Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered in foreign countries as a necessary element of successful economic development. In some countries, its contribution to GDP can reach 70‰. The state and pace of development of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia do not yet meet the needs of the country's economy. In order to solve this problem, the National Project "Small and medium-sized Entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative has been approved in the Russian Federation. In rural areas, SMEs provide employment for the local population, increase their income and well-being, reduce the outflow of population to cities and preserve the village as a habitat. One of the promising areas of sustainable development of the rural economy and its diversification is agrotourism, which has a successful history in many foreign countries, especially in Europe. Agrotourism is the sphere of activity in which small and medium-sized businesses are mainly involved. Although Russia has a great natural, cultural and ethnographic potential, agrotourism is not developing intensively enough in the country due to a number of unfavorable factors that are considered in the article. The study of foreign experience in this area will contribute to the improvement of the state policy of the Russian Federation in the field of tourism, including in rural areas, and the elimination of existing shortcomings and problems. The article analyzes the current state of agrotourism in a number of foreign countries where it plays an important economic and social role (Poland, Austria, Germany, China), as well as the structures and measures of state support for its development.
This article examines the perceived options for the development of agriculture in the Soviet Union, in the spectrum of the country's overall economic development, in the second half of the 1980s. Its reviewing part analyzes presumed by Western researchers scenarios of possible economic reforms in the USSR of the late socialist period, nominated by Western researchers as in this historical period, and modern — with regard to subsequent changes in social, economic and political condition of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. It is shown that the assessments and data contained in foreign studies suggested the need to reform the Soviet economy but none of the researchers assumed possibility of radical reforms due to their riskiness for the economic system of the USSR in particular and the country as a whole. It was pointed out that the Soviet economy is markedly different from the economy of the Eastern European socialist countries and does not allow the introduction of market elements, primarily due to the fact that it does not have the space for such implementation. None of the forecasts were able to predict the reforms of 1985-1991, known as Perestroika.
In modern conditions, the growth of Russian export grain potential and its actual implementation are one of the important indicators of the development of the grain economy and the grain market, one of the main tools for increasing the income of grain producers and the receipt of foreign exchange deductions to the state budget, as well as ensuring national food security. For Russia, build-up in grain exports is the most important geopolitical factor in increasing its political and economic prestige in the world. In recent years, large-scale Russian grain exports have to a certain extent become one of the main instruments of the country's foreign trade policy. However, its development should not create a situation that undermines the domestic grain market, disrupt the grain and feed supply of the country, the formation of insurance funds and state grain reserves in the required amounts, the timely implementation of state commodity and procurement interventions, as well as take into account the effective demand and improve the structure of the population's nutrition, respond to the most probable fluctuations in the gross harvest of grain crops in the country and the conjuncture of the world grain market, the possibility of export operations with grain and its processed products. Export policy should be comprehensive and dynamic, based not only on modern agricultural policy, but also concretize its individual positions related to foreign economic activity in the agricultural sphere of the economy in general and grain exports in particular. The defining role in its formation and implementation should belong to the state with its direct participation in the legislative, organizational and economic support of grain exports.
Seed growing is the most important branch of plant growing, engaged in mass reproduction of seeds for the implementation of variety change and variety renewal. The agrarian policy pursued in Russia during the 90s of the last century led to the degradation of the existing system of selection and seed production.
The article considers the features of the legal regulation of social and labor relations in the context of new challenges, transformational digital processes, by means of changing the legislation that determines the basis of labor activity due to the current economic situation in Russia in the era of change.
The article discusses the main forms of small business in the agricultural sector of Russia, their advantages and disadvantages, their role in agricultural production. The analysis of the direction of state support for small businesses, including the coronavirus pandemic, was carried out. The problems hindering the effective development of small forms of management in the agro-industrial complex of Russia are indicated.
The study was carried out with the aim of scientifically substantiating the method of creating the economic value of lands; the object was selected agricultural lands of organizations of the Saratov region. The concept of economic value, which contributes to improving the quality of supply of land plots for the formation of consumer demand for them, has been formulated. The economic value of agricultural-purpose land is determined by land legislation, institutional policy, land turnover institutions, transaction costs, export of products, information technologies. The novelty of the research lies in the development of a process model for the formation of the economic value of agricultural land. The model in the institutional environment is aimed at creating competitive advantages arising from the cultivation of crops in accordance with crop rotation requirements. Its effect is confirmed by the results of discounted cash flows. The process of creating economic value is imitated by owners, land users, landowners, tenants, authorities, credit institutions, investors, insurance companies through the registration of land shares, rent, pledge, investment, land insurance. With the help of a quantitative assessment carried out using the discount rate, refinancing rate, inflation index, the increments in the economic value of land and the payback periods for the adopted crop rotations in the Saratov region were established. The highest average cash flow for 2017–2018 years obtained from the cultivation of leguminous crops and sunflower – respectively 7183,73 and 3939,96 rubles/hectare. The economic value of land is decreasing as a result of the production of non-commercial crops, low grain yield, high costs. The best indicators of growth in economic value were noted with 8-field crop rotation – 4592,37 rubles/hectare and 9-field crop rotation – 4250.55 rubles/hectare. The availability of such information will be useful for consumers to perceive the offer of land plots. The practical significance of the development lies in expanding the possibility of calculating the increase in the economic value of agricultural land with different functional land resources management.
Issues related to the problem of managing the development of the service sector in rural areas are considered, which are interrelated with the issues of the activities and further development of medium and small businesses – the organizational form of enterprises massively represented in the service sector. On the example of rural settlements of the Perm municipal district, the problems are highlighted and the ways of developing the service sector are determined. Reserves have been identified for further strengthening the service sector in rural areas, including those focused on the social entrepreneurship segment.
The outbreak of a new coronavirus infection, which escalated into the COVID-19 pandemic, caused significant damage to the entire global economy, and the agriculture sector was no exception. Restrictive measures taken everywhere - practically by all countries of the world - have caused a decrease in economic activity, blocking of trade ties, and the destruction of value chains between countries. The unpredictability of the duration of the pandemic period and the scale of its consequences could not but affect the previously predicted scenarios for the development of economic sectors, including the agricultural sector. The purpose of the article is to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the global prospects for the development of the agricultural sector at two levels - global and national - and assess this impact, primarily on the Russian agricultural market. It is emphasized that the new coronavirus infection has added to the list of unpredictable factors in the agricultural sector, which have the property of uncertainty in their quantitative impact on agricultural markets. Inevitably, the infection caused the need to adjust the existing or develop a special scenario for the development of the agricultural sector, based on the study of the macroeconomic consequences of the pandemic. At the same time, attention should be paid to all links of the value chain as a system of interrelated elements of food production. It is argued that the scale of the consequences of the impact of COVID-19 is determined not only by the duration of the pandemic period, but also by the depth of its destructive effects, the speed of recovery of national economies from the crisis state, the dynamics of achieving the planned macroeconomic indicators and carrying out economic transformations. It is concluded that in the context of the pandemic crisis, Russia, as a country whose agriculture is less exposed to the negative impact of the new coronavirus infection, should not miss the chance to expand its presence in foreign agricultural markets.