the right to receive private ownership of land plots for farming. If we remain in the position of the current legislation, then we must recognize as justified the ban on the allocation of a land plot upon leaving the peasant farm, the transfer of inheritance of land to heirs who are not members of the peasant farm (Article 11, 26 of the Law “On Peasant (Farm) Farming”) 1.

Pre-revolutionary legal regulation of land and property relations of the period of P.A. Stolypin was also based on the theory of the householder’s personal ownership of family property.

The basis of the legal structures of land rights institutions at the first stage of land reform is the right of ownership of the land plot of the head of the peasant farm. The law recognized land plots in household ownership, as well as estate plots in communal ownership as the personal property of the householder. Thus, Russian legislation at the beginning of the 20th century. abandoned family property and collective forms of land ownership, securing the right of personal property of the householder and common property as the main institutions of civil and land law. All this brought the householder's ownership closer to the general provisions of private civil law, although when the normal life of the peasant household was disrupted, for example, in the event of the death of the head of the family, during family divisions, the courts were guided by ordinary peasant law.

At the second stage of land reform, at the request of the V Congress of AKKOR, changes were made to the new draft law of the Russian Federation “On Peasant (Farm) Farming” related to the legal regime of farm lands. These changes consist in securing the right of common ownership of a land plot not to the head, but to all members of the peasant farm who have united to carry out private entrepreneurial activities in agriculture. A similar solution to questions about the land legal personality of a peasant (farm) economy is given in Art. 267 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which secured the common ownership of land by members of a peasant farm (joint or shared - according to an agreement between its members).

However, the provision on the labor nature of land ownership cannot be considered as an unconditional principle for organizing the labor of a peasant farm. The owner of land (proprietor, tenant) engaged in private entrepreneurship in rural areas, like any entrepreneur registered in the prescribed manner, can carry out his activities with the involvement of hired labor (Article 23.257 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The use of hired labor in peasant farming has a number of specific features, which are enshrined in Art. 22 of the Law on Peasant Farming. The farm is allowed to use hired labor in case of production necessity in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation. The conditions for the use of hired labor are determined by agreements between peasant farms and citizens on the use of their labor.

In accordance with Art. 2 Federal Law “On Peasant (Farm) Economy” Federal government bodies, government bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments promote the creation of farms and the implementation of their activities, provide support to farms, including through the formation of economic and social infrastructures to ensure access for farms to financial and other resources, as well as in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on small business.

Intervention of federal government bodies, government bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local government bodies in the economic and other activities of a farm is not allowed, except in cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The main activity of peasant (farm) farms is conducting commercial agricultural production.

They have special legal capacity and can engage in various types of activities not prohibited by current legislation, but while maintaining the production, processing and sale of agricultural products as leading activities. To create a farm and carry out its activities, land plots are provided and acquired from agricultural lands in accordance with civil and land legislation.

So, a peasant (farm) economy is a family-labor association of persons engaged in private agricultural entrepreneurship and carrying out, on the principles of commercial calculation, commodity production, processing, and sale of agricultural products on the basis of their own capital using land plots transferred to private ownership, lifelong inheritable ownership , rent to members of a given economy, using their own, and within certain limits also hired labor1.

agricultural farm labor

A.M. Anfimov, A.P. Korelin

Data on the state of agricultural production in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. contained in various source complexes. The most important and most extensive of them is current agricultural statistics, collected and published since the early 80s of the 19th century. various departments: the Central Statistical Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Industry (since 1894 - Department of Rural Economy and Agricultural Statistics) of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property (since 1905 - Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture), Veterinary Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs , zemstvo statistical bodies, various scientific and public organizations. As a rule, this is weather information characterizing the main aspects of agricultural production (sown areas, harvests and yields of the main agricultural crops, the number of different types of livestock, etc.) at the provincial, less often - at the district and community level. Provincial and district reports of this data, covering from the beginning of the 20th century. the entire territory of the empire, were published in the periodicals “Harvest of 18...” as part of the multi-volume “Statistics of the Russian Empire” “18... in agricultural terms based on materials received from the owners”, as well as in general publications on agricultural statistics of Russia late XIX - early XX centuries: “Collection of statistical and economic information on agriculture in Russia and foreign countries” (St. Petersburg, 1907-1913; Pg., 1914-1917); “Agriculture in Russia in the 20th century. Collection of statistical and economic information for 1901-1922. (M., 1923); “Code of harvest information for 1883-1915.” (M., 1928, etc.).

