About the most little-known territory of the country - countryside- says the expert, leading researcher at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. geographical sciences Tatiana Nefedova.

— Your colleagues, urbanists and regional experts, who have already appeared on the pages of Novaya Gazeta, spoke mainly about the fate of cities and towns. But the gigantic territory between these cities remains terra incognita. What is happening today with the Russian village?

- Agriculture and rural settlement are largely tied to natural conditions. According to them, our country can be divided into five unequal parts.

The first is a huge peripheral zone, which occupies more than 40% of the area of ​​Russia. This is a territory with the most difficult natural conditions - the northern part of Siberia, the Far East, the European North. It is impossible to engage in crop production there, the density of the rural population does not exceed 1 person per square kilometer. km, and natural resources have historically been developed in patches.

Taiga forest belt from Karelia, the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk region to the Amur Region and the Khabarovsk Territory can also be attributed to the periphery of the country. Here people mainly lived and live in the forest, the development of the territory went exclusively along the river valleys, and the population density is also low. AT Soviet time agriculture was artificially “drawn in” here with a specialization that was not characteristic of natural conditions. It was kept on huge subsidies and now for the most part curtailed. This is more than 20% of the territory of Russia. That is, two-thirds of the country's territory has neither the rural population nor the conditions for crop production.

The third zone is the classic old-developed Non-Black Earth Region. Forest landscapes also predominate in this zone, however, although subsidized, but rather developed agriculture existed here. Here they grew expensive grain with low productivity, bred livestock with low productivity. When subsidies ran out, agriculture began to “shrink”.

The fourth zone begins with the Kursk, Belgorod regions, partially affects the Volga region, the south of the Urals and Siberia. Its core is the plains of the North Caucasus, especially the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories. It is this Chernozem strip that is the hope and support of our Agriculture. Collective farms have been preserved there, agricultural holdings are coming there, there are many farmers. The active population leaving the northern regions, in addition to cities and their suburbs, often chose these areas as their new place of residence.

Finally, the republics of the North Caucasus, Siberia, and the Volga region in many ways resemble the Russian village of the 1950s and 60s. It stayed positive longer. natural increase, still a lot of youth, people are willing to work in the countryside.

— Let's take a closer look at the socio-economic processes that take place in each of these territories.

- The main thing is to understand that the countryside does not have to be agricultural at all. The population of the first and second zones survives for the most part through hunting, fishing, forestry, and mining. The further south, the more role agriculture in the economy, the more actively the population is employed in it. The most painful processes are taking place today in the Non-Black Earth Region, where agriculture is gradually leaving, but people and the cultural layer still remain.

— You have thoroughly studied the Russian Non-Black Earth Region using the example Kostroma region, to which several of your studies are devoted. Let's use it as a model.

- The regions of the Non-Black Earth region are characterized by very strong demographic and economic contrasts. If in the suburbs of the regional centers the number of the rural population has not changed much, then outside the suburbs, the population losses in the 20th century were great. And the farther from the big city, the worse the situation. More than 70% of the population, primarily young and active, left the peripheral regions. And consequently, the natural decline is higher here.

The periphery of the remaining non-chernozem regions (the so-called hinterland, located between the suburbs major cities) are territories with a strong depopulation of the population. But the remaining population, due to the decline of agriculture and the degradation of Soviet industry, has nothing to do in small towns. Approximately one third of the working-age population in these villages is unemployed, pensioners-grandmothers predominate. And the remaining able-bodied peasants earn "on departure" in cities, and half - in Moscow and the Moscow region. Irreversible changes in agriculture: the area under crops and the number of livestock have been catastrophically reduced. Today, the northern periphery of the rural Non-Chernozem region partly survives at the expense of the forest. Ever since Soviet times, it has become customary that each collective farm had a free forest plot. This is what many of them held on to. In 2007, the new Forest Code equalized agricultural enterprises with other forest tenants, which hastened their bankruptcy. Now the remaining population survives in part by picking mushrooms and berries.

- The monstrous desolation of the periphery of the Non-Black Earth region creates a feeling that rural Russia is dying out. Is it really?

- Not. Even in the regions of the Non-Black Earth Region, mainly in the suburbs of regional capitals, there are steadily developing areas. This can be seen in many indicators. Suffice it to say that in the suburbs of Kostroma, 4% of the region's territory is home to 20% of its rural population and 25% of agricultural production. And enterprises in the form of agricultural cooperatives or new agricultural holdings remain here, and productivity is higher. It would seem, what difference does it make for a cow where to graze? And milk yields in the suburbs of the Non-Chernozem region are always 2-3 times higher, and even grain yields are higher. The main reason is still in human capital, but the infrastructure in the suburbs is better, and ties with the city are stronger.

Although the hinterland does not die completely and comes to life in the summer. Having “sucked out” the population, Moscow and St. Petersburg send troops of summer residents there, who not only concentrate in gardening associations, but buy up empty houses, thereby preserving the villages. Only how many of them - no one knows, the administration has ceased to keep records. Cadastral services do not provide data. Also, no one knows, except for the residents of the villages themselves, how many local residents go “on leave” to the cities. And it turns out to be absurd: money is allocated to municipalities for local population, but it is not there, but the townspeople registered in Moscow live for a long time. An elementary statistical accounting of all these massive return flows is long overdue, if only in order to understand what is happening in the country, where and how many people actually live and work.

