Development of agricultural cooperation

The third important area that ensures the harmonious development of small businesses in rural areas is agricultural cooperation.

The essence of cooperation is an association based on the membership of citizens and (or) legal entities, while maintaining its legal and economic independence, in order to conduct production or provide services on a larger scale on its own and in its own interests.

Cooperation allows its participants to:

ensure competitiveness in the markets for goods and services;

significantly increase the level of income and well-being both through more efficient activities and the elimination of unnecessary intermediaries and influence on price relations in the market;

to form an active behavioral position of cooperation participants who, being the owners of the means of production and produced products (services), have a greater opportunity for self-organization and participation in the management of economic activities;

through the formation of cooperative associations at all levels of government, including at the federal level, to reflect the interests of their members and influence the agricultural policy of the state;

make better use of achievements scientific and technological progress, modern technologies, provide access to banking and other services.

The cooperative form allows you to organize joint activities in such a way that its members have the opportunity to jointly solve existing problems and help meet pressing needs, without losing their business, economic and legal independence.

Rural cooperation is the most important factor sustainable development of rural areas, being a link between measures of government influence on social development villages and the villagers themselves with their traditions, skills and aspirations. We must also not miss the geopolitical significance of rural cooperation, which must play its role in preserving the population in rural areas and preventing the desolation of certain regions of the country.

Cooperatives carry out their activities on the basis of the principles by which they put their values ​​into practice and determine the behavior of members of the cooperative when they accept management decisions. Cooperative principles are interconnected: if one principle is violated, then the importance of other principles decreases. Therefore, the activities of a cooperative should be assessed by how it generally follows all the principles. It is not the presence of the word “cooperative” in the name, but compliance with cooperative principles that determines this or that organization as a cooperative.

IN rural areas All forms of agricultural and consumer cooperatives provided for by civil legislation operate.

Table 1 - Number of agricultural cooperatives and consumer societies in rural areas as of January 1, 2013

Potentially, the social base of cooperation in rural areas is not only all rural residents, but also 40 thousand active agricultural organizations, as well as about 300 thousand peasant (farm) households (including individual entrepreneurs).

Peasant (farmer) households and more than 2 million commercial households of the population show the greatest activity in cooperation. However, in the context of accession to the WTO, tougher competition in world food markets and in order to maintain social stability in rural areas and economic growth In the Russian agricultural industry, it is important to involve all village residents, farmers and agricultural organizations in cooperative relations.

Modern agricultural cooperation includes:

1. All types of agricultural cooperatives of the first and subsequent levels (production and consumer).

2. Specialized associations (unions) of agricultural cooperatives.

3. Audit unions of agricultural cooperatives, which must include all agricultural cooperatives and their specialized unions.

4. Self-regulatory organizations of audit unions of agricultural cooperatives.

Organizations consumer cooperation- consumer societies, unions of consumer societies, as well as institutions, business companies and other legal entities whose founders are consumer societies and their unions.

A consumer society is a voluntary association of citizens and (or) legal entities, created, as a rule, on a territorial basis, on the basis of membership through the pooling of property shares by its members for trading, procurement, production and other activities in order to satisfy the material and other needs of its members in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On consumer cooperation (consumer societies and their unions) in Russian Federation».

Consumer societies are united in regional unions of consumer societies (in some regions there is also a district level) consumer unions. Consumer societies and their unions have a material and technical base designed to carry out procurement and processing activities, trade, social and consumer services for the rural population. However, the existing base needs modernization.

Consumer cooperation organizations of the Central Union of the Russian Federation operate mainly in rural areas and perform the following tasks:

providing the rural population with food and non-food goods of vital necessity;

supporting personal subsidiary plots and expanding their capabilities in marketing agricultural products;

promoting agricultural and non-agricultural employment of villagers, and their receipt of additional income.

The zone of activity of consumer cooperation includes 89 thousand rural settlements, including 54 thousand settlements with a population of less than 100 people.

The total income of organizations included in the Central Union of the Russian Federation in 2012 amounted to 246 billion rubles.

The priority activity of consumer cooperation organizations is the purchase of agricultural products produced in personal subsidiary plots of the population and peasant (farm) farms, and their processing at cooperative enterprises. The volume of this activity has increased over the past five years from 30 to 45 billion rubles. Of the 30 thousand consumer cooperation stores operating in rural areas, 17 thousand have open collection points that purchase various agricultural and wild-growing products from the population. In addition, purchases are made by universal acceptance and procurement points and milk collection points. To store prepared products there are vegetable, potato, fruit storage, and refrigerated warehouses. In a number of regions, cooperative organizations purchase from households from 10 to 20 percent of the commodity resources of meat and milk, from 12 to 30 percent of potatoes and vegetables.

There are 1.5 million people who are regular suppliers of agricultural and wild-growing products and medicinal raw materials, who are essentially provided with work and constant income. Citizens received more than 22 billion rubles for donated agricultural products in 2012.

Consumer cooperation has always been and remains a socially oriented system: cooperators work with the most vulnerable and low-income group of the rural population, maintain unprofitable stores and enterprises, which in a significant number of settlements are village-forming.

Another important social mission of consumer cooperation organizations is the delivery of essential goods to hard-to-reach and sparsely populated rural areas, which is also unprofitable for cooperative organizations.

Cooperation is a stable and self-reproducing system. But at present, the majority of agricultural producers and rural residents do not have sufficient available funds that would allow them to create a material base in a historically short period. Therefore, the initial formation of cooperatives is usually difficult without government support.

