“Tight belts” of farmers as a condition for the profitability of agriculture

The contradiction between the profitable work of agriculture and the lack of its simple reproduction is revealed. Profits of agricultural enterprises are secured by a strict restriction on all major items of expenditure, including labor costs, which farmers are forced to go to due to the low profitability of the industry. They have to tighten their belts more and more, saving even on the necessary things. At the same time, monopolized suppliers of resources to agriculture and network trading networks, which are oligopolies, continue to siphon resources from producers of products. The author emphasizes the nature of perfect competition of the mass of agricultural producers, to which the market economy should strive. The term “market hinterland” is introduced, which characterizes the current situation of agriculture, which is economically disadvantaged by its counterparties. This intersectoral imbalance is not eliminated and is not compensated by the state, since the subsidies allocated are not enough even to bring the wages of agricultural workers to the average size in the Russian economy. The conclusion is made about the weak state regulation of intersectoral relations, which should limit monopolies and oligopolies and create equal economic conditions for different industries and also about the need for a significant increase in state support for agriculture.