CONTEMPORARY AGRICULTURE IN RUSSIA
by Mary Webber
University of Minnesota
Interdisciplinary Student Research Symposium
The Museum of Russian Art, 21 February 2015
Industrialized nations often look back upon their former agrarian pasts
with fondness and eminence as it is seen as a prominent step towards the path to
modernization. The situation is no different in Russia—there is much romance
and idealism with the past; images of great harvests, hardworking, cheerful
peasants on farms, and young, strong Soviet children holding bundles of wheat
are a few tropes which may come to mind. However idyllic the images of the
past may be, the current agricultural system is much different. The food
production system in the Russian Federation is a relatively unchanged system
from the one found in the former Soviet Union; it is mismanaged,
underproductive, but despite this has the possibility for much more. Structurally,
the system is surviving on the skeleton of the former Soviet system—it has seen
low amounts of research and development (R&D), low levels of inputs such as
the use of fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, and despite holding the greatest
amount and a portion of the most fertile soil of any country in the world it
continues to be well below expected production levels. In lieu of the setbacks
due to the history of the Soviet Union and their effects on the current system, the
Russian Federation has the potential to be a global powerhouse in agricultural
production.
Brief History of Russian Agriculture
Through the years, agriculture has been productive in the area which now
comprises of the Russian Federation. The region has had a prolific history of
regime changes—all of which have had their impacts on the production of food
within the country. The first period which is worth noting is the time which is
known as Imperial Russia from 1721 until 1917. During this period, the country
saw periods of great land expansion beginning in the fertile lands of the west
(which is now Ukraine) and stretching far into the east into the lands of Siberia.
With the acquisition of more land came more agricultural opportunities for the
budding global power. Imperial Russia was a country of landed estates; it was a
predominately rural nation where the aristocracy and the gentry class owned
large estates. Serfs provided the bulk of the rural workforce. Many estates were
run on a quitrent system, where serfs managed leased land but were expected to
pay a quitrent or land tax—quitrents were both in the form of money and in
agricultural goods.i
i
Stanziani, Alessandro, and Alessandro Stanziani. 2010. “Revisiting Russian serfdom:
Bonded peasants and market dynamics, 1600s–1800s.” International Labor and
Working-Class History 78 (1): 12-27.
1
2
Mary Webber
Following a brief interlude for the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), the
next major period which produced many lasting impacts on Russian agriculture
was the Soviet Union (1922-1991). A major theme which prevailed during this
time was the continuation of industrialization, with some attempts to redefine the
structure of food production. The first major reform regarding agriculture in the
Soviet Union was Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP); NEP was an
attempt to retain capital within the Soviet Union—it allowed peasants to freely
trade agricultural products and from the profits the government collected a tax.ii
The NEP encouraged the emergence of a new wealthy peasant class, known as
kulaks.
Collectivization of agriculture occurred under the years of Josef Stalin,
who saw the wealthy kulaks as a threat to the ideals of communism. He forcibly
collectivized this class of farmers, usually around the formation of a village. The
collectivization of kulak farms, as well as the creation of large, state-owned
farms were a part of the first of many of Stalin’s Five Year Plans.iii
Industrialization and agriculture worked together in harmony initially—
production went up, and there was increased use of machinery: the most notable
use of machinery in this period was tractor use. Following Stalin, Nikita
Khrushchev continued many of the agricultural policies set forth in the Stalin
years but with an eye on reform. His most ambitious plan was the Virgin Lands
Project, which aimed to utilize land in the area of Kazakhstan in Central Asia but
was regarded as a failure.iv From that point onward, conservative policies lasted
until Mikhail Gorbachev, but by this point it was too late for agricultural reforms
to take place, as the country was transitioning into a new period of yet another
regime change.v
Characteristics of the Contemporary System
The contemporary structure of agriculture in Russia is surviving on the
structure set in place during the Soviet Union. In the opening years of the
Russian Federation, there were many complications surrounding the transition
from state-owned property and enterprise into the private sphere. Transitioning
private land to citizens for agricultural use was of particular difficulty as many
years of legislation continually left a convoluted and trying situation for people to
ii
A 1921 lesson for Russia. (introduction of Lenin’s New Economic Policy in the 1980s).
1987. The Economist (US) 302 : 45.
iii
Collectivization and industrialization. 2010. Library of Congress.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/coll.html.
iv
Laird, Roy D. 1992. “The khrushchev and gorbachev agricultural reforms: A
comparative analysis.” In The Sons of Sergei: Khrushchev and Gorbachev as Reformers,
ed. Donald R. Kelley, Shannon G. Davis, 47-70. New York: Praeger Publishers,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sbh&AN=35410&site=ehostlive; http://www.greenwood.com/imprints/index.asp?imprintid=i8.
v
Ibid.