Currently, for all types of cooperatives, only one measure of support is actually provided in the form of reimbursement of part of the costs of paying interest on loans and borrowings. Consumer cooperation organizations can receive this type support only for short-term credits (loans) attracted for the purchase of agricultural products and their processed products. But this measure, due to the lack of the necessary collateral base and difficult access to state funds to support entrepreneurship, is in demand only by a small number of cooperatives and has a decisive influence on the pace of cooperative does not provide development. Agricultural consumer cooperatives and consumer cooperation organizations cannot take advantage of the support measures provided for by law for agricultural producers, since they do not directly produce agricultural products. At current system support for cooperation, the growth in the number of members and economic potential of consumer cooperatives will last for decades.

The goal of state financial and economic support in the field of cooperation in rural areas should be to create conditions for the high-quality development of the national system of rural cooperation, ensuring and expanding the availability of financial, credit and material and technical resources, guaranteeing sales and demand for manufactured products, stimulating the economic activity of the rural population, promoting employment growth and increasing income.

In 2013, it is proposed to develop a departmental target program of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture for the development of cooperation in rural areas, aimed at significantly expanding the network of rural cooperation.

This program involves solving the following problems:

creation of mechanisms to stimulate the unification of agricultural producers and rural residents into cooperatives, and agricultural cooperatives into a common multi-level system of agricultural cooperation;

development of existing cooperatives and their associations (including strengthening their material and technical base, increasing their own and borrowed funds, increasing financial stability);

construction effective system government regulation multi-level agricultural cooperation, based on unified standards for the activities of cooperatives and the subsequent development of a system of self-regulation;

creation of a high-quality interaction mechanism government agencies authorities, banking sector, insurance sector, consulting services sector and rural cooperation.

Funding for the proposed activities is carried out within the framework of the activities State program development of agriculture and regulation of markets for agricultural products, raw materials and food for 2013-2020, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of July 14, 2012 No. 717, through the redistribution of budget allocations provided for in the federal budget for the implementation of this program. The departmental target program of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture for the development of cooperation in rural areas will become integral part the specified State program.

It is advisable to develop the following new tools for implementing the State program regarding the development of cooperation in rural areas:

reimbursement of part of the costs of paying interest on long-term investment loans and loans attracted by consumer cooperation organizations that provide at least 70 percent of services to the rural population, for the development of a modern material and technical base for storage, transportation, processing and sale of agricultural products and their processed products. Estimated level of support is 1 billion rubles. per year from the federal budget and at least 0.5 billion rubles. - from regional budgets;

support for areas of development of rural cooperation within the framework of economically significant regional programs for the development of rural cooperation, selected and co-financed at the federal level;

providing agricultural cooperatives and consumer cooperation organizations that provide at least 70% of services to the rural population with all types of grants and subsidies for the development of a modern material and technical base, including capacities for storage, processing and marketing of agricultural products, the acquisition of specialized vehicles; organization of logistics centers, supply points, cooperative markets, facilities for the construction and servicing of cooperative members, formation of mutual financial assistance funds;

reimbursement of part of the costs of paying interest on short-term and long-term loans and borrowings attracted by agricultural consumer credit cooperatives;

reimbursement to agricultural cooperatives and consumer cooperation organizations that provide at least 70% of services to the rural population of part of the costs of paying the down payment under leasing agreements for equipment, transport, agricultural and specialized equipment, livestock and other production assets in the amount of no more than 35% of the cost of the leased objects;

priority provision of grants to support local initiatives As part of the activities of the developed project of the federal target program “Sustainable development of rural areas for 2014-2017.” and for the period until 2020." for projects for the development of rural cooperation, selected on a competitive basis in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

At the regional and local levels it is necessary to provide:

development of a system of additional regional measures to the federal ones within the framework of regional economically significant programs for the development of cooperation in rural areas;

development for the period from 2013 of regional programs containing measures for the development of cooperation in rural areas, including on the terms of co-financing funds from the federal and regional budgets for their implementation;

development for the period from 2013 of measures to stimulate the development of cooperatives to consolidate local rural communities in addressing issues of improvement of settlements and improvement of natural and social environment habitat, participation in the development of plans for their promising development and the formation of a favorable socio-psychological climate in rural areas;

allocation construction sites and the development of design and estimate documentation for the construction and development of cooperative markets with the participation of financing the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, regional development agencies, interested rural cooperatives and their associations (unions).

In 2014-2015, when a control and supervision system is created, the state regulator of the activities of agricultural consumer credit cooperatives is determined, it is advisable to develop additional tools to support rural cooperatives and their social base, carry out additional capitalization of institutions for the development of rural cooperation, and take measures to strengthen the infrastructure for its development at national and regional levels.

The participation of OJSC Rosselkhozbank, OJSC Sberbank of Russia and other credit organizations and insurance companies in the development of the rural credit cooperation system is to attract rural cooperation as agents of banks. The task of rural credit cooperation is to become a conductor of existing financial services and direct maximum efforts to expand their range, providing its members with a one-stop-shop principle. The interaction of banks and insurance organizations with agricultural credit consumer cooperatives is expected to be implemented in the following main forms:

participation of banks or other investors in the activities of agricultural consumer credit cooperatives in the status of associate members;

lending to agricultural credit and consumer cooperatives both for the development of the infrastructure of their activities and for replenishing mutual financial assistance funds;

refinancing of the loan portfolio of agricultural credit consumer cooperatives (issuance by the bank of loans secured by the pledge of claims under loan agreements with shareholders);

use of guarantees from second-level credit cooperatives accredited by the bank as collateral for loans provided to their first-level cooperative members;

participation of insurance organizations in the formation of mutual financial assistance funds after clarification of the regulatory framework regarding the directions of placement of their own funds and funds of insurance reserves.