Another set of agricultural statistics consists of data from surveys and censuses that recorded the state of land ownership and land use, livestock breeding, and the entire agricultural production of European Russia or the entire Russian Empire for certain years. These are data from land censuses of 1877, 1887, 1905, agricultural censuses of 1916 and 1917, military horse censuses, a survey of agricultural machinery and implements conducted by the Central Scientific Research Center in 1910. Of great interest for studying the evolution of land ownership are the “Materials on statistics of the movement of land ownership "(St. Petersburg, 1896-1917), published by the Ministry of Finance and containing data on the mobilization of land ownership for 1895-1911, obtained by processing and systematizing information on the purchase and sale of land from announcements of notary offices published in the appendices to the "Senate statements." Calculation of data for 1911-1915. produced by A.M. Anfimov.

Data from complexes of agricultural statistics of different origins differ from each other, sometimes quite significantly. The problem of reliability and comparability of these data became the subject of special analysis in the studies of M.N. Dobrovolsky “Experience in the history and methodology of livestock statistics” (St. Petersburg, 1909); DI. Ivantsov “On the Criticism of Russian Harvest Statistics” (Moscow, 1911); E.Z. Volkova “Agrarian and economic statistics of Russia” (M., Leningrad, 1924); “Massive sources on the socio-economic history of Russia during the period of imperialism” (Moscow, 1979), etc. In this section, preference is given to publications by the Central Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs due to their greater universality and comparability.

The use of improved methods of cultivating land, agricultural implements and machines, the consumption of mineral fertilizers, the introduction of forage grass culture, increased demand for fruit planting material, the awakening of interest in improving various branches of livestock husbandry and other similar phenomena are already becoming widespread in many areas of Russia.

General characteristics of Agriculture of the Russian Empire

From “Explanatory
notes to the state control report on

estimates for 1910" (St. Petersburg, 1911. pp. 120-121).

Our agriculture in general, and especially on peasant lands, which occupy up to 75% of all agricultural land in European Russia alone, is carried out imperfectly. Poor cultivation of the land, insignificant distribution of improved agricultural implements, insufficient soil fertilization, exclusively grain farming, mostly based on a three-field system, are still characteristic features of farming not only among peasants, but also among many private farmers. Depending on this, the area under crops is poorly used in our country, the yield of field plants is low and inconsistent, cattle breeding is poorly organized, and the processing of agricultural products is insufficiently developed. Moreover, the yield on peasant lands, even in comparison with the low yields on landowners' economies, is lower on average by almost 20%*. In terms of agricultural productivity and culture, Russia, despite its natural wealth, is far behind other countries that have achieved significant success in this regard, due to the expenditure of large amounts of labor and capital on the cultivation of agricultural land and the use of improved tools and farming systems. According to one of the French statistical collections (Statistique Agricole de la France), on average, the yield of main grains, calculated for 8 countries (Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium, the United States, Canada and Australia), is higher than the yield in Russia: for wheat - by 48.5%, rye - by 57.1%, barley - by 34.3%, oats - by 50.3% and potatoes - by 69%. This comparison will turn out to be even more unfavorable for Russia if we take some special crops and industrial plants and, in particular, animal husbandry.

Government measures to boost agriculture - land management, promoting the transition from communal orders to household and farm land ownership, dissemination of agricultural education, raising the technical level, land reclamation, preferential credit and encouragement of handicraft industry.

* The grain yield was higher on those landowners' lands that were cultivated at their own expense (approximately 10% of the total sown area). More than half of the arable land was rented out by landowners. The yields on these lands were lower than on peasant allotments.

From “Explanatory
notes to the state control report on
execution of state registration and financial
estimates for 1913." (Pg., 1914. P.234-247).

General activities on agriculture

From time immemorial, the well-being of the Russian people has been and continues to be based on agricultural production. Agricultural labor in Russia not only provides the food products the country needs, but also constitutes the primary occupation of more than 75% of its entire population. The annual productivity of this labor now exceeds 9 billion rubles; agricultural products are the main subject of our foreign export.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable development and improvement in our agriculture.

The use of improved methods of cultivating land, agricultural implements and machines, the consumption of mineral fertilizers, the introduction of forage grass culture, increased demand for fruit planting material, the awakening of interest in improving various branches of livestock husbandry and other similar phenomena are already becoming widespread in many areas of Russia.

At the same time, the productivity of agricultural land also increases. Thus, the total grain harvest, which averaged 4555 million poods per year in 1908-1912, reached 5637 million poods in 1913, exceeding, in particular, the 1912 harvest by 565 million poods. .. This excess seems all the more favorable since the area under grain crops increased in 1913 by only 4.7% compared to 1912.

The tax collection from tithes for the indicated years was *:

* It should be borne in mind that 1913 stood out for its particularly high harvest, and in the five-year period 1908-1912. 1908 and 1911 were marked by large deficiencies. - A.K.

The export of agricultural products abroad is also growing. Foreign sales, for example, of main grains reached 647.8 million poods in 1913. versus 548.4 million poods in 1912

In connection with the expansion and improvement of agriculture, the amount of assistance to it from both the Government and local public organizations is increasing.

