Russia is divided into five. Central Chernozem economic region

• The tragic episode - the destruction of Ryazan by Batu in 1237 - occurred in the so-called Old Ryazan - an ancient settlement that existed near the current town of Spassk-Ryazansky, sixty kilometers southeast of Ryazan. Modern Ryazan has long been called Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky.
• Bishop is the general name for the highest Orthodox clergy (bishop, metropolitan, patriarch).

Three regions - Kaluga, Tula and Ryazan - form the southern belt of the Central region. Each region occupies approximately 30 thousand km 2; in total, about 4.5 million people live in them. Most of the belt lies in Zaochye, that is, on the right bank of the Oka. The elevated right bank with fertile soils is almost all plowed. Since there are few forests in the region, houses in villages are most often not wooden, but brick; You can even find clay huts. Often, residential buildings, according to southern custom, are placed with the end facing the street, and not the facade, as is customary in more northern areas. Some villages, like steppe ones, are stretched out along a river or stream: water is in short supply and it is not always possible to build on watersheds, as in the northern regions. Almost every valley or ravine is blocked by dams supporting ponds: water has to be carefully collected. In city squares, quiet pigeons near Moscow are replaced by noisy turtle doves, mallow appears in front gardens - these details remind the landscape of Ukraine.

STEPPE FRONTIER

In essence, the southern part of the modern Central region is “Ukrainian”, i.e. the outskirts, the periphery of North-Eastern Rus' of the 12th-15th centuries. In ancient Russian texts the expression “Ryazan Ukraine” is found. The proximity of the steppes affects not only the comparative dryness of the climate, black soils and sparse forests. The Russians, who began to populate the Oka right bank at the end of the 1st millennium, faced the onslaught of nomadic cattle-breeding tribes, which continually invaded the forests from the south. Ryazan was the first among Russian cities to receive the blow of the Mongol-Tatar invasion in 1237. Russian legends are associated with these places, the heroes of which bravely resisted the enemy: about the glorious warrior Evpatiya Kolovrat, about the Zaraisk princess who threw herself from the Kremlin tower so as not to become the khan’s concubine , about Avdotya Ryazanochka.

Subsequently, on the steppe borders, the main events related to Russia overcoming its dependence on the Horde unfolded: the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 in the upper reaches of the Don and in 1480 the stand on the Ugra, a river that the Horde could not cross. The standing signified the liquidation of the yoke: the Grand Duke of Moscow ceased to be a subject of the khan. However, until the 18th century. The steppe inhabitants continued to disturb the Russian lands with rapid raids from the south.

For a long time, the natural defense against the steppe threat was the Oka river and its left tributary the Ugra. Chroniclers called them the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos, which protected the Russian land. A chain of fortified cities arose along the Oka: Kaluga, Serpukhov, Kashira, Kolomna, Ryazan. In the west, this latitudinal defensive line seems to continue with the vast Kaluga woodlands, connecting with the famous Bryansk and Smolensk forests, and in the east - with the large and impenetrable swampy-taiga massif Meshchera.

On the Serpukhov-Kolomna section, the northern bend of the Oka approaches Moscow at a distance of only about 100 km. If the Horde managed to cross the river here, then they made the further journey to the capital in one or two days, and it was almost impossible to stop the enemies on the approaches to the city. Moscow sought to push the defensive belt to a safer distance. The strengthening and development of Tula played a huge role: it formed a line with Kaluga and Ryazan, approximately 180 km away from Moscow.

Of all the regional cities located on the Central Russian Upland, Tula is located the highest above sea level; in addition, it “broke away” from the large rivers, on the banks of which all the large ancient cities are located.

Using rocket scientists' terms, we can say that Tula in Ancient Rus' became the center of advanced strategic warning. Scouts and observers from the steppe outposts and patrols sent information to the city about the movements of the Horde. From here, reports were urgently sent to Moscow.

Over time, from a defensive hub, Tula became the main transit point in the Moscow offensive on the Steppe. The famous Tula arms industry largely ensured the expansion of Russian borders to the south. Even when the Steppe was subjugated by the Russians and settled by them, the importance of the Kaluga - Tula - Ryazan line as an important line in the defense of Moscow remained. In particular, at this turn important events took place related to the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov (1606-1607) and the confrontation with his steppe freemen, who were rushing towards Moscow. In 1918 Here the armies of the Don and Kuban Cossacks, who were advancing towards Moscow, were stopped. In 1920-1921 The southern districts of the Ryazan region were scorched by an uprising of peasants in the black earth Tambov province, but these unrest could not spread closer to Moscow. In the fateful year of 1941, near Tula, the German tank armada, which had accelerated across the vast steppe, received a decisive rebuff. Tula is the closest neighbor of Moscow, on whose banner there is a Golden Star (awarded in 1976) - the sign of a hero city.