Contemporary Agriculture in Russia
3
acquire land.vi The structural system which landed in place in the post-Soviet
world was one which prevailed the former configuration; large-scale state-owned
farms have been rematerialized as large corporate farms.vii The inherited size and
scale of the agricultural system set in place does not encourage the large
stakeholders to be particularly innovative as they own such large shares and can
afford to incur setbacks and losses without much detriment.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations provides
the most concise and straightforward summary of the best indicators of
agricultural production. Economic development in Russia has continued to grow
since the mid-nineties; since 1995, the average gross national income per capita
has raised $8,000.00 USD.viii There has been prosperity in the business and
natural resource sectors of the Russian economy but the story in agriculture is
quite different. Many quantifiable aspects of Russian food production have
either declined or plateaued in the period between 1998 and 2012.ix The labor
force in agriculture has steadily declined since 1998, when 7.99 million people in
the labor force were involved in the sector (or approximately 11 percent) to 5.79
million involved in 2013 (7.45 percent).x In terms of inputs, the Russian
Federation, and in comparison to other countries which are at the same stage of
development, Russia has relatively low use of inputs. Fertilizer consumption on
arable land and land under permanent crops has plateaued since 2009 at 15
kilogram nutrients per hectare.xi Pesticides are seemingly the most used input in
Russia—in 2012, Russia imported approximately $500 million USD worth of
pesticides.xii The largest food imports to the Russian Federation are meat, dairy
products and eggs, which comprise 20 percent of total food imports to the
country.xiii Nearly half of the agricultural exports of the Russian Federation are
vi
Wegren, Stephen K. 2009. Land Reform in Russia: Institutional Design and
Behavioral Responses. New Haven: Yale University Press.
vii
Helena Bollesen (Danish agricultural specialist) in discussion with the author, July
2014.
viii
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Russian Federation Gross
National Income per Capita.” FAO. January 14, 2014. http://faostat.fao.org/Country
Profiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&area=185.
ix
FAO. “Russia Federation.” FAO. 2014. http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/
?iso3=RUS.
x
FAO. “Russian Federation: Evolution of Population and Labor Force Size.” FAO.
January 24, 2014. http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?
lang=en&area=185.
xi
FAO. “Russian Federation Evolution of Fertilizer Consumption on Arable Land and
Land Under Permanent Crops.” FAO. August 12, 2014. http://faostat.fao.org/
CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&area=185.
xii
FAO. “Russian Federation: Pesticide Trade.” FAO. December 4, 2013. http://faostat.
fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&area=185.
xiii
FAO. “Russian Federation Composition Agricultural Trade-2011.” FAO. August 30,
2013. http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=
en&area=185.
4
Mary Webber
in cereals.xiv Many of the declining attributes of the system can be attributed to
the declining rural population of Russia, as more people during and since the fall
of the Soviet Union have been moving to urban areas. The distribution of urban
and rural populations are heavily weighted towards the urban areas: about 75
percent of the population lives in urban areas and the rest (25 percent) are found
in rural areas.xv Agricultural research and development is not as sought after as it
was during the Soviet Union, and since there have been no sweeping land or
agricultural reforms since the nineties,xvi the current structure is likely to prevail
for some time.
Before and after the fall of the Soviet Union, multinational
agribusinesses have had a foothold on the agricultural system. The most wellknown farm corporation which has a long history with the area is Cargill. It
began its history with the country in 1963 with grain exports; today it employs
more than 3,000 people in Russia and is one of the largest foreign investors in the
agro-processing segment—currently contributing $1.1 billion USD to this portion
of the Russian economy.xvii In terms of its span of agricultural products in the
country, Cargill is far reaching: grain and oilseed trading, crushing, refining, and
bottling, meat and poultry animal feed formulation, production and distribution
of syrup, starches and starch derivatives and more, are some of the products and
services it provides.xviii
Another large agribusiness, Monsanto, also has offices in Russia, but in
more recent years the government has shown aversion towards biotechnology—
especially genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In May 2014, legislation
was moving to “equate GMO-related activities that may harm human health or
even cause death, to terrorist acts and impose criminal liability on producers,
sellers and transporters of genetically modified organisms.”xix Such harsh
legislation implies that the Russian government will not be supporting
agricultural R&D which is backed by the American standard of supporting
biotechnology. It is obvious that the government wishes to steer clear of the path
which the American government has arguably been a trailblazer—genetically
modified organisms are not wanted, and in addition the country does not
currently show signs of any promising developments in other forms of
agricultural research and development.
xiv
Ibid.