Among the measures aimed at developing rural fishing and improving its general conditions, the first place in importance is occupied by measures to provide agronomic assistance to the population and the dissemination of agricultural education.

Allocations from the treasury for this matter increased in 1908-1912. from 5702 thousand rubles. up to 21880 thousand rubles. In 1913 they already reached 29,055 thousand rubles. .. Such an increase in loans for 1913 made it possible to significantly develop the most important of the mentioned measures this year, as can be seen from the following table:

Activities for these expenses were carried out by both government agencies and public organizations, mainly zemstvos, to which the agricultural department allocated funds for this in the form of benefits. In some cases, the issuance of such benefits exceeded 50% of the total expenditure... For their part, zemstvos and other local organizations spend significant amounts of their own money on the development of agronomic activities. Zemstvo expenses on this subject, increasing annually, reached 18,072 thousand rubles in the reporting year, exceeding the allocations of 1912 (15,043 thousand rubles) by 3,029 thousand rubles, and 1911 (11,399 thousand rubles) by 6673 thousand rubles.

The joint activities of the Government and public organizations to improve agriculture have already produced noticeable results. (Over 300 new agricultural educational institutions, more than 1000 courses have been opened; lectures are given, conversations are held on various issues of agriculture - in 20 thousand points, a system of experimental stations, fields, plots is organized in all provinces of European Russia; in the Caucasus and beyond the Urals there are more than 290; zemstvos introduced the institute of local agronomists; measures were taken to maintain and improve livestock farming, to distribute improved machines and tools, seeds, planting materials and fertilizers; measures were taken to drain and irrigate lands, to combat ravines and sands, and to organize farms. etc. The largest expenses in 1913 were made in Turkestan - for the irrigation of the Hungry Steppe, 3099 thousand rubles, and in the Caucasus - for the irrigation of the Mugan steppe, as well as in the Tomsk province - for the irrigation of the Barabinsk steppe).

Activities to promote livestock production. In terms of the number of agricultural livestock, Russia occupies one of the first places among the countries of Europe and America... However, the situation in domestic livestock farming does not seem entirely satisfactory. The total number of livestock for the three-year period 1911-1913. decreased from 188.6 million heads to 173.4 million heads. The supply of livestock to the rural population is decreasing. Thus, per 100 rural residents there were:

The unfavorable situation in livestock farming is also reflected in foreign trade. Imports from abroad of live cattle and livestock products - lard and wool - have reached significant proportions and prevail over exports.

Considerable attention is paid to the development of dairy farming and especially butter production. Major successes have been achieved in this area of ​​agriculture, as evidenced by the following data on the export trade in oil:

In order to further develop this business and train experienced managers, a special dairy farming institute was opened in Vologda.

Therefore, it is important to support local poultry farmers by promoting the organization and marketing of poultry products. The foreign export of these products, mainly eggs, constitutes a large item in our foreign trade:

Coursework

On the topic “Problems of farming: global and domestic experience”

Introduction

Main part

1. Formation and development of farms in foreign countries

1.1 Farming abroad: formation and main problems

1.2 Modern farming in foreign countries (using the example of the USA, France and Great Britain)

2. Russian farming: problems and prospects

2.1 Formation and development of farms in Russia

2.2 The main problems of domestic farming at the present stage of development

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

Russia is an industrial-agrarian country. Agriculture is one of the priority sectors of the national economy, in which the processes of production, distribution, exchange and consumption have their own characteristics, and the operation of economic laws takes on specific forms. Therefore, the development of the Russian village and peasantry is one of the most important tasks of our state. An important element of this development is the creation of peasant farms.

According to regulatory documents, farming (peasant farming) is a type of business activity in the Russian Federation directly related to agriculture. A peasant (farm) enterprise is an association of citizens who jointly own property and carry out production or other economic activities. After state registration of a peasant farm, its head is an individual entrepreneur - a farmer. The property of a farm belongs to its members on the right of joint ownership. Paragraph 1 of Article 19 of Federal Law No. 74-FZ lists the main activities of a farm: production and processing of agricultural products, as well as transportation (carriage), storage and sale of agricultural products of its own production. The first peasant (farm) farms in the modern history of Russia appeared even before the collapse of the USSR, in 1990.

For several years now, the priority national project “Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex” has been operating in Russia. As part of this project, it was decided to dramatically expand preferential lending to households and peasant (farm) households, based on economic and socio-political objectives. At the same time, experts have repeatedly emphasized the fact that farming in Russia is still in its infancy and does not play the same role in agriculture that farmers play, for example, in the USA, France, Great Britain and other developed countries; in addition, Russian farming has a lot unresolved problems. This is what determines relevance of our topic.

In this work we set ourselves main goal: study and identify the main problems of the formation and development of farms based on world and domestic experience.

