Organic agriculture in Russia: social, economic drivers for development

Follow the increasing consumer demand and environmental consciousness of people organic agriculture demonstrates a stable growth. To estimate this new agricultural model, it is reasonable to take into account the social and... [ view full abstract ]

Follow the increasing consumer demand and environmental consciousness of people organic agriculture demonstrates a stable growth. To estimate this new agricultural model, it is reasonable to take into account the social and economic dimensions more thoroughly. It cannot be ignored numerous examples of violating the law on minimum wage by eco-farmers to ensure their price competitiveness with conventional farms. Agriculture in Russian Federation is faced today with the challenges of growth in the domestic demand of the population for food. Moreover, agriculture must ensure reducing the burden on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions with accordance to decisions taken at the conference in Paris-2015. Lack of mineral fertilizers on the fields for many years is a significant advantage for the development of the organic agriculture. Furthermore, the demand on the organic products grows today. Moreover, a launch of organic farms could be a driver for social and economic development in rural areas. As a result of the analysis, it was identified promising areas. Analysis of promising areas was done in terms of production potential. We analyzed the unemployment rate and the area of unused land, because it needs agricultural land without mural fertilizers and a large number of labor. Thus, we have identified regions of Russia in which the development of organic agriculture has the greatest prospects. In addition, the choice of the development region depends on the strategy of organic production: fresh products, raw materials for the food industry or for other industries. The demand for fresh organic products is concentrated mainly in large cities, where the incomes of the population are higher. So the organic farms of this niche should be located near major cities. We conducted a survey among farmers to estimate awareness and attractiveness of organic farming in Russia. About a hundred farmers filled out questionnaires. The attractiveness of organic production among farmers is not high enough. This is due to limited demand and higher risks and costs of production. Nevertheless, according to a survey of farmers, about a third plan to move to the standards of organic production in the future. Organic agriculture is an innovation intensive, so the development needs a cooperation between business and science. At the same time, more producers are not ready to go to principles of organic agriculture. The reasons are in lack of market of such products, lack of organic technologies and high risks in production processes. Moreover farmers need investment for soil cleaning. Factors of limiting the development of organic agriculture: insufficient popularity of organic products among the population, high production risks. In addition, it requires the formation of a system for marketing of organic products: shops, restaurants, processing enterprises. The lack of development of certification organizations due to the lack of a legislative base complicates the procedure for switching to organic standards. At the same time, it should be noted that the awareness of producers is growing, non-governmental organizations are engaged in promoting organic products in the minds of consumers.