At the end of the 20th century. The southern regions of the Central region remain not only the lands beyond the Oka, not only the Caspian-Black Sea watershed, not only the forest-steppe landscape boundary, but also an important zone in the political geography of Russia. Along the southern belt lies the border between the northern regions, which express strong support for Moscow’s course, and the southern regions, the majority of whose residents are opposed to the central government.

It is obvious that the differences in mass sentiment are to some extent explained by the deep difference in the cultures of the Russian North and the Russian South, lying on both sides of the Kaluga-Tula-Ryazan line. For centuries, active, brave, risk-taking people moved to the defensive lines south of the Oka and Ugra. It is no coincidence that these lands, abundantly watered with blood, produced the most popular military leaders: the liberator of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke, General Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev (his family estate was located in the village of Spasskoye on the Tula-Ryazan border); Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (from the village of Strelkovka in the northeast of the Kaluga region).

It is characteristic that the ancient building of the bishop's house in the Kremlin ensemble is called Oleg's chambers by Ryazan residents, although the building was built much later than the reign of Oleg Ryazansky (XIV - early XV centuries). Perhaps for the residents of the city, this name flatteringly reminds them of the time when their prince bore the title of “great,” not inferior to that of Moscow. In Kaluga, the house of the merchant Korobov, built almost a hundred years after the Time of Troubles, is called the chambers of Marina Mnishek. Kaluga residents like to emphasize that their city for some time was the residence of the queen, legally crowned to the Russian throne.

ECONOMY OF THE REGION

In the second half of the 19th century. Russia established itself in the Caucasus. Gradually, the line of newly developed lands and the center of grain production shifted there.

In the southern region of the Central region of Russia, where there was a shortage of land, a massive resettlement of rural residents began. Peasants leaving their native lands were helped by the proximity of the rapidly developing Moscow, which “accepted” a significant part of the “surplus” population. And in the 20th century. the majority of Moscow migrants come from the Ryazan region; now they and their descendants make up at least a quarter of the capital’s residents.

True, both Ryazan and Kaluga provinces since the 19th century. were no longer purely agricultural, and Tula could rightfully be considered a city with developed industry.

The first ironworks in the city were built back in 1632 by the Dutch merchant Vinius. Under Peter I, a state arms factory was founded in Tula. Modern industry in Tula is represented mainly by such industries as metallurgy and metalworking, mechanical engineering, including the production of weapons. It is unlikely that anywhere else there are such street names as in this city of gunsmiths: Dulnaya, Zamochnaya, Kurkovaya, Porokhovaya, Stolnaya, Shtykovaya... At the Tula metallurgical plants (Tulachermet and Kosogorsky) steel is brewed using unique technologies. These enterprises serve as unique experimental centers and personnel training bases; It is appropriate to remember that the founders of Ural metallurgy, the Demidovs, and the creators of large metallurgical and metalworking plants in Russia, the Batashevs, were from Tula.

Among the engineering enterprises of Tula, the most significant are Tulamashzavod (manufacturer of motor scooters, as well as defense products), weapons and cartridge factories, defense enterprises Splav and Shtamp (which produces, along with the Grad and Smerch multiple launch rocket systems, the famous Tula samovars ), combine plant. The Melodiya factory produces musical instruments, including traditional Russian harmonicas.

Unlike Tula, Ryazan and Kaluga by the beginning of the 20th century. were rather bureaucratic, cultural and merchant centers. The industrialization of these cities began only during Soviet times. They developed under the influence of the Moscow complex of enterprises, in close connection with its production. This is how a turbine plant arose in Kaluga, and a factory of calculating and analytical machines in Ryazan.

The specifics of the industry of the Kaluga region are determined by two sectors: railway engineering and woodworking. This is explained by the special position of the Kaluga land. In addition to the Moscow-Kyiv radius, it is crossed by a meridional highway connecting St. Petersburg with the Black Sea coast, and a latitudinal line running from Smolensk to the Volga region.

The region is invaded by the wide tongues of the Bryansk and Smolensk woodlands, which provide raw materials for the woodworking and pulp and paper industries. The matches of the Kaluga plant "Giant" and the Balabanov factory are well known. On school notebooks you can find the Kondrovobumprom brand. Kondrovo, where this enterprise operates, is located fifty kilometers from Kaluga. Nearby is the village of Polotnyany Zavod; in 1720, the merchant Goncharov and his companions established paper production here, and a little over a century later, her fiancé, Alexander Pushkin, came here to visit the merchant’s great-granddaughter Natalya Nikolaevna.

Among the cities of the Kaluga region, Obninsk occupies a special place - a famous scientific center closely connected with Moscow. The first experimental nuclear power plant was launched in Obninsk in 1954; there are a number of research institutes and laboratories working in the field of physics and the nuclear industry.

The largest enterprise in Ryazan is an oil refinery, which is of great importance for the entire region. Oil pipeline lines from the Volga region cross the Central region in the north (Yaroslavl Oil Refinery) and in the south (Ryazan Oil Refinery). Among the industrial centers of the region, it is worth mentioning the city of Kasimov, where a non-ferrous metals plant operates, using precious metals in production.