Tasks, arising from the goal are as follows:

– study the process of formation and identify the main problems in the functioning of farms; study global farming experience using the examples of the USA, France and Great Britain;

– study domestic experience in the formation and development of peasant (farm) farms; identify critical moments in Russian farming.

To solve the problems, we used the following specialized literature: monographs by E. Bachikina, D. Valova, V. Voitekh, I. Mikhalenko, T. Prikhodko; textbooks and teaching aids by K. McConnell, V. Iokhin, as well as official publications - texts of federal laws, the Russian Statistical Yearbook and a number of journal articles, as well as a number of publications by other authors.

1. Formation and development of farms in foreign countries

1.1 Farming abroad: formation and main problems

The current effective private economic system of foreign farming has been taking shape for many decades and has its own patterns and problems.

Let's turn to history. A farmer is a peasant entrepreneur in agriculture who owns or leases land and engages in farming on it. In countries where colonization was carried out or free lands were seized from the native population (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, i.e. in countries where the so-called “American way of agricultural development” prevailed), farmers’ farms received the earliest and full development 1. Farm farming appeared in Great Britain earlier than in other Western European countries, becoming the predominant form of agricultural production. These farms arose mainly on rented land, since peasant land ownership was completely eliminated in the 17th century as a result of enclosures 2 . In most other Western European countries, the formation of farming took place under the conditions of the so-called. "the Prussian way of development of capitalism in agriculture" , during the long evolution of landowners' farms into large capitalist enterprises, and the peasantry either into hired workers or into the rural bourgeoisie (farmers). Farming became widespread in Europe in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century 3 . However, the leader in the development of farming at the beginning of the 20th century was the United States. The two decades preceding the First World War were extremely favorable for agriculture; indeed, this period has been dubbed the “Golden Age of American Agriculture” 4 . And the demand for agricultural products, and their prices, and farmers’ incomes - all indicators grew. The First World War enhanced this prosperity. Foreign demand for the products of American farmers increased rapidly during and immediately after the war. Foreign countries, diverting resources from agriculture to military production, turned to American agriculture for food products and raw materials. However, the sharp postwar decline in 1920 was a sudden and severe shock to American agriculture. European agriculture not only recovered from the war, but also expanded rapidly under the influence of new technological improvements. Consequently, foreign demand for American agricultural goods began to level off and then decline. The Great Depression of the 1930s hit American agriculture particularly hard. This led to the formation of the conditions for the so-called “farmer problem” 5, which we will consider in more detail in the following discussion.

World War II brought temporary relief to farming. Both domestic and foreign demand for agricultural products grew rapidly during the war. With the exception of the crisis of 1948-1949, the mid- and late 1940s were the time of greatest prosperity for American farmers. Then in the 1950s a slow but steady decline became apparent and agriculture began to face difficulties again.

However, despite the crises that American farming was experiencing, farming in general, in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain and Western European countries, moved to the machine stage of production by the beginning of the 60s, as a result of which farmers became the main producers of commercial agriculture products in these countries, a trend towards consolidation of farms 6 began to be observed everywhere (see Table 1).

Table 1. Trends towards consolidation of farms

Source: Kuchukov R. Pricing in the agro-industrial complex of countries with developed economies. Voronezh, Legion, 2007. P. 87.

However, despite this “mechanization” of agriculture in the 1970s, prices for US agricultural products and the incomes of US farmers again increased very strongly. The main reason was the sharp increase in exports. There were a number of factors behind this export boom. Globally, and especially in Western Europe and Japan, incomes grew rapidly. But most countries had little or no excess agricultural production capacity; indeed, many countries were already major importers of food products. Consequently, most of the increased demand for food and raw materials came from American products. In addition, due to low harvests in a number of countries, demand for American food products has increased. Finally, American agricultural exports received an additional boost from the depreciation of the dollar in international trade. That is, the dollar became less expensive in terms of other currencies, which made American goods, including farm products, cheaper for foreign buyers 7 . In short, all these factors, coupled with a rather sharp increase in incomes within the country, greatly increased the demand for agricultural products, their prices and the incomes of farmers.

In the early 1980s, this picture changed completely 8. Many of the forces that caused the export boom of the 1970s began to operate in the opposite direction. A number of industrialized countries have moved to a policy of increasing agricultural production, and many countries have begun to provide themselves with it. For example, Western European countries that are members of the Common Market went from being major importers to major exporters of grain between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. Second, many of the less developed countries were forced to limit their purchases of American agricultural products in order to make interest and principal payments on large foreign debts. Third, the international value of the dollar has risen, making American agricultural products more expensive for foreigners and causing a decline in their purchases.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the main trend observed in global farming was the sharp consolidation of farms, which made it possible to introduce new technologies for minimum tillage 9 . In addition, trends characteristic of the entire 20th century - the consolidation of farms - deepened. Large-scale production has an undoubted advantage over small-scale production. This is one of the basic laws of economics. It is large farms that are able to effectively use modern technologies. They are economical. The actual need of large farms for resources per unit area is two times less than that of small farms. The practice of countries such as the USA, Germany, Canada and others indicates that in large enterprises, compared to small enterprises, labor productivity is 1.5-2 times higher, and production costs are significantly lower 10 . It is large farms and associations that are the main suppliers of commercial agricultural products in a number of foreign countries.