The implementation of these measures will contribute to the creation of a wide, multi-level and sustainable network of cooperatives in rural areas. In the future, the system of rural credit consumer cooperation should become an equal participant in the financial market.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Russia was a world leader in the development of cooperative forms of economic management and ranked first in the world in the number of cooperatives and their members. This explains the birth of a powerful stream of literature on cooperation during that period. An analysis of the modern cooperative movement in our country suggests that cooperatives have significant unrealized potential and should take a more significant place in solving the long-term economic problems of society as a whole. Promising directions for the stabilization and development of agricultural cooperatives should be: improving measures of state support for rural cooperatives, including support for cooperatives through the provision of land, state guarantees, and tax preferences; modernization of the material and technical base of existing cooperatives; supporting the activities of economically significant regional programs for the development of cooperation and logistics centers; development of the Federal Union of Agricultural Cooperation; widespread popularization and dissemination of ideas of agricultural cooperation among the population, etc.

agricultural cooperation

agricultural production cooperative

agricultural consumer non-credit cooperative

agricultural consumer credit cooperative

1. Brutskus B.D. The agrarian question and agricultural policy. – St. Petersburg: Pravo, 1922. – 234 p.

2. Martynov V.D. Farmer cooperation in the agro-industrial complex of the Scandinavian countries and Finland. – M.: VNIITEIagroprom, 1988. – 55 p.

3. Matusevich V. Farming and agricultural cooperation in the USA. – M.: Knowledge, 1991. – 48 p.

4. Serova E.V. Agricultural cooperation in the USSR. – M.: Agroprmizdat, 1991. – 160 p.

5. Yugai G.A. Russia’s Middle Path and Eurasianism // www.politology.vuzlib.org/book_o165_page_2.htm (access date: 03.13.13).

6. Chayanov A.V. Basic ideas and forms of organizing agricultural cooperation. – M.: Nauka, 1991. – 456 p.

Hopes for the revival of agriculture in our country in last years are becoming increasingly associated with cooperation. There are reasons for this. Domestic experience of the early 20th century and existing world practice prove that agriculture has no prospects without cooperation. However, the Soviet period of development of agricultural cooperation was a period of destructive rather than creative experiments in the field of cooperative movement according to a pre-determined theoretical plan. The agricultural cooperation that has survived to this day has essentially lost its principles and contains only some of its non-core elements. The current insufficient development of agricultural cooperation in Russia is confirmed by many scientists and practitioners. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to study current state agricultural cooperatives and determining the prospects for their development.

Material and research methods

Data from the official AKKOR website were used as an information base for the study. The research is based on the use of monographic and logical analysis methods, as well as economic and statistical methods.

Research results and discussion

Starting from the second half of the 19th century, immediately after the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861, the cooperative movement quickly gained momentum. According to the observations of S. Prokopovich, for 10 years, from 1902 to 1912. the number of different partnerships increased more than tenfold. By the beginning of 1917, the cooperative movement in Russia had a diverse, largely developed organizational network and united the broad masses of the population. In terms of the number of cooperatives and their members at that time, Russia ranked first in the world. About one and a half million peasant farms, mainly from the middle and poor strata of the village, were involved in cooperatives.

The opinion about the important role of the cooperative movement in the economic and social life of the country has become widely accepted. N. Totomians noted that no other social movement in Russia can compare with cooperation in terms of popularity and power. B. Brutskus wrote that the development of the cooperative movement caused enormous moral satisfaction, and among its broad layers there are great hopes for the implementation of future transformations of society.

G.A. Yugay is already in modern conditions notes: “This is where the Russian logos is manifested in practice in life - the identity of matter and spirit - free, conciliar, cooperative. This is where the priority and somewhere even the primacy of the spirit, ideal in relation to material existence, lies. And wasn’t it this practice and life that inspired Russian writers, poets, philosophers, historians and other thinkers and activists to glorify the Russian soul, its greatness and nobility! This was a continuation of the traditions of Russian culture, formed in early XIX c., more on a spiritual, ideal basis, rather than on a material and materialistic basis or on the philosophy of mercantilism and Western utilitarianism, consumerism.”

This explains the birth in that period of a powerful stream of literature on cooperation, which cannot in any way be compared with today. The main scientific conclusion made by another prominent scientist of that time, A. Chayanov, is that only the cooperation of peasants can ensure the creation and development of the production potential of the agricultural sector, balanced in all respects, its commercially profitable use, and eliminate the contradiction between the advantages of individual labor and at the same time, the advantages of large forms of production in agriculture. Moreover, cooperative concentration turns out to be the more economically profitable the further the sphere of agricultural activity subject to cooperation is from the direct work of the peasant with biological organisms.

In our country, these fundamental provisions have been undeservedly forgotten; the cooperation of peasant owners has not become widespread enough. The Soviet period of development of agricultural cooperation was a period of destructive rather than creative experiments in the field of cooperative movement. The state regulated all aspects of the activities of cooperatives, including collective farms, which actually became one of the links in the national economic system. In Soviet economics long years the problems of the cooperative movement were studied mainly from ideological and socio-political points of view, only in connection with consumer cooperation and collective farms.

At present, the agrarian reforms that have been undertaken, cooperation has not yet acquired its former glory, despite the fact that the experience of foreign countries testifies to the wide possibilities and functions of cooperation, the diversity of its forms. In many of them, cooperatives play a very significant role in the system of interrelations between the agricultural sector and related sectors of the economy. Almost one hundred percent participation in farmer cooperatives is traditional for the countries of Northern Europe, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Japan. In a number of countries of continental Europe, in the USA, approximately 80% of all farms. Cooperatives are somewhat less widespread in the UK and Italy, where approximately 35-40% of all farms participate in them.