FAO. “Russian Federation Rural and Urban Population-2013.” FAO. January 24,
2014. http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&area
=185.
xvi
Wegren, Stephen K. 2009. Land Reform in Russia: Institutional Design and
Behavioral Responses. New Haven: Yale University Press.
xvii
Cargill. “Cargill in Russia.” Cargill. 2014. http://www.cargill.ru/en/about/index.jsp.
xviii
Cargill. “Cargill in Russia.” Cargill. October 19, 2014. http://www.cargill.ru/wcm/
groups/public/@csf/@russia/documents/document/na31707338.pdf.
xix
TASS. “Russian Lawmakers Want to Impose Criminal Liability for GMO-related
Activities.” TASS. May 15, 2014. http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/731689.
xv
Contemporary Agriculture in Russia
5
Impact of Western Sanctions on Agriculture
The tension over biotechnology is not the only cause of anxiety for the
Russian Federation and the United States in terms of agricultural collaboration
and cooperation. The crisis in Ukraine, which is viewed differently by Western
and Russian counterparts, has provoked authorities such as the European Union,
the United States and Canada to issue sanctions. The sanctions made by these
powers predominately targeted Russian banks, the wealthiest businessmen, state
oil firms, and in addition, banned exports of services and technology to state oil
firms engaged in Arctic and deep-water exploration.xx What implications does
this create for Russian agriculture? In response to the sanctions, the government
has retaliated by banning imports of meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and milk
products from the United States, the 28-nation European Union, Norway, Canada
and Australia for a year.xxi Five of the top ten countries Russia receives most of
its imports from are Western nations targeted in the ban.xxii Currently, we are
facing one of the most interesting turning points for agriculture in Russia since
collectivization—only time will show how the sanctions/bans improve or further
hamper the food production system.
The current times present a unique occasion in the history of Russian
agriculture; until recently there has not been the impetus to enact change within
the system—the recent Western sanctions and the food ban which resulted from
them have provoked a time for a change of the system. Russian politicians have
declared this period as a “golden opportunity for Russian agriculture,”xxiii but
with how far behind the current system is, it is estimated that it will take years to
revitalize rather than the short twelve months of the current food ban. Unlike the
United States and the European Union, Russia does not have an active nor
comprehensive subsidy system in place for farmers. However, in August of this
year, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev called for a development plan towards the
self-sufficiency of Russian agriculture; the plan sets aside approximately $42
billion USD to be used for supporting farmers until 2020, but in Russia lending
rates tend to be much higher to farmers—8-10 percent being the average rate.xxiv
xx
British Broadcasting Company. “How Far do EU-US Sanctions on Russia go?” BBC.
September 15, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28400218.
xxi
Birnbaum, Michael. “Russia Bans Food Imports from U.S., E.U. Food Bans.” The
Washington Post. August 7, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russia-bansfood-imports-from-us-eu/2014/08/07/a29f5bea-1e14-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.
html.
xxii
FAO. “Russian Federation Top Ten Partners Import Value 2011.” FAO. August 30,
2011. http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=
en&area=185.
xxiii
d’Amora, Delphine. “Russian Farmers Will Need Years to Fill Gaps Left by Food
Ban.” The Moscow Times. August 14, 2014. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/
business/article/putin-s-import-bans-no-renaissance-for-russian-agriculture/505147.html.
xxiv
Ibid.
6
Mary Webber
Implications for the Future
Self-sufficiency and food independence is of vital importance to the
Russian government following the ban of Western food. It is eerily similar to the
opening years of the Cold War when the Soviet Union was forced to become
self-reliant, as the relations between it and the West continued to become
increasingly strained. Until recently, there was no political motivation for the
government to set its sights on improving the agricultural system—agrarian
reform efforts had been regulated to the tropes of the past where Russians
remembered fondly the great wheat harvests and what can be considered an
exaggerated “time of prosperity” during the Soviet Union. The food production
system in Russia has not seen an update in innovation since the days of
communism; the system set in place nearly 60 years ago was ground-breaking for
the time it was created for, but in the current day it does not provide the essential
building blocks for a successful and productive agricultural system.
Geographically Russia is the largest country in the world; the total area is
1637.69 million hectares.xxv Of that total land, 119.75 million hectares is arable
land, and 1.60 million hectares is used for permanent crops—the majority of
Russian land comprises forest land.xxvi There is potential for agriculture in the
total area of land alone—although exhausting all its arable land is not the best
option, but unlike many other countries, Russia can afford land extensification.
Not only does the country have the most unused agricultural land in the world, it
is also home to some of the best land for cultivation as well. The Black Earth
Region or, as the soil is known in Russian, Chernozem, is found in four regions;
the “black earth” soil is known for the following qualities: black color, high
percentage of humus as well as high natural percentages of nutrients such as
phosphorus and ammonia, great depth—generally over one meter, and a clay-like
structure which is favorable for retaining water.xxvii The climate of the Black
Earth Region is comparable to that of the Midwestern United States and allows
for one annual harvest from July to October.xxviii Effectively, Russia has all of
the elements which are necessary to be a leader in agriculture, but does not utilize
all of them.