The most significant industrial centers are located in the northern parts of the regions under consideration. The far south is mainly agricultural: there is a chain of ancient settlements that bear sonorous city names, but in recent decades have lost their former status and have been demoted to urban-type settlements, or even just villages. In the Ryazan region these are Sapozhok and Pronsk; in Tula - Epifan, Krapivna and Odoev. The city of Chekalin on the border of the Tula and Kaluga regions is a kind of record holder: it retains urban status, although its population is only 1.2 thousand people, which is 10 times less than the official criterion established in Russia. This city stands, as it were, on the border between the Central and Central Black Earth regions.

Small settlements are no longer affected by the developing influence of the Moscow industrial zone, and at the same time they do not yet lie in the true steppe, where rich black soils reliably support economic life.

A large agricultural and industrial region in the European part of Russia. Includes 23 regions and 6 republics that are part of the Russian Federation (all regions and republics of the Northern, Northwestern, Central, Volga-Vyatka economic... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

I; Wed 1. Land with a low content of organic matter; podzolic soils. 2. Zone of distribution of non-chernozem, podzolic soils (in Russia). Revive n. * * * non-chernozem region is a large agricultural and industrial region in... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Wed. A large agricultural region in the European part of Russia. Ephraim's explanatory dictionary. T. F. Efremova. 2000...

Wed. 1. Land with a low content of organic matter; podzolic soils. 2. Zone of distribution of such soils in the European part of Russia. Ephraim's explanatory dictionary. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova

non-chernozem region- non-chernoz emye, I (non-chernozem lands) and Nechernoz emye, I (geographical) ... Russian spelling dictionary

Non-Black Earth Region- (geographical) ...

non-chernozem region- (2 s), Ex. about non-blackness/me... Spelling dictionary of the Russian language

non-chernozem region- I; Wed 1) Land with a low content of organic matter; podzolic soils. 2) Zone of distribution of non-chernozem, podzolic soils (in Russia) Revive non-chernozem/me... Dictionary of many expressions

non-chernozem region- not/black/o/earth/e [y/e] ... Morphemic-spelling dictionary

Books

• The Tale of a Blue Flower and Its Miraculous Transformations, Viktor Stepanchenko. The journalistic book-album is dedicated to flax, which has a rich history. Flax is the national culture of the Russian people. The famous Dutch painting originates in the current Russian...
• Disappearing village of Russia. Non-Black Earth Region in the 1960-1980s, L.N. Denisova. In 1907, zemstvo doctor A.I. Shingarev published the sensational book “The Dying Village.” The book is the result of a sanitary and economic study of two villages in Voronezh district: Novo-Zhivotinny...

Expert, leading researcher at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Geographical Sciences Tatyana Nefedova talks about the most little-known territory of the country - rural areas.

— Your colleagues, urbanists and regional experts, who have already appeared on the pages of Novaya, talked mainly about the fate of large and small cities. But the gigantic territory between these cities remains terra incognita. What is happening to the Russian village today?

— Agriculture and rural settlement are largely tied to natural conditions. In accordance with them, our country can be divided into five unequal parts.

The first is a huge peripheral zone, which occupies more than 40% of Russia's area. This is a territory with the most difficult natural conditions - the northern part of Siberia, the Far East, and the European North. It is impossible to engage in crop production there; the rural population density does not exceed 1 person per square meter. km, and natural resources have historically been developed in pockets.

The taiga forest belt from Karelia, the Komi Republic and the Arkhangelsk region to the Amur region and Khabarovsk Territory can also be classified as the periphery of the country. Here people mainly lived and live in the forest, the development of the territory took place exclusively along river valleys, and the population density is also low. In Soviet times, agriculture was artificially “drawn” here with a specialization that was not typical of natural conditions. It was supported by huge subsidies and is now largely closed. This is still more than 20% of the territory of Russia. That is, on two thirds of the country there is neither a rural population nor conditions for crop production.

The third zone is the classic, old-developed Non-Black Earth Region. This zone is also dominated by forest landscapes, but there was, although subsidized, fairly developed agriculture. Here they grew expensive grain with low yields and raised livestock with low productivity. When the subsidies ran out, agriculture began to shrink.

The fourth zone begins with the Kursk and Belgorod regions, partially affecting the Volga region, the south of the Urals and Siberia. Its core is the plains of the North Caucasus, especially the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories. It is this Black Earth strip that is the hope and support of our agriculture. Collective farms remain there, agricultural holdings are moving there, and there are many farmers there. The active population leaving the northern regions, in addition to cities and their suburbs, often chose these areas as their new place of residence.

Finally, the republics of the North Caucasus, Siberia, and the Volga region are in many ways reminiscent of the Russian villages of the 1950s and 60s. Positive natural growth has remained there longer, there are still many young people, people are ready to work in rural areas.

— Let's take a closer look at the socio-economic processes that take place in each of these territories.