An analysis of the modern cooperative movement in our country suggests that cooperatives have significant unrealized potential and should take a more significant place in solving the long-term economic problems of society as a whole.

Currently, the activities of cooperative formations in Russia are regulated primarily Federal law No. 193 “On Agricultural Cooperation” and RF Law No. 3085-1 “On Consumer Cooperation (Consumer Societies, Their Unions) in the Russian Federation.”

In table 1 presented modern structure and the number of rural cooperatives as of January 1, 2012.

As follows from the table. 1, the most widespread organizational form of agricultural cooperation in modern conditions is the agricultural production cooperative (APC). SPK is commercial organization created by citizens in order to satisfy their material and other needs for joint activities in the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products, as well as for performing other activities not prohibited by law, based on the combination of their property shares and personal labor participation members of the cooperative. Dynamics of SPK for 1995-2012 presented in table. 2.

Table 1

Number of agricultural cooperatives in the Russian Federation as of 01/01/2012

As follows from the table. 2, despite the fact that SPC is the most common form of organization of agricultural cooperative production, their number tends to decrease. In 2012, their number was 10,319, which is 33% less than in 2001. One of the main reasons explaining this trend is the fact that, according to the existing classification of agricultural enterprises, does not apply to “small forms of rural management,” even if they meet the criteria established for a small business entity. This deprives them of the opportunity to use a certain preferential treatment provided for small forms of farming in rural areas. They have the right to the same forms of state support as agricultural organizations of other organizational and legal forms. Although it is more difficult for them than for others organizational forms, carry out your production activities. Most SECs operate on leased land. There are frequent cases of predatory misappropriation of SPK property by individuals through their illegal transformation into various joint stock companies, deliberate bankruptcy, raider takeovers. As a result, SPC members are often left without their property shares, without land and without work. In a real agricultural cooperative, even if it is a production cooperative, the right to a share in the joint property must be unshakable. Otherwise, this will mean socialization, nationalization, and the elimination of the economic independence of the members of the cooperative.

table 2

Dynamics of the number of agricultural production cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 1995-2012, units

Agricultural consumer non-credit cooperatives (SPoK) - non-profit associations of citizens - owners of private plots, peasant (farm) households, legal entities - producers of agricultural products, created to reduce their costs or generate additional income by transferring to the cooperative the functions of sales, supply, processing of products, construction , insurance services and other activities for servicing participants. These cooperatives are typically referred to as marketing, supply, processing, service, or a combination of these. Among the service providers, construction cooperatives have stood out in recent years.

According to estimates, the role of cooperatives varies significantly across regions of the country. The development of this kind of agricultural cooperatives takes place primarily in those of them in which they are provided with certain financial and economic support. First of all, we are talking about financing the capital costs of cooperatives. Since such costs are incurred once, and activities based on this are carried out over many years.

At the federal level, agricultural consumer non-credit cooperatives receive support in the form of reimbursement of part of the costs of paying interest on loans.

Agricultural consumer cooperatives of this form are at the earliest stage of their development. The dynamics of their numbers is presented in table. 3.

As follows from the table. 3, the number of consumer non-credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 2006-2012. constantly increased, which indicates the promise of this form of organization of agricultural cooperation in our country.

Table 3

Dynamics of the number of agricultural consumer non-credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 2006-2012, units

Agricultural consumer credit cooperatives (ACCC) are non-profit associations of agricultural producers and the rural population that issue loans to their members at the expense of funds raised from members, associate members, credit organizations and other sources.

In modern conditions, SPCCs satisfy the needs of small rural businesses for borrowed funds by more than 6%, while occupying third place after OJSC Rosselkhozbank and OJSC Sberbank of Russia. However, the difficulties of obtaining bank loans in some cases make agricultural consumer credit cooperatives the only source of borrowed funds available to rural residents for organizing and running entrepreneurial activity. The dynamics of the number of these types of cooperatives is presented in Table. 4.

Table 4

Dynamics of the number of agricultural consumer credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 1996-2012, units

As can be seen from table. 4, the development of agricultural consumer credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation has greatly intensified since 2006. This is explained by the fact that at first SPCCs were formed mainly at the expense of their own financial resources. The conditions of their activities have changed significantly with the start of the implementation of the Priority National Project “Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex”. During implementation of this project SPKK received access to loans from Rosselkhozbank OJSC, which provided a number of cooperatives with significant funds as an associate member contribution. For example, for 2006-2009. this amount amounted to about 710 million rubles. Currently, SPCCs do not receive direct financial and economic support at the federal level, which explains their uneven, spasmodic development.

Thus, the cooperative movement in the country’s agricultural sector is developing slowly and contradictorily. The development of cooperative foundations is largely hampered by the insufficiency and ineffectiveness of state support and state regulation of agricultural cooperation, the lack of adequate financial and economic conditions for the creation and development of cooperatives, the lack of understanding and skills of economic self-government on a democratic cooperative basis, cooperative illiteracy of the population, insufficient propaganda of ideas and principles of cooperation, etc. The situation is also complicated by the unresolved number of fundamental problems further development market economy, the principles of which are an indispensable condition for the development of agricultural cooperation.

