Assessment of functioning of agriculture in the Vologda oblast

Agriculture is one of the leading system-forming economic sectors; it shapes the food market, food and economic security, demographic, labor and settlement potential of the country. Decreased attention to the issues of agricultural development in the first decade of market reforms in Russia resulted in significant social losses, and it is only in recent years that the authorities at all levels started to consider the development of agrarian sector as a priority. However, the development of agriculture remains constrained by a number of systemic problems, the solution of which should be based on an objective information and analytical base. In this regard, a monitoring study was carried out for the purpose of studying changes in the assessments of agricultural organizations heads in the Vologda Oblast: they assessed the current state of industrial and labor potential, investment and innovation activities, collaboration with various market institutions, performance in the current political environment (Russia’s food embargo, WTO conditions). According to the results of the survey of heads of the Vologda Oblast agricultural organizations, it has been revealed that the financial condition of farms is assessed mostly as satisfactory by 87% of the respondents (the increase by 31 p.p. to the 2000 level and by 12 p.p. to the level of 2014); positive trends are seen in the forecast assessments of performance indicators, the labor potential of agricultural enterprises is characterized by an optimal number and qualification of employees, the material and technological base has been relatively stabilized. However, the funds allocated to the majority of agricultural enterprises for investment purposes are enough only for simple reproduction, while loans remain an important source of borrowed funds. It should be noted that the share of managers who participate in the survey and do not have any information about the WTO decreases every year; and the sanctions imposed by the EU, the U.S., Japan, and retaliatory sanctions by Russia, according to 74% of the interviewed heads of the Vologda Oblast agricultural organizations, expand opportunities for import substitution, and the region has opportunities for import substitution of the products of own production (81% of managers).