This is a brief excursion into the history of the formation of farming in developed foreign countries. This process revealed a number of trends that have conventionally come to be called the “big farm problem”, which we have already mentioned above. Let's look at it in more detail.

In the United States and foreign countries, as a rule, there are no government programs to support farming 11 . Thus, farming in the USA and Western Europe (there are exceptions - for example France) operates in conditions close to pure competition. In addition, farming itself presented a certain paradox: while boasting significantly higher rates of production growth than any other major sector of the economy, farmers themselves often received below-average incomes 12 .

Speaking about the “farmer problem” of foreign countries, we can distinguish between short-term and long-term problems 13 . The long-run problem concerns those factors that have contributed to farm prices and incomes falling behind trends in prices and incomes in the economy as a whole. The problem in the short run is often related to the extreme volatility of farm incomes across years.

Due to the relatively immutable nature of both property and human resources in the agricultural sector, the market system of foreign countries has been unable to solve the farm problem by reallocating sufficient resources from agriculture. Historically, agricultural policy has been price-oriented and based on the concept of parity. This concept assumes that the ratio of the prices at which farmers sell their products to the prices at which they buy other goods should remain constant.

The causes of the farm problem in the long term are usually identified as follows:

1) price inelasticity of demand for agricultural products;

2) shifts that have occurred over time in the demand and supply curves for farm products;

3) relative immobility of agricultural resources.

The combination of these factors has created a downward trend in prices for farmers' products (and their incomes) relative to other prices. In this regard, the farm problem can be quite correctly presented as a problem of irrational allocation of resources - too many farmers are sharing a shrinking agricultural market, which makes the income per farmer small and, accordingly, increases the income of large farms and, accordingly, reduces the income of medium and small ones that cannot withstand competition 15 .

Significant year-to-year fluctuations in farmers' prices and therefore their incomes reflect a short-term problem. This instability in the short run is the result of a combination of inelastic demand for agricultural products with:

fluctuations in agricultural production;

shifts in the demand curve itself 16 .

The reasons for this farming problem lie in the increasing importance of exports in the economies of developed countries, which increases the instability of demand for agricultural products. Agricultural exports are influenced not only by weather, income fluctuations and environmental policies abroad, but also by international politics and fluctuations in the international value of the dollar and euro.

Thus, we examined the main milestones in the formation of foreign farming and studied the so-called short-term and long-term farming problems of foreign countries. In the further presentation of this chapter, we will dwell in more detail on modern farms in the USA, France and Great Britain.

1.2 Modern farming in foreign countries (using the example of the USA, France and Great Britain)

In this part of our presentation, we will consider the overall situation in the agricultural-industrial complexes of the USA, France and Great Britain, focusing on the current situation of farms in these countries and the government support measures they receive.

In the modern United States of America, 67% of agricultural products are produced by 69 thousand large commercial farms (36% of the total number of farms). 26 thousand (1.4% of the total number) of farms produce products worth 1 million dollars or more, which in total accounts for 42% of agricultural products and 42% of land area. Small farms, which produce 1.5% of production on 14% of land area, account for 50% of the total number of farms 17 .

A key characteristic of the American agricultural economy 18 is the lack of price controls, that is, prices are equilibrium, which means that there is no tendency for shortages, excesses of fuel, agricultural machinery, etc. Therefore, there is no basis for government distribution of resources to farmers. In addition, an important factor that undoubtedly influences American farmers is that price parity (the ratio of two indices that determine the industry: prices for agricultural products and prices for agricultural inputs) has been falling continuously since World War II, with slight rises 19. The trend of falling price parity over the long term in a market economy is well explained. With the economic development of the country, the population spends an ever smaller share of its growing income on food (even taking into account the global economic crisis). In America, spending on food (including restaurant meals) was only 12% in 2004 compared to 22% in 1944 20 . Increased productivity not only leads to cheaper food, but also allows resources to be transferred from agriculture to other sectors.

Due to these factors, although there are no regulated prices or subsidies for inputs in US agriculture, the American government is forced to help farmers create their own cooperatives for the purchase and sometimes production of inputs, as well as other measures to maintain competition 21 . USDA also helps American farmers market their products by supporting marketing cooperatives and ensuring a competitive agricultural market by providing comprehensive information about standards and prices in world markets. The number of people employed on farms is now less than 3 million of the 130 million people in the US labor force 22 . A farmer in this country is less protected by the state than in the countries of the European Union, since the US market mechanism is based on prices that more fully reflect the law of supply and demand, and government intervention in pricing is minimal.