Promising directions for the stabilization and development of agricultural cooperatives should be:

Improving measures of state support for rural cooperatives, including support for cooperatives through the provision of land, state guarantees, and tax preferences;

Modernization of the material and technical base of existing cooperatives;

Supporting the activities of economically significant regional programs for the development of cooperation and logistics centers;

Development of the Federal Union of Agricultural Cooperation;

Wide popularization and dissemination of ideas of agricultural cooperation among the population.

These and other areas should be comprehensive in nature, have clear targets linked to specific deadlines, stages and possible resources for achieving them, combine federal and regional approaches within a single system.

Reviewers:

Polushkina T.M., Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Economics of Cooperation and Entrepreneurship of the Saransk Cooperative Institute (branch) of the ANO VPO Center of the Russian Federation "Russian University of Cooperation", Saransk;

Imyarekov S.M., Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of World Economics and Management of the Saransk Cooperative Institute (branch) of the ANO VPO Center of the Russian Federation "Russian University of Cooperation", Saransk.

The work was received by the editor on April 22, 2013.

Bibliographic link

The IV All-Russian Congress of Agricultural Cooperatives was held under this motto. The event was attended by more than 360 delegates from 73 regions of Russia, as well as representatives of government, science and public organizations.

On state support and the imperfection of laws

The congress of agricultural cooperatives was opened on November 10 by the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Dzhambulat Khatuov on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev.

“We are faced with the task of building an effective system of cooperatives with good profitability and the creation of new jobs. Many rural areas require support, we must strengthen the Russian village, develop its infrastructure to the level of modern requirements,” said Dzhambulat Khatuov.

In his speech, the First Deputy Minister noted that the system of agricultural cooperation has accumulated many problems, including imperfection legislative framework, as well as insufficient financial and credit resources.

Among the main topics that require joint discussion between the state and the cooperative community, Dzhambulat Khatuov identified the regulation of the legislative framework. He said that, on behalf of Alexander Tkachev, a special working group has been created to improve legislation in the field of cooperation, which includes representatives of cooperative unions and associations, science, and regional governing bodies of the agro-industrial complex.

At the same time, he called on the participants and delegates of the Congress to take an active part in preparing proposals to improve legislation in the field of cooperation and submit them for discussion by the working group.

At the Congress, it was noted that today agricultural cooperatives can receive almost all types of state support provided for agricultural producers. In addition, since 2015, within the framework of the State Agricultural Development Program for 2013-2020, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture has been implementing grant support for agricultural consumer cooperatives for the development of the material and technical base.

Based on the results of 2015-2016. grants for construction, reconstruction production premises, the purchase of machinery and equipment, payment of part of the contribution under leasing agreements was received by 238 cooperatives, 1.3 billion rubles were sent to the regions. In 2017-2020, from the federal budget (according to the passport of the State Agricultural Development Program for 2013-2020), the amount for supporting agricultural cooperatives is planned to be increased to 1.5 billion rubles annually.

Delegates expressed the view that promising direction The development of agricultural cooperatives is to unite them with processing enterprises, build an agrological chain and involve cooperatives in working with wholesale distribution centers (WDC), create and develop export-oriented cooperatives.

Dzhambulat Khatuov named educational, informational and ideological support, which should be provided by all levels of government in an accessible form, as another important condition for the development of cooperation.

“It is necessary to tell the population about the advantages and opportunities of cooperatives, about support measures, and to replicate the best practices in the development of cooperation,” said the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. He called for active work in this direction, spoke for the need to hold training seminars, forums, involve youth in the cooperative movement, as well as create a positive image of cooperation in the countryside.

Dzhambulat Khatuov recalled that, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Alexander Tkachev, plans and tasks for the creation of at least 1,500 agricultural cooperatives in 2016-2017, taking into account regional specifics and features.

The plenary session was chaired by the President of the Association of Peasant (Farm) Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives of Russia Vladimir Plotnikov:

“Cooperation in Russia is developing more and more, further, effective and successful development The agro-industrial complex is impossible without the development of cooperation. Yesterday the main directions were discussed at the sections. The first is related to the development of legislation, new laws, the second is the need to fill this area of ​​activity with real financial resources. These areas need to be seriously developed.”

Chairman of the AKKOR Council Vyacheslav Telegin made a report on state support for the development of agricultural cooperation. He analyzed the reasons that hinder the union of peasants into cooperatives. And this is, first of all, insufficient state support and imperfection of the legislative framework.

Cooperators have to solve problems with lending, issues of double taxation, and overcome administrative barriers, in particular, double certification of products.

AKKOR considers it extremely important to provide agricultural cooperatives with state support, which needs to be strengthened, since most cooperatives and entire areas still do not have it. It is necessary to support all types of cooperation, as they complement each other and help each other develop, emphasized Vyacheslav Telegin.

The Chairman of the AKKOR Council outlined proposals for adjusting the rules for allocating grant support; in particular, state support measures should be extended to newly created agricultural cooperatives.

The ratio of grant funds should be changed so that funds from the federal and regional budgets in it account for 80%, and own funds- 20% and increase the grant implementation period to 24 months. In addition, allow grant funds to be used to connect cooperative facilities to utility infrastructure, to pay down payments on leasing agreements, and to construct, reconstruct or modernize access roads to cooperative facilities.

Also, credit cooperation should be included in the State Program and provided with decent financial resources. The delegates agreed with the proposals of the Association of Russian Farmers. At the Congress it was noted that only in close cooperation with the state can an effectively working system of agricultural cooperation be created.

It will become the most important condition for the development of farms and rural areas, improving the living standards of peasants. This, in particular, was discussed by many participants in the pre-congress interregional conferences on the development of agricultural cooperation and in sections of the congress.

