Shagaida N. I., Ternovsky D. S. From garden to fields: The difficult path of the potato // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №4. P. 146-164.

EDN: PDSUBX

Annotation

The article considers the structural shifts in the Russian potato market from 1991 to 2025. Based on the Rosstat data, agricultural censuses and household budget surveys, the authors identify long-term trends in the potato price dynamics, consumption, production and economic affordability. Thus, despite periodic price jumps, in the long run the potato has steadily become cheaper in real terms, while simultaneously losing significance in the consumer basket under the rising population income. The authors focus on the deep transformation of the production structure — a rapid shift in dominance from households (their share in production fell from 90% in the 1990s to 50% in 2022) to the commercial sector (agricultural enterprises and (peasant) farms). This shift is determined by the declining economic viability of household production compared to large enterprises implementing new technologies. The authors warn of risks to food security associated with the decline in household production outpacing growth in the commercial sector, which potentially leads to increased price volatility, and propose government support measures aimed at stimulating cooperation, facilitating access to land, and increasing production efficiency to ensure a stable potato market.

Keywords

Potato, households, food consumption, agricultural production, food security, food prices, price volatility, economic affordability, purchasing power.  

About the authors

Natalia I. Shagaida, DSc (Economics), Head of the Center for Agro-Food Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Denis S. Ternovsky, DSc (Economics), Senior Researcher, Center for Agro-Food Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Makeeva S.B. Current implementation of the Chinese strategy for agricultural development in the North-East // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №2. P. 136-160.

EDN: CAAWWD

Annotation

The article considers agricultural development of the Northeastern region of China, focusing on the current implementation of the state agricultural strategy in three provinces — Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning. Since 2003, these provinces have implemented the strategy of restoring the old industrial base and since 2023 — the strategy of strengthening the agricultural complex and ensuring food security in Northeast China. Based on the analysis of normative and statistical data from the reports on the development of Northeast China, the author aims at summarizing the experience of implementing its strategy with system and statistical methods. Thus, Northeast China has significant advantages in the development of agricultural sector due to the restoration of its industrial base since 2003, which became an impetus for agricultural production and subsequently led to the inclusion of Dongbei in the project of the strong agricultural state. Today Northeast China develops high-quality, scientific-technological, ‘green’ and ‘branded’ agriculture. The implementation of the new agricultural strategy in the Northeastern region affects the development of rural infrastructure in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces.

Keywords

Northeast China, black-earth belt, agricultural production, strategy, rural areas, agricultural workers, ‘green’ food, grain growing, animal husbandry, ‘branded’ agriculture, food security.

About the author

Svetlana B. Makeeva, DSc (History), Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, Head of the Department of Regional Demography, Institute for Demographic Research of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Fotievoy St., 6, Moscow, 119333.
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Sheresheva M.Yu., Belyaev A.A. On the BRICS Grain Exchange: The role of the Russian platform B2B-technologies // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №2. P. 118-135.

EDN: BAAKDK

Annotation

The article identifies opportunities and directions for the use of the Russian digital platform solutions to develop the BRICS Grain Exchange. Based on the analysis of academic literature, the authors describe the features of exchange trade in agricultural products and the dangers of its turning into a platform for hedging price risks and financial speculation (when a balance of supply and demand for physical goods would have no impact on prices). The authors propose to use the Russian B2B platform technologies to ensure a balance of interests of different business forms in the agro-industrial complex, providing an example of the GrainChain digital platform technologies developed for the grain and oilseeds market and a possible technological basis for the BRICS Grain Exchange. The digital trading channel for agribusiness supported by the Russian technology can ensure transparency of interactions between the BRICS countries, since the exchange and platform solutions in B2B trading would increase the number of trade participants in the digital space and speed up the formation of price indices based on a representative sample.

Keywords

Technological sovereignty, food security, digital platforms, technological innovation, agribusiness, BRICS.

About the authors

Marina Yu. Sheresheva, DSc (Economics), Head of the Marketing Department and Laboratory for Institutional Analysis, Lomonosov Moscow State University. Leninskie Gory, 1, bldg. 46, Moscow, 119991.
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Artem A. Belyaev, PhD (History), CEO of “Znamensky Trade Company”, Co-founder of “Grain Chain”, Adviser to the President of the Association “Afanasy Nikitin”.
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Ryazantsev S.V., Vartanova M.L. Dynamics and key directions of sustainable development of regional agriculture in the context of ensuring national and food security of the Russian Federation // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №1. P. 202-225.

EDN: SQCVNB

Annotation

The article identifies the problems and features of agricultural production in Russia’s regions. The main arguments proving the relevance of target qualitative indicators in the methodology of regional management of the agricultural sector (improved efficiency of agricultural sector and increased output of agricultural and food products to the level that ensures regional food security) were chosen according to the initial and projected situation in food supply. This allowed the authors to apply statistical forecasting methods and make a matrix of key directions in the development of agricultural production according to the national security requirements, to identify significant differences between Russia’s regions and to present an optimal ratio of productivity and profitability, production and consumption of agricultural products for each territory. Thus, the article provides general theoretical ideas adapted to the current trends of social-economic and scientific-technical development to assess the role of agriculture and agro-industrial complex in Russian regions with different climatic conditions, and the authors formulate scientifically sound recommendations on the scope and directions for expanding agricultural specialization even in regions with unfavorable climatic conditions.

Keywords

Agricultural sector, dynamics, key areas, national security, indicators, food security, Russia’s regions, agriculture, agricultural production, sustainable development, federal districts, economic security.

About the authors

Sergey V. Ryazantsev, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, DSc (Economics), Professor, Department of International Economic Relations, RUDN University; Lecturer, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Phutthamonthon, Salaya, Bangkok, 73170, Thailand.
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Marina L. Vartanova, DSc (Economics), Chief Researcher, Department of the Study of Socio-Demographic Processes in the EAEU, Institute of Demographic Research, Federal Research Sociological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Fotievoy St., 6, Moscow, 119333, Russia.
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Shagaida N. I., Trotsuk I. V. Russia’s food security under the crisis of 2020–2021: Objective and subjective dimensions // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2022. V.7. №2. P. 93-121.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2022-7-2-93-121

Annotation

The article presents the results of the assessment of Russia’s food security in 2020–2021 based on the available statistical data and sociological monitoring of the population’s ‘food well-being’ conducted since 2015 by the Center for Agro-Food Policy of the RANEPA. The authors believe that the pandemic risks for Russian agriculture were limited, and agricultural production ensured a high level of food self-sufficiency. Although the physical access to food remained at the same level, the economic access has deteriorated; however, Russian families managed to keep their usual diet by redirecting the money saved due to the pandemic restrictions to food consumption. Rising food prices have become the most important problem under the crisis, and to solve it, the Russian government has used a wide range of measures — from reducing duties on food imports and temporary bans on food exports to setting marginal retail prices for certain food products. The sociological assessment of the population’s ‘food well-being’ (the all-Russian telephone survey) showed that the families’ requirements to the access to food are rather modest due to the huge credit of patience and sustainable practices of adaptation to the objective social-economic restrictions. Given the achieved indicators of Russia’s food self-sufficiency according to the Food Security Doctrine, the state should shift its focus from food self-sufficiency (and increasing exports) to the economic access of the population to food.

Keywords

Food security, food well-being, self-sufficiency, economic and physical access to food, pandemic, statistical and sociological data.

About the authors

Natalia I. Shagaida, DSc (Economics), Head of the Center for Agro-Food Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
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Irina V. Trotsuk, DSc (Sociology), Professor, Sociology Chair, RUDN University; Senior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
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