The current stage of development of US agricultural production causes an increasing need for loan capital. Therefore, in the system of state regulation of the country’s economy, the functioning of agricultural credit, including preferential credit, is important. Under the control of the US Department of Agriculture, a number of financial and credit organizations operate that provide preferential lending to farmers. However, this does not in the least alleviate the fact that US farmers have to operate in a brutally competitive environment.

As a result, the efficiency of agricultural production in the United States is higher than in many EU countries 23 , although it is in the United States that the “short-term problem” discussed above is most acute – the lag of farm incomes and income trends in the economy as a whole 24 . This fact influenced the development of farming both in Europe in general and in countries such as France and the UK in particular. Let's take a closer look at the situation in these countries.

France is one of Europe's largest producers of agricultural products and occupies one of the leading places in the world in the number of cattle, pigs, poultry and the production of milk, eggs, and meat. The main branch of agriculture is animal husbandry for meat and dairy production. Grain farming predominates in crop production; The main crops are wheat, barley, corn. Viticulture (the world's leading wine producer), vegetable growing and horticulture are developed; floriculture. Fishing and oyster farming. Agriculture - products: wheat, cereals, sugar beets, potatoes, wine grapes; beef, dairy products; fish. 3.8% of the country's economically active population is employed in agriculture 25 .

In France, a unified system of bodies has been created to guide agricultural production and manage markets for agricultural products, the competence of which extends beyond the agricultural sector, as it also covers problems of the food economy. The competence of the Supreme Council for Orientation and Coordination of the Development of Agriculture and the Food Industry includes intersectoral organizations for grain, livestock, dairy, sugar, oilseeds and other products, through which the domestic market of agricultural products is regulated, subsidies are paid for their storage, processing and export, agricultural products are purchased at guaranteed prices. There are two types of intersectoral organizations: state or semi-state, implementing measures of administrative regulation of the production and sale of relevant products; associations of private entrepreneurs of companies, designed to actively assist state intersectoral institutions, as well as provide government bodies with recommendations regarding relevant sectors of the agro-industrial complex 26.

The developed network of trade unions has a significant influence on the state’s agricultural policy. The largest and most influential is the National Federation of Trade Unions of Agricultural Producers.

Agriculture is the most government-sponsored sector, although it is based on private land ownership. The decisive share of production is provided by large farms (with an allotment of 20–100 hectares), but small and medium-sized ones predominate numerically. In terms of production volume, France ranks 1st in Western Europe and 3rd in the world after the USA and Canada 27 .

In France, more humane, gentler peasant farms, and principles of agricultural policy have been adopted than in the United States. State financial assistance to agriculture in France within the framework of the common agricultural policy was associated with the need to achieve self-sufficiency in basic products.

Let's move on to the UK. This country ranks sixth among EU member states in terms of agricultural production. UK agriculture is currently one of the most productive and mechanized in the world. The industry's employment share is 2% of total employment in the country. The structure of agricultural production is dominated by livestock farming. Dairy and meat and dairy cattle breeding, pig breeding (bacon fattening), meat sheep breeding and poultry farming are also developed. Agriculture enjoys great support from the state and receives subsidies from the EU budget. For products such as wheat, barley, oats and pork, production volumes exceed consumption volumes; for such as potatoes, beef, lamb, wool, sugar and eggs, production volume is lower than consumption volume 28.

Thus, many of the UK's essential products have to be imported from other countries. They import 4/5 of butter, 2/3 of sugar, half of the wheat and bacon, 1/4 of the beef and veal consumed in the country 29 .

Great Britain, as mentioned above, is the first country in Europe in which farming has developed. It is the farming traditions of this country that, in our opinion, are most interesting for Russia.

In Great Britain, medium-sized farms with an area of ​​used farmland of about 70 hectares have become predominantly widespread 30 . Most often, a British farm is a purely family business, where the number of employees is only 1-5 people. Despite the development of the main production of crop and livestock products, the British farmer always strives to run a multifaceted farm or a combination of several types of business. This is caused by the need to achieve financial stability, uniform circulation of capital and reduce the risk of possible failures from working with monoproduction.

Agriculture in England and Scotland is characterized by the highest farming culture, where bridge technology predominates in most areas, allowing for high mechanization of all processes with a minimum number of unit costs and fuel consumption.

In most cases, farmers are the owners of their land, but they are also the manager of their business. However, it cannot do without the services of a huge number of service, marketing and consulting companies and organizations. Among the many such services, it is necessary to highlight external management, carried out by the management company through its managers. This method of management is becoming increasingly widespread, since the management company allows the farmer to achieve higher and more sustainable results than he could get on his own, although the farmer must pay up to 30% of his profit for this service.