New preferential lending mechanism

The speech of the Director of the Department of Economics and State Support of the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Natalya Chernetsova, was awaited like manna from heaven. And this is understandable. Behind the dry numbers of the report, the congress delegates built their future lives, relationships with banks, with officials. She said:

The federal budget for 2016 allocated 10.2 billion rubles for the development of small businesses (hereinafter referred to as small business enterprises). Agricultural producers were transferred to the accounts of federal treasuries in the constituent entities of 9.8 billion, including: for subsidizing interest rates on loans - 1.7 billion, for beginning farmers - 3.8 billion, for family livestock farms - 3.4 billion and for the development of material resources. the technical base of agricultural cooperatives is 845 million. The amount of use of federal money is 99.8%, and the regional part is lame. This mainly concerns the reimbursement of part of the interest rate on borrowed resources attracted by the IFC. From the regional part, only...58% was transferred to agricultural cooperatives, peasant farms and private household plots.

This is one of the reasons that entailed the need to revise the State Program, the structure of which aroused criticism at all levels. First of all, for the inability to promptly respond to changes that occurred at the regional level during the year.

The current budget legislation limited the redistribution of funds between areas of state support, as life required, the speaker emphasized. In order to improve the quality of money management, decisions were made that formed the basis of the new structure of the State Program.

Today, the structure of the State Program includes five subprograms and two federal programs. It was possible to defend target programs for sustainable development rural areas and land reclamation. The much-talked about single subsidy included 27 support measures.

In order to avoid the temptation to offend the IFF, the director noted, rules for the provision of subsidies have been developed, the draft of which is in the government. “We have provided for an increase in the grant for beginning farmers from 1.5 to 3 million rubles, and for family livestock farms - from 21.6 to 30 million,” said Natalya Chernetsova.

Another innovation is that it is planned to introduce a preferential lending mechanism in 2017. The producer's expenses for servicing loans will be cut in half. Now, receiving a loan from a bank, he comes to the agro-industrial complex authorities. There he may not be accepted, citing lack of money, and he is in constant waiting mode: will they take his application for interest rate reimbursement or not.

And the preferential lending mechanism assumes that the borrower comes to the bank and takes out a loan at 5%. Then the relationship between the federal authority comes into force executive power and a bank to which subsidies in the amount of 10% are transferred (the key rate of the Central Bank at the moment). The innovation allows us to reduce the time required to complete documents.

And most importantly, in order to ensure access to borrowed resources for IFCs, we have provided in the rules for the need to provide 20% subsidies for loans received by IFCs, emphasized Natalya Chernetsova. - This will facilitate equal access to borrowed resources for both large and small borrowers. 10 systemically important banks have been identified for work, and there will be more later.

Why does cooperation not live up to expectations?

The report on the topic “Agricultural cooperation in Russia: obstacles and incentives” was read by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of VIAPI named after. A.A. Nikonova Alexander Petrikov.

The main question that I will try to answer in my speech is the following. Why is agricultural cooperation, the great importance of which literally everyone speaks about in our country, in the development of which the majority of both producers and consumers of agricultural products are interested; for which, if not all, but the necessary legislative prerequisites have been created; are being implemented, albeit not to a sufficient extent, but special support measures are being implemented - why, under all these conditions, cooperation is developing slowly and does not live up to our expectations?! There are several reasons for this, both objective and subjective.

First, the academician spoke about objective difficulties. Cooperatives are developing in conditions of fierce competition; they have to literally win their “place in the sun” by competing with large retail chains, agricultural firms and holdings, large processing, supply and service enterprises and other market integrators that occupy a monopoly position in a particular market.

At the same time, potential participants in cooperation (farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises, highly commercial personal subsidiary plots) are geographically scattered and differ markedly in the scale of production and economic situation. It is objectively difficult to combine them. This is accompanied by subjective difficulties, both on the part of the state and the cooperative community.

Support funds from the federal budget are directed exclusively to support individual cooperatives, and not institutions for the development of the cooperative system as a whole - financial assistance funds, information and consulting networks, specialized centers for training and advanced training of cooperative personnel.

In a number of Russian regions (for example, Lipetsk and Belgorod regions), this federal disproportion is being smoothed out, but no more than that, which has extremely unfavorable consequences. There is a strong dependence of cooperatives on government support, and there are risks of creating pseudo-cooperatives only in order to “effectively” use government subsidies. The infrastructure network for self-development of the cooperative system is not being formed.

The state acts in a fragmented manner. For example, at our congress there are no representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Justice, or other departments. And without their participation, it is impossible to develop and implement an effective cooperative policy, the speaker believes.

He continued talking about the cooperative community. Unfortunately, it is still disunited and poorly mobilized. For example, the decision of the first cooperative congress to create a coordinating council (association) of various types of cooperatives has not been implemented.

Agricultural cooperatives have not become a unifying force for all rural cooperation (which, by the way, is reflected in the name of the current congress, which brought together not rural, but agricultural cooperatives).

What, in our opinion, needs to be done to overcome these difficulties? - the academician continued. - First of all, a lot of work remains to be done to reformat the state cooperative policy. Cooperative elements and measures to realize cooperative interests should be an integral part of not only agri-food and rural policies, but also general economic, tax, social, regional, educational, etc. policies.

This is evidenced by the experience of the Priority National Project for the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex, when it was possible to implement not a narrow departmental, but an interdepartmental approach, a government commission worked at the federal level, and in the regions governors were responsible for cooperation.

And at present, in assessing the activities of regional heads, there is not a single indicator for the development of cooperation and, in general, separate indicators for the development of rural areas. Governors are responsible for the region as a whole, without breaking it down into cities and villages.