— The main thing is to understand that the countryside does not necessarily have to be agricultural. The population of the first and second zones survives mostly through hunting, fishing, forestry, and mining. The further south you go, the greater the role of agriculture in the economy, the more actively the population is involved in it. The most painful processes are taking place today in the Non-Black Earth Region, where agriculture is gradually disappearing, but people and the cultural layer still remain.

— You have thoroughly studied the Russian Non-Black Earth Region using the example of the Kostroma region, which is the subject of several of your studies. Let's use it as a model.

— Non-Black Earth regions are characterized by very strong demographic and economic contrasts. While in the suburbs of regional centers the rural population has remained almost unchanged, outside the suburbs the population losses in the 20th century were great. And the further you are from a major city, the worse the situation. More than 70% of the population, primarily young and active, left the peripheral areas. And therefore, the natural decline is higher here.

The periphery of the remaining non-chernozem regions (the so-called outback, located between the suburbs of large cities) are areas with severe depopulation. But the remaining population, due to the decline of agriculture and the degradation of Soviet industry, has nothing to do in small towns. Approximately a third of the working age population in these villages is unemployed; pensioners and grandmothers predominate. And the remaining able-bodied men earn money “on waste” in the cities, half of them in Moscow and the Moscow region. Irreversible changes have also occurred in agriculture: the area under cultivation and the number of livestock have declined catastrophically. Today, the northern periphery of the rural Non-Black Earth Region survives partly at the expense of forests. Since Soviet times, it has been the custom that every collective farm had a free forest plot. Many of them held on to this. In 2007, the new Forest Code put agricultural enterprises on the same level as other forest tenants, which accelerated their bankruptcy. Now the remaining population survives partly by picking mushrooms and berries.

— The monstrous desolation of the periphery of the Non-Black Earth Region creates the feeling that rural Russia is dying out. Is it really?

- No. Even in the Non-Black Earth regions, mainly in the suburbs of regional capitals, there are steadily developing areas. This can be seen in many indicators. Suffice it to say that in the suburbs of Kostroma, 20% of its rural population and 25% of agricultural production are concentrated on four percent of the region’s territory. And enterprises in the form of agricultural cooperatives or new agricultural holdings are preserved here, and productivity is higher. It would seem, what difference does it make to a cow where to graze? And milk yield in the suburbs of the Non-Black Earth Region is always 2-3 times higher, and even grain yields are higher. The main reason is still human capital, but the infrastructure in the suburbs is also better and connections with the city are stronger.

Although the outback does not die completely and comes to life in the summer. Having “sucked out” the population, Moscow and St. Petersburg send troops of summer residents there, who not only concentrate in gardening partnerships, but buy up empty houses, thereby preserving the villages. But no one knows how many there are; the administration has stopped keeping records. Cadastral services do not provide data. Also, no one knows, except for the residents of the villages themselves, how many local residents go “on vacation” to the cities. And it turns out absurd: money is allocated to municipalities for the local population, but there is none, but citizens registered in Moscow live a long time. Elementary statistical accounting of all these massive return flows is long overdue, if only in order to understand what is happening in the country, where and how many people actually live and work.

In 2013, my colleagues and I decided to follow in the footsteps of Radishchev, visited all the former postal stations, studied the areas around and wrote two books about our journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow more than 200 years later. When you drive along the highway, all you see around you are fields overgrown with forests and miserable villages. Grain and flax production actually went away due to low yields and unprofitability. And meat production, for example, has increased. The fact is that there is a change in the types of management - large agricultural holdings are coming to this zone between the two capitals. They grow grain in their divisions in the south, and produce meat and milk here, closer to the consumer. The landscape under the new type of farming looks different than under the old collective farm. There is no need to plow up huge areas here. The cattle are purchased as purebred ones and kept loose in new modernized farms. There are also new milk and meat processing plants. But they are off the road, and the modern traveler does not see them.

Map provided by Tatyana Nefedova

— Against the backdrop of the subsidized Non-Black Earth Region, the south of Russia, its breadbaskets - Don, Kuban, Stavropol - look like a hotbed of prosperity.

— There was no such depopulation in the South; it was and remains attractive for migrants. And it’s not even about the size of the rural population. When the most active people leave from generation to generation, as in the Non-Black Earth Region, negative social selection occurs. This was not the case here. Therefore, the quality of human capital is different. However, there are serious problems here.

For example, in the west of Stavropol there are almost no abandoned lands; agricultural cooperatives and powerful agricultural holdings operate. And in the villages there is huge unemployment. Why? The fact is that it is profitable to sow grain here, but to develop livestock farming is not. Therefore, grain crops increased, and the number of livestock decreased sharply.

And the South of Russia consists of large villages and villages with a population of up to 10 thousand people. Essentially rural single-industry towns. With crop production prevailing, management needs 20 qualified machine operators and auxiliary workers - that's it! What will the others living in this village do? People survive through subsistence farming and labor. In the relatively prosperous Stavropol Territory, the total number of otkhodniks is greater than in the problematic Kostroma Region.