The British Agriculture Office does not provide financial assistance to its farmers, unless the farmer takes part in a government program (for example, elite livestock breeding or conservation of mountain pastures). The main source of subsidies for British farmers is the EU, which regulates the European market for agricultural products. However, private capital is closely interested in farming - in the UK there has been an increasingly noticeable trend towards tougher competition between large banks for the financial market in the country's agricultural sector, since farming in the UK is a reliable type of business with a low degree of risk on invested funds 31 .

Thus, we will make several general conclusions for this chapter:

– the current system of foreign farming has evolved over many decades and has its own patterns and problems;

– in countries where colonization or seizure of free land was carried out (USA, Canada, etc.), farmers' farms received the earliest development. In Europe, the first farms appeared in Britain, and spread throughout the western part. XIX – p.p. XX century;

– the main trends in farming characteristic of the entire 20th century – the consolidation of farms. It is large farms and associations that are the main suppliers of commercial agricultural products in a number of foreign countries;

– the process of formation of farming in foreign countries has revealed short-term and long-term problems. Long-term, refers to the factors that contributed to farm prices and incomes falling behind changes in prices and incomes in the economy as a whole. Short-term, associated with the instability of farm incomes in different years;

– having studied the situation of farming in a number of developed foreign countries, we identified similar and different points for each individual country, so

– in the United States, the US market mechanism is based on prices that more fully reflect the law of supply and demand, and government intervention in pricing is minimal. The farmer is less protected by the state than in the EU, however, the efficiency of agriculture. higher in the US than in many EU countries;

– in France agricultural is the industry most supported by the state: financial assistance to farming is associated with the need to achieve self-sufficiency in basic products;

– in the UK, medium-sized farms (in contrast to the USA and France) are predominantly widespread, the economy of which is characterized by the highest culture. The state does not provide assistance to farmers (with rare exceptions), but for British banks farming is a reliable type of business with a low degree of risk on the invested funds.

Ownership rights of a peasant (farm) enterprise

thesis

1.1 History of the emergence and development of peasant (farm) farms

In Russia, the management of peasant (farm) farms began with the Stolypin agrarian reform, the essence of which was that by the Tsar’s Decree of November 9, 1906, each peasant was allowed to leave the community with his own allotment and become an independent and independent owner. The decree and subsequent legislative acts provided for the reduction of allotment land to a single tract (cut farm) or the isolation of a land plot with the construction of an estate on it - a residential building and outbuildings (farm farm). The reform gave some impetus to the development of capitalist relations in the Russian countryside, but could not ensure the progress of the productive forces of the agricultural sector due to the primitiveness of agricultural production History of State and Law of Russia / Edited by Vlasov V.I. - Rostov-on-Don. Phoenix.2005.- P. 133. .

In 1910, 43 percent of soil plowing tools were plows. There were only 187 tractors in the entire country. In 1901 - 1905, in 50 provinces, the average annual wheat yield was 45 poods per dessiatine (1.09 hectares), and in 1906 - 1910 - 42.7 poods, i.e. decreased and was four times less than in England, and two times less than in France History of State and Law of Russia / Ed. Titova Yu.P.-M. Jurayt.- P. 127. .

According to the 1912 census, 31.5 percent of peasant farms were horseless, so fertilizer (in the form of manure), if used correctly, could only be enough for 15 percent of crops. Ibid. .

Stolypin's transformations in the countryside were received ambiguously by almost all layers of Russian society, including the peasantry itself, whose worldview was built on the concepts of conciliarity and community.

The revolutionary events that followed led to the complete destruction of the nascent layer of farms, and the transfer of land into the ownership of peasants had to be forgotten for many years.

After the proclamation of agrarian and land reforms in 1990 - 1992, a new stage began in the history of the transformation of domestic agriculture. The formation of a competitive environment in the agricultural sector of the country's economy has become one of the main goals towards which the reformers' actions were aimed. However, the process of transferring agriculture to a market economy was difficult and contradictory.

