The article presents the current regional specialization of agricultural
production in the subjects of the Non-Chernozem economic zone of the country and
its social and economic features that had developed by 2016. The main place is
given to grain crops, dairy and beef cattle breeding, pig breeding and poultry
farming. It is predicted that dairy cattle, with which a significant number of
employees of agricultural organizations and farms are engaged, will remain the
basic agricultural activity in the rural life of the Non-Chernozem Zone,
supporting the productivity of cold northern lands with low soil fertility.
Seven regions belong to favourable territories for the production of
agricultural products. Here, it is possible to cultivate the entire range of
agricultural crops. The calculation of the size of the cultivated areas per head
of cattle (hereinafter - cattle) in the subjects of the Non-Chernozem Zone is
given. It was found that the structure of sown areas in agricultural
organizations in comparison with peasant farms does not have significant
differences in the studied regions. The exception is potatoes and vegetables,
the sown areas of which are much higher in small forms of farming. With a low
level of mechanization of agricultural production in small forms of management,
except for the production of a few crops cultivated on plantations, it does not
lead to an increase in its efficiency due to an increase in the scale of
production. In the medium term, according to the authors, the existing practice
of concentrating agricultural production in areas with the most favourable
agroclimatic and soil conditions and an advantageous position relative to
consumer markets will remain.