— All revolutions, all the most painful reforms of the last century and a half were in one way or another connected in Russia with the struggle for land. And it is obvious that this fight is still not over.

— In Russia there are two types of regions in which there is a real struggle for land. These are the suburbs of large cities, primarily capitals, and the southern regions. Firstly, land is too expensive and in demand by realtors and developers, so even quite successful agriculture is being squeezed out. In the south of Russia, where crop production is profitable, the struggle for land shares takes place within agriculture between different producers: collective farms, agricultural holdings, farmers. In other regions there is a huge amount of abandoned land, in which few people show interest.

— In developing countries, one of the main threats to farmers and independent agricultural enterprises is giant agricultural holdings. How is land distributed among different types of owners in Russia?

— Russia’s problem is not the land as such. And the point is to preserve the multi-structure of agriculture created in the 1990s, so that agricultural holdings, agricultural cooperatives, farmers, commercial and non-commodity farms of the population work. Of course, large modern enterprises have a number of advantages. They provide stable supplies to chain stores in large cities. Thanks to agricultural holdings, restoration of abandoned lands, livestock, pigs and poultry began after the crisis of the 1990s. All this is beyond the capabilities of small farms. However, there are also many negative consequences. Excessive gigantism creates difficulties in managing divisions of agricultural holdings scattered in different regions, especially since hired workers are not interested in results. By absorbing collective farms and farms, agricultural holdings increase the dependence of entire regions on one producer. The over-lending of most of them in the current conditions of sanctions has become a very serious problem and can lead to bankruptcies and mass layoffs.

— What is happening in Russia to the basis of any successful agriculture - farmers?

— There are a lot of farmers in the south. Only Caucasian peoples are engaged in livestock farming there. These are semi-shadow and shadow farms. No one knows how long they actually keep livestock in abandoned collective farm sheds. But Russian farmers, like collective farms, grow wheat and sunflowers. But in order for the income to justify the costs of equipment and fertilizers, at least 300-500 hectares of land are needed. With a land share of 10-15 hectares, this can only be achieved by renting the lands of other farmers and the population. We have more than once encountered a situation where, according to statistics, there are 50-60 farmers in an area, but in reality it turns out that there are only five of them. The rest leased the land to these five.

A significant part of our products (70% of vegetables, half of milk, a third of meat) is still produced by small semi-natural farms, mainly for self-sufficiency, although partly for sale. Since we do not have a middle class, the cohort of medium-sized enterprises is shrinking. And this lack of a stable middle ground that does not go to extremes is a big problem.

— Does the process of “washing out” the rural population in Russia have its own characteristics?

— Urbanization processes are characteristic of all countries, only some go through certain stages of urbanization earlier, others later. In Russia, throughout the twentieth century, the population left the countryside. The most active departure, oddly enough, was already in the post-war years. It seemed that the collective farms were working, wages in the countryside were growing, but the population still en masse flocked to the cities, where there were more opportunities for self-realization, training, development, other living conditions, etc.

Map provided by Tatyana Nefedova

In the 1990s, the depopulation of the rural population stopped somewhat; people from the Union republics, from the northern and eastern regions of Russia, moved to villages, even non-black soil ones. The main thing was housing. But work was also needed, and a new stage in the attractiveness of cities began. This is especially true for large centers - urbanization in our country has not yet been completed. Nevertheless, sooner or later it will end. The attractiveness of large cities due to their overpopulation, transport collapse, and environmental problems is beginning to decline.

However, urbanization in Russia had two features that explain the severity of its consequences. Our vast space is characterized by a relatively sparse network of large cities with their suburbs that attract people. And between them, as a result of the outflow of population in the previously developed territories of the Non-Black Earth Region, a socio-economic desert was formed. There is no such thing in Europe. The second feature is related to the specifics of the collective farm and state farm organization, which did not adequately respond to the challenges of the time. In Western countries, the decrease in rural population stimulated changes in economic mechanisms, the introduction of new technologies to increase productivity, etc. And in the Non-Black Earth Region, flax and grains were buried under the snow, because there was no one to harvest them, and the sown areas were strictly controlled by party bodies. The rigidity of the economic mechanism was compensated by the highest agricultural subsidies in the world, and their sharp reduction led to disaster in many areas.

— Is it possible to stop the dangerous devastation of rural Russia?

— While people continue to leave. They go not only for work, although for work too. They want a different standard of living. Young people need a different social environment, different opportunities for self-realization; they can no longer be held back with just a salary. But if you can’t help, at least don’t push the rest out.

At the same time, in order to save a meager amount of money, which is incomparable with social losses, the authorities are accelerating the devastation of villages in areas of depopulation. Medical centers are closing - adult children are starting to take their elderly parents to the cities. Rural settlements are being united - outlying villages find themselves outside the gravitational field of the new settlement center, road repairs do not reach them, shops are closed, and food trucks do not operate. Rural primary schools are closing, not only school graduates are leaving, but also young families with children, since not every parent will decide to send a child to a boarding school or transport him tens of kilometers on bad roads every day on an unreliable bus. You can always find a way out. For example, in Tatarstan, in small villages, teachers' houses are created even for 2-3 children, where a primary school teacher will teach them to secondary school.