Concluding Remarks
Russia has such a rich history with agriculture so that the current
situation with the system seems out of place—instead of continuing down a
supposed path, the country has begun to fall short of expectations. Through the
1990s and onward, the Russian Federation has declined or plateaued in several
xxv
FAO. “Russian Federation: Evolution of Land Use.” FAO. August 12, 2014.
http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&area=185.
xxvi
Ibid.
xxvii
Black Earth Farming. “Where BEF Operates.” Black Earth Farming Limited. 2014.
http://www.blackearthfarming.com/where.html.
xxviii
Ibid.
Contemporary Agriculture in Russia
7
quantifiable agricultural development indicators such as fertilizer use and labor
force involved in agriculture. In recent years Russia has not seen the rise of
much R&D in this sector, and biotechnology does not seem to be in the sights for
the farming future. Currently, the political situation creates new and unique
opportunities for Russian agriculture which were not present since the time of the
collectivization. Western sanctions imposed due to the crisis in Ukraine
provoked a food ban of EU and US originating food—such a ban is seen as a
potential for national agriculture to once again flourish. Despite the relative
setbacks the food production system faces, there is potential for continuing
agricultural development, as Russia is a large area with significant arable land
available, and holds some of the best soil on Earth. Only time will tell if the
agricultural system is to improve, or if it will continue to support itself on the
crumbling infrastructure of its Soviet past.
8
Mary Webber
References
A 1921 lesson for Russia. (Introduction of Lenin’s New Economic Policy in the
1980s). 1987. The Economist (US) 302 : 45.
Black Earth Farming. 2014. “Where BEF Operates.” Black Earth Farming
Limited. http://www.blackearthfarming.com/where.html.
Birnbaum, Michael. 2014. “Russia Bans Food Imports from U.S., E.U. Food
Bans.” The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/
russia-bans-food-imports-from-us-eu/2014/08/07/a29f5bea-1e14-11e482f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html.
Bollesen, Helena. (Danish agricultural specialist) in discussion with the author,
July 2014.
British Broadcasting Company. 2014. “How Far do EU-US Sanctions on Russia
go?” BBC. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28400218.
Cargill. “Cargill in Russia.” 2014. Cargill. http://www.cargill.ru/en/about/
index.jsp.
“Cargill in Russia.” 2014b. Cargill. http://www.cargill.ru/wcm/groups/public/
@csf/@russia/documents/document/na31707338.pdf.
Collectivization and industrialization.
2010.
Library of Congress.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/coll.html.
d’Amora, Delphine. 2014. “Russian Farmers Will Need Years to Fill Gaps Left
by Food Ban.” The Moscow Times. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/
business/article/putin-s-import-bans-no-renaissance-for-russianagriculture/505147.html.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2014a. “Russian
Federation Gross National Income per Capita.”
FAO.
http://
faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&ar
ea=185.
“Russia Federation.” 2014b. FAO. http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/
en/?iso3=RUS.
“Russian Federation: Evolution of Population and Labor Force Size.” 2014c.
FAO.
http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.
aspx?lang=en&area=185.
“Russian Federation: Evolution of Fertilizer Consumption on Arable Land and
Land Under Permanent Crops.” 2014d. FAO. http://faostat.fao.org/
CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&area=185.
“Russian Federation: Pesticide Trade.” 2013a. FAO. http://faostat.fao.org/
CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&area=185.
“Russian Federation: Composition Agricultural Trade-2011.” 2013b. FAO.
http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=
en&area=185.
“Russian Federation: Rural and Urban Population-2013.” 2014e. FAO.
http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=
en&area=185.
“Russian Federation: Top Ten Partners Import Value 2011.” 2011. FAO.
http://faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=
en&area=185.
Contemporary Agriculture in Russia
9
“Russian Federation: Evolution of Land Use.”
2014f.
FAO.
http://
faostat.fao.org/CountryProfiles/Country_Profile/Direct.aspx?lang=en&ar
ea=185.
Laird, Roy D. 1992. “The Khrushchev and Gorbachev agricultural reforms: A
comparative analysis.” In The Sons of Sergei: Khrushchev and
Gorbachev as Reformers, ed. Donald R. Kelley, Shannon G. Davis, 4770.
New York: Praeger Publishers, http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=sbh&AN=35410&site=ehost-live;
http://www.greenwood.com/imprints/index.asp?imprintid=i8.
Stanziani, Alessandro. 2010. “Revisiting Russian serfdom: Bonded peasants and
market dynamics, 1600s–1800s.” International Labor and WorkingClass History 78 (1): 12-27.
TASS. 2014. “Russian Lawmakers Want to Impose Criminal Liability for
GMO-related Activities.” TASS. http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/731689.
Wegren, Stephen K. 2009. Land Reform in Russia: Institutional Design and
Behavioral Responses. New Haven: Yale University Press.