If we talk purely about agricultural policy, then the state needs to strengthen its anti-monopoly orientation and, in particular, refrain from preferences in favor of competitors of cooperative organizations. According to Alexander Petrikov, subsidized investment loans and compensation for capital costs incurred should be used for the construction of exclusively cooperative warehouses and cooperative wholesale and logistics centers, developed as a single whole. Otherwise, the centers may become a transshipment point for imported products.

As a result, a federal cooperative commodity distribution and retail network, a cooperative retail brand, is a worthy competitor to existing large retail.

It is advisable to allocate part of the funds from the cooperative budget to the formation of institutions for the development of cooperation, namely regional financial support funds, counseling and advanced training centers.

There is also a need to create an appropriate federal structure - the Agency for Cooperative or Rural Development in general, which would permanent basis was engaged in the development and implementation of projects and programs for the sustainable development of rural areas and, above all, rural cooperatives.

Agricultural production cooperatives require special support. This is a special organizational and legal form, built on the mandatory labor participation of its members. Producer cooperatives keep their employees employed, sometimes to the detriment of competitiveness, but they solve important social task. It is beneficial for the state to compensate for their losses, so as not to spend money on combating rural unemployment.

In order to strengthen the social basis of cooperation, it is important to increase support for beginning farmers and family livestock farms, while maintaining funding for cooperation and small forms within the State Program as a separate line. The inclusion of these areas of state support in a single subsidy will significantly increase the risk of redistribution of funds for other purposes.

A special approach should be taken to regulating agricultural credit cooperatives. Among them there are many small ones, whose activities are so insignificant that, by definition, they do not pose any risk to financial market. Such cooperatives are essentially savings and loan banks, and not mini-banks with rural specifics, as many people think; they should operate exclusively in a self-regulatory system.

At the same time, it is impossible to replace the existing system of self-regulation with a new one and insist on the transition of credit cooperatives to specialized self-regulatory organizations. This will not only cause additional costs that are unaffordable for most cooperatives, but will also disrupt unified system agricultural cooperation.

In conclusion, the academician spoke about the cooperative community. The time has come, he believes, to consolidate efforts. Coordination Council or Association, not formally, but actually uniting different kinds cooperation must be created. This will increase the efficiency of cooperative work and help protect cooperative interests.

Chairman of the Council of the Central Union Dmitry Zubov:

The speeches were to the point, sharp and specific. It is necessary to choose a rational path of movement, consumer cooperatives and agricultural cooperatives should consolidate. We are links in the same chain, there should be no competition between us. It is very important to work together on a unified legislation on cooperation, allowing people to unite into cooperatives and work for the village, to provide food security Russia.

Working in their field, they must become partners. Then things will work out. Manufacturers produce, and should not worry about how to sell what they have made. The consumer cooperation will store, process and sell the products. Let this little train go.

Chairman of the Association of Farmers and Peasant Farmsteads of Tatarstan Kamiyar Baitemirov:

11 cooperatives have been created in the Republic. For example, an agricultural supply and marketing processing consumer cooperative"Indeyka" works with farms and private farms, and has a full cycle - from hatching chicks to selling turkey meat.

One of the most pressing is the unresolved land issue. It is necessary to create a commission to work with the State Duma to change legislation. It is necessary to adjust the co-financing scheme for agricultural cooperatives: 60% should come from the federal budget, 20% from the regional budget, 20% from the agricultural consumer cooperative.

Voronezh farmers are abandoning their land - they are tired of working “in spite of”. Meanwhile, they produce a total of half of regional agricultural products and are capable of more.

Farmers without land

In our area, a quarter of the farms have collapsed in just a few years, and the picture is the same for our neighbors. You don’t have the strength to endure such hassle: they gave you land for up to 11 months, so you have to guess whether the contract will be extended or not. And if not, then all your efforts are in vain. Because of this, many people leave the land themselves... - Upper Mamon farmer Sergei Solovyov says with pain.

Vladimir Brezhnev from the Ertilsky district echoes him:

In five years, out of 127 farms, less than 75 have survived. And now the lease term of those who once took it for ten years is ending. Only a few received 25 or 49. When the deadline expires, the contract will be renewed for a year. What then is the point of investing in the soil and applying fertilizers?

The decision to switch to such unfavorable rental conditions was made by the regional Duma several years ago.

Even the department of agricultural policy was not consulted! - Anna Rozhdestvenskaya, chairman of the regional association of peasant (farmer) households and agricultural cooperatives "Niva", is indignant. - As a result, they prefer to give the land to large investors. Half of the district heads put direct pressure on the farmers: will you continue to work here for a long time, or maybe you can help them leave?

However, this year there is no special need for help: rent in some areas it doubled, and in some places even fivefold. Some farmers pay 150 rubles per hectare, others - 500-600, and still others - 907. They consider 300 rubles per hectare the maximum reasonable rate.

The regional government raised this issue at the suggestion of farmers quite recently. According to the head of the department of property and land relations, Maxim Uvaidov, an analysis of the situation is underway:

It is necessary to monitor how rental rates are formed in different areas, where such a range in prices comes from. Perhaps there are objective reasons. As for the terms of lease of agricultural land, it is incorrect to conclude contracts for 11 months. In order for farmers to be interested in working, they must be given land for 25 years. But for this they will have to change regulatory framework. And not everything can be solved at the regional level.

Crisis of confidence

Short-term rent is also dangerous because it does not allow farmers to take out loans and lease equipment. After all, when the terms of the loan and leasing exceed the lease term, the land cannot be mortgaged to the bank to receive money. Often, all the property of a farm (livestock, more or less decent equipment) is already mortgaged. And it is extremely difficult to develop on your own.