It is important to preserve the most basic infrastructure. After all, their children from the nearest city will come to grandmothers’ houses tomorrow, having retired. Summer residents, including those from Moscow, as a rule, also leave villages if there are no local residents left, since their houses begin to be destroyed without supervision. We must understand: when a village dies, the territory not only goes out of economic circulation. We are losing social control over it. And we need to preserve it until a new wave of space development in the center of Russia. For the next generation, which, under favorable conditions, will want to return here.

Mechanical tillage is of great importance. In areas of excessive moisture, soil cultivation seeks to reduce the negative impact of excess moisture, in arid areas - to accumulate, preserve and use it productively. When choosing methods and timing of soil cultivation, take into account the characteristics of the predecessor, the period of its harvesting, the condition of the soil, including the degree of weed infestation, natural conditions, characteristics of the subsequent crop, etc.
In the northern and north-eastern regions, after harvesting many crops, it is advisable to plow them as early as possible without preliminary peeling. Stubble peeling is necessary only in the presence of rhizomatous and root shoot weeds. On heavy soils with excessive moisture, the main tillage is limited to husking, postponing plowing to the spring. After harvesting weed-free row crops (root crops, tubers), you can abandon deep tillage and carry out only peeling.
In the central and especially southern regions, where the post-harvest period is longer, peeling is combined with subsequent deep dump processing; After early harvested crops, semi-steam tillage is possible.
Stubble peeling must be carried out after harvesting the predecessor and no later than the beginning of September in the central and partly more northern regions and mid-September in the southern regions. At later stages, peeling is ineffective. Plowing must be completed no later than mid-to-late September, and even better in August.
A layer of perennial grasses is raised for spring crops in the eastern regions no later than the first half of September, in the central regions no later than mid-September, in the western regions in the second half of September; for winter crops - immediately after the first mowing.
When processing pure vapors, soil moisture and precipitation during the warm period of the year are taken into account. They often determine the possibility of plowing, plowing, double-ploughing and multi-depth peeling or abandoning them and carrying out only layer-by-layer loosening without turning the formation. When placing winter grains in occupied pairs, as well as when growing intermediate crops, soil cultivation is carried out immediately after harvesting the predecessor. In the northern, northwestern and other regions, when there is excess moisture, techniques are used aimed at draining excess water from the soil. In the southern and partly central regions, water erosion of soil is developed. Therefore, anti-erosion tillage and other techniques are necessary.
The zone has a lot of light soils and should not be plowed annually. They plow deeply only when applying organic fertilizers. After potatoes, root crops, corn and some other crops, if grain crops are placed after them, plowing can be replaced by disking to a depth of 10-12 cm. Deep plowing with preliminary peeling is always required when fields are clogged with rhizomatous or root shoots and weeds.
In the zone, it is necessary to make wider use of high-speed soil tillage, which makes it possible to increase the range of optimal soil moisture for mechanical tillage; use various units more, for example the combined unit RVK-3, especially before sowing winter and catch crops; reduce the number of tillage treatments (minimum tillage), especially in fields with row crops; replace plowing after the vetch-oat mixture in a busy fallow with disking and other techniques.
These measures give the best results on cultivated soils, well-seasoned with fertilizers, when using various means of controlling pests, diseases and weeds.
Organic and mineral fertilizers are very effective in the zone, especially against the background of high agricultural technology. According to the Central Institute of Agrochemical Services for Agriculture, 1 centner of mineral fertilizers in conventional fertilizers gives an average increase in yield (in centners per 1 ha): rye 1.3-1.5, barley 1.2-1.7, potatoes 6- 7, cabbage 12-18, carrots 10-13, hay from natural hayfields 1.5-2.5. Better use of mineral fertilizers is facilitated by the systematic application of organic fertilizers, and on acidic soils - lime materials.
Fertilizers and other agricultural practices can also dramatically increase the productivity of natural hayfields and pastures.
Experience of advanced farms. Many collective and state farms have achieved great success, obtaining on large areas on average (in centners per 1 hectare): 30 grains, 200-300 potatoes, 50-60 perennial grass hay.
More than 30 centners of grain per 1 hectare are grown by farms located in different areas of the Non-Chernozem Zone, for example, the collective farm named after Lenin, Novomoskovsk district, Tula region, the collective farms “Zavety Lenin”, Krasnokholmsky district, Kalinin region, “Forward”, Shatsky district, Ryazan region, etc. On the collective farm named after Makarova, Odintsovo district, Moscow region in 1975, the yield of winter wheat of the Ilyichevka variety on an area of ​​9 hectares was 89 centners per 1 hectare. This became possible thanks to the implementation of a number of economic, organizational and agrotechnical measures. Among the latter, correctly selected predecessors in mastered crop rotations, rational tillage, a scientifically based fertilization system, as well as liming of acidic soils, draining and irrigating them if necessary, growing highly productive zoned varieties and hybrids, and active control of pests, diseases, and weeds were of great importance.
On the collective farm "Svetly Put" of the Molodechno district of the Minsk region specializing in meat and dairy specialization in the ninth five-year plan, the average yield was (in centners per 1 ha): grain 40.7, potatoes 267, perennial grasses (green fodder) 185; in 1976, 42.1, 312 and 250, respectively. The collective farm is assigned 2,621 hectares of agricultural land, including 1,407 hectares of arable land. The soils on the farm are soddy-podzolic, loamy and sandy loam. Average annual precipitation is 600 mm.
