On Market Demand and Supply Prices for Crop Production

The spatial development of agricultural land use, quantitative and qualitative changes in the use of the existing resource potential of productive agricultural lands, and the expansion or contraction of their geographical boundaries depend on the combined impact of economic, social, institutional, and infrastructural elements of the agricultural land use system. This includes, first and foremost, effective demand for crop products; the bioclimatic potential of agricultural lands; access to land, finance, and sales markets; the level of innovative development and agrotechnologies; the presence and effectiveness of development institutions; and the quality of state regulation of land relations, land and tax legislation, and public administration. The globalized nature of agricultural trade leads to the concentration of agricultural production in areas with the most favorable agroclimatic and soil conditions and advantageous proximity to large consumer markets. This results in a contraction of agriculturally developed areas in the Non-Black Earth Zone, interregional differentiation in the socio-economic development of rural areas within the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, a worsening demographic situation, and a low level of entrepreneurial activity in rural areas outside large and major urban agglomerations. Without developing special state programs for the socio-economic development of rural areas in the Non-Black Earth Zone — through domestic production of dairy and beef cattle products, import substitution, and the revival of flax cultivation and other traditional agricultural products for the region — it is impossible to achieve stability in the settlement system and prevent further deterioration of the demographic situation