Leasing is available to 10-15 percent of farmers, while credit is available to only five. The loan amount has decreased fourfold. Since January, Voronezh farmers have taken out half as many loans compared to last year. The loan amount was reduced by almost four times. According to Anna Rozhdestvenskaya, loans are available to only 5 percent of farmers, leasing is available to 10-15.

Managers of strong businesses are perplexed: why do banks not agree to issue loans to bona fide clients without collateral? Farmers, as a rule, do not need millions: two or three hundred thousand rubles are enough to buy livestock, fuel and fertilizers. And with credit history, as the Niva association assures, most farms are fine. But banks are not seduced by this: there are high risks in the agro-industrial complex, there is a crisis in the economy...

Crashed on sales

One way or another, farmers manage to obtain high yields, milk yields, weight gain... And here they face another obstacle: they cannot sell their products profitably.

For example, almost all sugar factories in the region belong to one company.

For large producers it has one price, for small producers - another - farmer Alexander Kozlov does not understand how, under these conditions, to fulfill the governor’s order to increase sugar beet production.
Vladimir Brezhnev also moved in a “priority” direction for the region - he raised pigs:

I transferred everyone this year. There were two hundred heads, the largest farm in the area - but there was nowhere to put it. No matter where I called, they didn’t take me! Such a lot is too small for resellers. They refused at the meat processing plant - there are no slaughterhouses! Like, fill it yourself and bring it. Can you imagine the sanitary conditions on the farm?! But there is no way out. I slaughtered pigs - everything is bloody, fly... Disgraceful!

The farmer focused on processing cereals - but there are also barriers there:

About seven years ago, cereals were doing well. Now - forty tons are lying like dead weight, mice are eating this stuff... You can get a job at the market in the regional center, but sales volumes there are small. And my farm produces at least 400 tons per month! All that remains is to hand over the goods to the base for next to nothing. Because chain stores import everything from other regions. It is considered impossible to place Voronezh products there.

The regional government reported that they are ready to arrange a meeting for farmers with management trading companies. Network operators will be asked to set a limit for local products.

However, most farmers do not process. This means they strive to participate in government interventions. It is not easy for small farms to do this directly; they have to resort to the services of resellers.

All collective farm

Cooperation can solve many problems of farmers. Together, everything is simpler - purchasing fertilizers or seeds in bulk, forming a lot for government procurement, and organizing processing. The cooperative can take out loans, including those subsidized within the framework of the national project "Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex". Or maybe he himself issues cash loans to shareholders. The interest rate is slightly higher than in banks. But the procedure is simpler: you don’t need to draw up a business plan, collect a bunch of documents, or confirm your worth. You can’t hide in a village - everyone knows who is worth what.

Governor Alexei Gordeev instructed the heads of districts to support agricultural cooperatives (AIC). But - I only mentioned that farmers' associations need to be provided with sales points. And this is not the main thing. Cooperatives are asking the authorities for something else - a collateral base for lending. So that municipal property or budget funds allocated to a special fund are a guarantee of money back for banks. Cooperatives cannot develop solely at their own expense: there are few shareholders and they have small amounts of money.

This is why agricultural cooperation in the region has been “stalling” for many years now. In 2005 there were 31 cooperatives - in every district. Today there are fewer of them, with only 5-6 working. One of them is led by Natalya Komova:

We were the first to work in the region, and for the first time a bank became an associated member of our SEC. There were a lot of hopes... Now we issue loans to shareholders at our own expense - it’s only 3.5 million rubles. We do not provide loans - the district administration does not provide a collateral base. There is a cooperative in Voronezh, which included the best farmers of the region: they collected a decent mutual fund and won a bank tranche of 10 million. The money seemed to have been transferred, but it was not possible to use it - also due to the lack of a collateral base.

The law on agricultural cooperation states that agricultural cooperatives are created with the support of the state. Farmers often point this out to officials. But the position of the latter is clear: it is scary to give a guarantee for a cooperative to the bank, what if the loan is not repaid? The farmers consider these fears to be largely far-fetched and just shrug their shoulders: with sheer enthusiasm, without borrowed money, the farms will not last long. One cannot expect that the children of today's farmers, looking at the hardships of their fathers, will willingly replace them.

Natalya Komova, head of the peasant farm:

In most areas, farmers face misunderstandings from officials. And we always got the worst lands, and the idea of ​​a cooperative was ruined in the bud. And we are all very concerned pricing policy. We don’t know grain prices, so we can’t plan our farming properly.

Alexey Gordeev, governor Voronezh region:

Support for agriculture was not reduced in 2009. We are developing a number of new programs (for meat and milk), and raising the issue of creating family dairy farms. There are agreements with two banks to continue lending to agricultural producers. I would like to note that farmers, as representatives of small businesses, can count on the support of the Department of Entrepreneurship. Yes, product prices are the main problem. We have never learned how to regulate the market. In the European Union countries, agricultural production is subject to quotas to ensure fair prices. And then - their farmers are protesting against low prices. And we are still far from that.

Help "RG"

There are 3,900 farms in the Voronezh region. If we take into account the personal subsidiary plots of the farmers themselves, it turns out that they cultivate almost a third of the arable land in the region. If, in general, across all sectors of the economy, small and medium business produces less than 40 percent of production, then in agriculture it belongs to farmers - 45.7. According to the regional association of farmers, their share in the production of vegetables reaches 95 percent, meat - up to 65, milk - up to 56.