Four eight-field crop rotations with alfalfa for two-year use have been developed here. Winter rye is sown only in occupied pairs (winter crops for green fodder), potatoes - after winter rye. After the potatoes, barley is placed with undersowing of alfalfa, sugar beets are placed along the alfalfa layer, and spring grains are placed along the back of the layer.
The farm widely uses stubble peeling and deep autumn plowing - up to 25-28 cm. For sugar beets, placed along the layer, the main tillage is carried out as a semi-fallow: after raising the alfalfa layer, the field is cultivated in two directions.
In early spring, fields for sugar beets, potatoes and spring grain crops are cultivated in a unit with Zigzag harrows in two directions; for row crops, they are deeply plowed with simultaneous harrowing to incorporate fertilizers.
Immediately before sowing all agricultural crops, with the exception of potatoes, the soil surface is treated with an RVK-3 unit. A high level of mechanization allows all field work to be carried out quickly and in optimal time.
The fields are well fed with organic and mineral fertilizers. In 1976, 17 tons of organic and 4 quintals of mineral fertilizers were applied per 1 hectare of arable land.
The farm has produced 1,620 hectares of acidic soils at the rate of 4 tons of lime per 1 hectare. Seeds of only zoned varieties are sown. There are no weeds. The degree of power supply of the farm allows all field work to be carried out in optimal time and with high quality.
On the collective farm "Red Volunteer" of the Smolensk district of the Smolensk region, which is assigned 2398 hectares of agricultural land, including 1725 hectares of arable land, the average yield during the Ninth Five-Year Plan was (in centners per 1 hectare): 29 grains, fiber flax (fiber) 7, potatoes 241.8, and in 1976, respectively, 40.4; 7.7 and 181.
The collective farm has a meat and dairy specialization with developed flax growing. The soils of the farm are soddy-podzolic and loamy. Average annual precipitation is 550-600 mm.
The farm has developed four field and two forage crop rotations with two fields of perennial grasses (clover and timothy).
In field crop rotation, winter grains are placed on occupied fallow (annual grasses) and a non-fallow predecessor (barley). Perennial grasses are sown under winter grains, fiber flax is placed along the layer of perennial grasses, and potatoes are placed along the back of the layer. After potatoes, barley is sown in a fallow field, followed by winter crops the following year; close the crop rotation with spring grains.
The main tillage (plowing) is carried out, as a rule, in the fall (plow fall) to a depth of the arable layer of -20-22 cm. After harvesting winter grains, under which perennial grasses are not sown, it is necessary to peel the stubble, followed by deep plowing. In the spring they plow with simultaneous harrowing only in one of the fallow fields where barley is sown. The depth of spring plowing is 12-14 cm.
In all fields where there was plowed land, early harrowing and subsequent pre-sowing cultivation with harrowing are mandatory. Before sowing fiber flax and often grain crops, it is necessary to compact the soil. In a row crop field (potatoes), in the spring, after early harrowing of the plowed land, fertilizers are applied and they are covered by plowing to a depth of 14-16 cm. The soil surface is immediately harrowed. After planting, two pre-emergence and several post-emergence cultivations are carried out, and later hilling is carried out.
Much attention is paid to liming acidic soils and the use of fertilizers. The farm produced 1020 hectares of acidic soils (6 tons of lime were added per 1 hectare).
In 1976, 14.9 tons of organic fertilizers and 220 kg of active substance mineral fertilizers were applied per 1 hectare of arable land. At least 60 tons of organic fertilizers are plowed in a row crop field, the rest in fallow fields.
Only highly productive, zoned varieties are cultivated. Crop infestation is low. Agrotechnical practices are carried out in a timely manner and with high quality.
On the collective farm "Avangard" of the Chkalovsky district of the Gorky region during the ninth five-year plan, the average yield was (in centners per 1 ha): grain 32.1, including winter wheat 35.1, fiber flax (fiber) 7.6, corn silage 463, perennial grasses (hay) 47.3, 1976 respectively 45.3; 55.3; 9.0; 403 and 51.4. The farm has 2,629 hectares of agricultural land, including 2,110 hectares of arable land. The soils are soddy-podzolic, medium loamy. Average annual precipitation is 500 mm. Flax and dairy farm.
On the collective farm, six fruit-bearing, seven-field flax crop rotations have been developed throughout the entire arable area. Barley is sown in a fallow field. Clover and timothy are sown with winter grains, occupying two fields with perennial grasses. Fiber flax is placed along the layer of perennial grasses, potatoes are placed along the turnover of the layer, and spring grains are placed in the third year.
The plowed land is plowed for spring crops to a depth of 20-22 cm, and the layer of perennial grasses is plowed to a depth of 18-20 cm. Much attention is paid to pre-sowing tillage. In the spring, the plowed land is harrowed, then the soil is cultivated for spring grain crops and fiber flax with simultaneous harrowing; immediately before sowing it is treated with the RVK-3 unit. In fallow and row-crop fields, after spring harrowing of the plowed land, it is plowed to a depth of 18-20 cm with the simultaneous application of organic and some mineral fertilizers and harrowing.
Potatoes are harrowed before and after emergence and later hilled twice.
Plants are well supplied with nutrients. In 1976, an average of 12.8 tons of organic fertilizers and 3 centners of the active substance of mineral fertilizers were applied per 1 hectare of arable land. On the collective farm, acidic soils are systematically limed. In 1976 alone, 185 hectares of acidic soils were limed at the rate of 6 tons of lime per 1 hectare.
Only zoned varieties are grown. The crops are free of weeds. The power supply of the farm allows all field work to be carried out in a timely manner and with high quality. We constantly maintain contact with scientists and implement the achievements of agricultural science.