These transformations began with the adoption in 1990 by the Second Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation of the Resolution "On the program for the revival of the Russian village and the development of the agro-industrial complex" Gazette of the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Court of the RSFSR. - 1991. - No. 1. - Art. 5., Law "On the Social Development of Rural Affairs" Gazette of the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Court of the RSFSR. - 1990. - No. 30. - Art. 411., adoption in 1990 - 1991 by the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation of the Land Code of the RSFSR Gazette of the SND and Supreme Court of the RSFSR. - 1991. - No. 22. - Art. 768., Laws "On Land Reform" Gazette of the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Court of the RSFSR. - 1990. - No. 26. - Art. 327., “On peasant (farm) farming” Gazette of the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Council of the RSFSR. - 1990. - No. 26. - Art. 324., “On enterprises and entrepreneurial activities” Gazette of the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Court of the RSFSR. - 1990. - No. 30. - Art. 418., “On the priority provision of the agro-industrial complex with material and technical resources” Gazette of the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Council of the RSFSR. - 1991. - No. 26. - Art. 878., “On payment for land” Gazette of the SND and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. - 1991. - No. 44. - Art. 1424., as well as the entry into force of Resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated December 29, 1991 No. 86 “On the procedure for the reorganization of collective farms and state farms” SP RF.- 1992.- No. 1-2.- Art. 9. . These regulatory legal acts identified three most important areas of transformation in the agricultural sector: organizational-economic, social and legal.

In 1991, the first practical steps were taken in the formation of a multi-structure agrarian economy. One of these ways of life was farming - a small form of agribusiness on a family basis. Currently, about 264 thousand farms are registered in the Russian Federation, 14.3 million hectares of land are assigned to them. Utkin B. Clarification of the area of ​​the land plot // "Ezh-YURIST". - 2004. -No. 29.- P.11. .

However, their importance in agricultural production is small. In the structure of gross agricultural output, their share accounts for no more than 4 percent Kalinin N.I., Udachin A.A. Article-by-article Commentary on the Federal Law “On Peasant (Farm) Economy” - M. International Academy of Assessment and Consulting. 2004. - P. 46. . Of course, the problem of establishing farms in the Russian Federation has not only economic, but non-economic aspects. Creating a layer of competitive farms is possible only if a set of problems are solved: economic, legal and socio-demographic.

Without developing a concept for increasing the efficiency of farms, it is impossible to talk about their competition with large production forms.

The historical, geopolitical and economic conditions for the functioning of the Russian agricultural sector in Russia are such that the farming way of life cannot be dominant, as in Western countries. However, in Russia, family farms, under certain conditions, can become a significant component of a multi-structured agricultural economy. There is potential for the development of farming in Russia. The social base for the formation of farms before the start of agrarian reform in the Russian Federation was about 5 - 6 percent of the working-age population of the village, i.e. approximately 1.2 million people Gavrilyuk A. Four-time president // Rossiyskaya Gazeta. - 2003. - March 4. .

According to the State Statistics Committee, as of the beginning of March 2003, there were only 264 thousand peasant (farm) households in Russia (and their number did not increase over the previous six years) Gavrilyuk A. Four-time president // Rossiyskaya Gazeta. - 2003. - 4 Martha. .

Before the new Law came into force, many acts were adopted at the federal level to support peasant (farm) farms. Among such acts containing legal norms, one should mention Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated July 27, 1993 No. 1139 “On some measures to support peasant (farmer) households and agricultural cooperatives” SAPP RF. - 1993. - No. 31. - Art. 2928., as well as government and departmental acts. These include, for example, Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated January 4, 1991 No. 9 “On supporting the development of peasant (farm) enterprises, their associations, unions and cooperatives” SP RSFSR. - 1991. - No. 7. - Art. 105. (valid as amended from 04/09/1992, 04/13/1993); Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 21, 1996 No. 165 “On state support for farm insurance companies” SZ RF. - 1996. - No. 9. - Art. 810. ; Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 18, 1996 No. 1499 “On the Federal Target Program for the Development of Peasant (Farm) Farms and Cooperatives for 1996-2000” SZ RF. - 1997. - No. 1. - Art. 157. (as amended on August 27, 1999); Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 3, 1999 No. 481 “On state support for peasant (farm) farms in 1999” SZ RF.- 1999.- No. 19.- Art. 2348. ; Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 7, 2000 No. 927 “On state support for the development of farming and other small businesses in agriculture” SZ RF.- 2000.- No. 50.- Art. 4906. ; Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated March 2, 2004 No. 121 “On reimbursement from the federal budget of part of the costs of paying interest on investment loans received in 2003-2004 from Russian credit organizations by agricultural producers and organizations of the agro-industrial complex of all forms of ownership, as well as peasant ( farms) for a period of up to 5 years" Rossiyskaya Gazeta. - 2004. - March 16. etc.

Subjects of the Russian Federation also carry out rule-making aimed at supporting farms. For example, in the Samara region this is the law dated 02/11/2004 No. 17-GD (as amended on 07/07/2005) "On approval of a comprehensive program for the development of the agro-industrial complex of the Samara region for 2004-2006 and the strategy for the development of the agro-industrial complex of the Samara region until 2015" Volga commune. - 2004. - February 13. .

Federal government bodies, government bodies of the constituent entities of the Federation and local governments are also required to provide support to farms in accordance with the legislation on small business.

As an analysis of legislation shows, the state pays a lot of attention to the development and support of entrepreneurship in rural areas. This is done both at the federal level and at the level of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

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