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2025. Vol.10. №3.

Demographic challenges for Russian rural areas and their impact on staffing of agriculture

Oct 22 2025

Mitrofanov S. V., Yanbykh R. G., Orlova N. V., Nikolaev D. V. Demographic challenges for Russian rural areas and their impact on staffing of agriculture // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №3. P. 38-67.

EDN: FIPUNN

Annotation

The article considers the demographic-institutional challenges of Russian rural areas and their impact on staffing of the agro-industrial complex (AIC). The authors focus on such key trends as depopulation, aging and urbanization, which reduce labor resources in agriculture, on structural changes in the age and gender dynamics of rural population, migration and degradation of social infrastructure (health, education, culture), which exacerbates the shortage of personnel in agriculture. The article describes the impact of demographic changes on the rural labor market in terms of growing latent unemployment, archaization of employment and declining quality of human capital, and regional differences in the demographic situation and their implications for sustainable rural development. Based on statistical data, the authors predict a further decline in rural population and a deterioration in its age structure, proposing such measures as the development of rural infrastructure, labor mobility and modern technologies in agriculture.

Keywords

Rural areas, demography, human resources, agriculture, urbanization, labor resources, migration, social infrastructure.

About the authors

Sergey V. Mitrofanov, PhD (Agriculture), Head of the Department of Economics of Innovation in Agriculture, Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia.
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Renata G. Yanbykh, DSc (Economics), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Agrarian Policy, Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia.
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Nadezhda V. Orlova, Head of the Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia.
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Dmitry V. Nikolaev, Expert, Department of Economics of Innovation in Agriculture, Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia. 
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2024. Vol.9. №4.

The future of agricultural cooperatives in Russia: Does theory matter?

Feb 06 2025

Yanbykh R. G., Lerman Z. The future of agricultural cooperatives in Russia: Does theory matter? // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №4. P. 6-20.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-4-6-20

Annotation

The article aims at identifying theoretical and practical reasons for the failure of the agricultural cooperation development in Russia. Authors suggest that rural cooperatives in Russia do not develop due to the general features of the formation of social capital in the Russian countryside, the lack of necessary institutional conditions, and the wrong idea that cooperatives based on the classical principles of cooperation can operate successfully in the contemporary economy and society. The first theoretical barrier to cooperation is that in the contemporary high-technology agriculture, hybrid structures (cooperatives) are less efficient than the hierarchical one used by agroholdings. The second theoretical barrier is the inconsistency of seven classical principles of cooperation formulated at the time of Raiffeisen (i.e. outdated) with today’s economic realities and their transformations. The third practical barrier is the rapid degradation of rural areas and the low level of trust and interaction between members of agricultural cooperatives, which is why there are no trends of the bottom-up development of cooperation. The authors conclude that a high level of social capital is the necessary condition for cooperation: at the formation stage, this level is high due to interpersonal relationships developed from the informal social interactions of its members and a high level of trust among members and between members and management, but cooperatives start to lose their social capital as they enlarge — the sense of community, trust and mutual assistance disappears, the atmosphere becomes more business-oriented.

Keywords

Cooperation, agricultural cooperatives, classical principles of cooperation, agroholdings, social capital, trust, rural development, rural areas.

About the authors

Renata G. Yanbykh, DSc (Economics), Institute for Agrarian Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Blvr., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia.
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Zvi Lerman, PhD (Finance), Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). 76100, Israel, Rehovot, 12.
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