The Non-Chernozem Region, or more precisely, the Non-Chernozem Zone, is a huge territory stretching from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the forest-steppe zone in the south with its chernozem soils and from the Baltic Sea to Western Siberia. There are 28 regions and republics, as well as the Perm Territory, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and two cities of federal significance. The Non-Chernozem Zone is included in four large economic regions - North-Western, Northern, Volga-Vyatka and Central. Its total area is 2824 thousand km 2. This is larger than the area of ​​France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany combined. About 60 million people live in the Non-Black Earth Region, i.e. more than 1/3 of the population of Russia. Since ancient times, the Non-Black Earth Zone has played and continues to play a major role in the history of our Motherland, in its economic and cultural development. Here, between the Oka and Volga rivers, at the end of the 15th century. The Russian centralized state arose. The Russian national culture was created in the Non-Black Earth Region, from here the Russians settled throughout the vast country. On this territory, for centuries, the Russian people defended their freedom and independence. Russian industry was born here, large Russian cities grew and developed here.

And in our time, the Non-Black Earth Region has retained a primary role in the political, economic and cultural life of the country. The Center of the Non-Black Earth Region, St. Petersburg, the Urals are the most important industrial bases, forges of scientific and labor personnel. In the Non-Black Earth Region there is the capital of our Motherland - Moscow, the second city in economic and cultural importance - St. Petersburg and such largest cities and industrial centers as Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Yaroslavl, Izhevsk, Tula, etc.

The Non-Black Earth Region is an important agricultural region of Russia. Here is 1/5 of the country's agricultural land area.

The development of agriculture here is favored by the presence of huge tracts of arable land, many meadows and pastures, as well as good moisture and the almost complete absence of droughts. True, the soils here are poor in humus. However, the soils of the Non-Black Earth Region in climate-favorable areas, when carrying out the necessary reclamation (draining, liming, applying mineral fertilizers), can produce up to 80 centners of grain and up to 800–1000 centners of potatoes per hectare.

The development of agriculture in the Non-Black Earth Region based on its intensification, land reclamation, comprehensive mechanization and chemicalization is the level of a national task.

The development of the Non-Black Earth Region will take more than one decade. It is necessary to increase the production of a variety of agricultural products.

But the accelerated growth in the production of grain, meat, milk, potatoes, vegetables, and other products is only one aspect of the rise in agriculture in the Non-Black Earth Region. After all, all the resulting products need to be preserved and processed. Therefore, new grain elevators, meat processing plants, dairies, and storage facilities for potatoes and vegetables are being built here.

It is especially important to organize large mechanized farms in dairy and meat farming - the main branch of agriculture in the Non-Black Earth Region. The population of this zone is the largest consumer of milk and fresh meat.

Work is underway to change the structure and geography of cultivated crops. Thus, the areas under oats and barley are expanding due to wheat, as they are more productive and, in addition, suitable for feeding livestock, work is underway to more rationally place industrial crops (primarily flax), to concentrate plantings of potatoes and vegetables.

The primary task is to develop new non-chernozem lands for arable land, improve existing arable land, and increase its fertility. Another important task is the creation of cultivated pastures.

The Non-Black Earth Region has been given an important task - to transform it into a region of highly productive agriculture and livestock farming, as well as the development of related industries.

It is unthinkable to fulfill the tasks of transforming agriculture in the Non-Black Earth Region without the active participation of young people. This goal will be attractive to boys and girls; here there is an opportunity for everyone to apply their knowledge, energy, and show their love for working on earth.