In 2013, my colleagues and I decided to follow in the footsteps of Radishchev, visited all the former postal stations, explored the surrounding areas and wrote two books about our journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow after more than 200 years. When you drive along the highway, you see around only fields overgrown with forests, miserable villages. The production of grain and flax really went away due to low yields and unprofitability. And meat production, for example, has increased. The fact is that there is a change in the types of management - large agricultural holdings are coming to this zone between the two capitals. They grow grain in their subdivisions in the south, and produce meat and milk here, closer to the consumer. The landscape under the new type of management looks different than under the old collective farm. There is no need to plow up huge areas here. Cattle are purchased in purebred form and kept loose in new modernized farms. There are also new milk and meat processing plants. But they are off the track, and modern traveler does not see them.

Map provided by Tatyana Nefedova

- Against the background of the subsidized Non-Black Earth Region, the south of Russia, its granaries - the Don, Kuban, Stavropol - look like a hotbed of prosperity.

- There was no such depopulation in the South, it was and remains attractive for migrants. And it's not even the number of rural population. When from generation to generation, as in the Non-Black Earth region, the most active people, negative social selection occurs. This was not the case here. Therefore, the quality human capital other. However, there are serious problems here.

For example, in the west of Stavropol there are almost no abandoned lands, agricultural cooperatives and powerful agricultural holdings are working. And in the villages there is a huge unemployment. Why? The fact is that it is profitable to sow grain here, but not to develop animal husbandry. Therefore, grain crops have increased, and the number of livestock has declined sharply.

And the South of Russia is large villages and villages with a population of up to 10 thousand people. Essentially, rural single-industry towns. With the prevailing crop production, the management needs 20 qualified machine operators and auxiliary workers - that's all! What will the rest of the villagers do? People survive on subsistence farming and retreats. In a relatively prosperous Stavropol Territory the total number of otkhodniks is higher than in the problematic Kostroma region.

- All revolutions, all the most painful reforms of the last century and a half in Russia were somehow connected with the struggle for land. And it is clear that this struggle is still not over.

— In Russia, there are two types of regions in which there is a real struggle for land. These are the suburbs of large cities, primarily capitals, and the southern regions. Firstly, land is too expensive and in demand by realtors and developers, so even quite successful agriculture is being squeezed out. In the south of Russia, where crop production is profitable, the struggle for land shares is going on inside agriculture between different producers: collective farms, agricultural holdings, farmers. In other regions - great amount abandoned lands, to which few people show interest.

- AT developing countries one of the main threats to farmers and independent agricultural enterprises is giant agroholdings. How is land distributed in Russia? various types owners?

- The problem of Russia is not in the land as such. And that is to preserve the diversity of agriculture created in the 1990s, so that agricultural holdings, agricultural cooperatives, farmers, and commodity and non-commodity farms of the population work. Of course, large modern enterprises have a number of advantages. They provide stable supplies to chain stores big cities. Thanks to agricultural holdings, the restoration of abandoned lands, livestock, pigs and poultry began after the crisis of the 1990s. All this is beyond the power of small farms. However, negative consequences lot. Excessive gigantism creates difficulties in managing the divisions of agricultural holdings scattered in different regions, especially since employees are not interested in results. Absorbing collective farms and farms, agricultural holdings increase the dependence of entire regions on one producer. The over-crediting of most of them in the current conditions of sanctions has become a very serious problem and can lead to bankruptcies and mass layoffs.

- What is happening in Russia with the basis of any successful agriculture - farmers?

There are many farmers in the south. Only the Caucasian peoples are engaged in animal husbandry there. These are penumbra and shadow farms. No one knows how many livestock they actually keep in abandoned collective farm pits. But Russian farmers, like collective farms, grow wheat and sunflowers. But in order for the income to justify the cost of equipment, fertilizers, at least 300-500 hectares of land are needed. With a land share of 10-15 hectares, this can be achieved only by leasing the land of other farmers and the population. We have often come across a situation where, according to statistics, there are 50-60 farmers in the district, but in reality it turns out that there are only five of them. The rest of these five leased the land.

A significant part of our products (70% of vegetables, half of milk, one third of meat) is still produced by small semi-subsistence farms, mainly for self-sufficiency, although partly for sale. Since we do not have a middle class, the cohort of medium-sized enterprises is also shrinking. And this lack of a stable middle that does not go to extremes is a big misfortune.

— Does the process of “washing out” the rural population in Russia have its own characteristics?

- Urbanization processes are typical for all countries, only some go through certain stages of urbanization earlier, others later. In Russia, the entire twentieth century, the population left the countryside. The most active, oddly enough, was the departure already in post-war years. It seemed that collective farms were working, wages in the countryside were growing, but the population was still massively striving for cities, where there were more opportunities for self-realization, training, development, other living conditions, etc.

Map provided by Tatyana Nefedova

In the 1990s, the depopulation of the rural population stopped somewhat; people from union republics, from northern and eastern regions Russia. The main thing was housing. But work was also needed, and a new stage in the attractiveness of cities began. This is especially true of large centers - urbanization in our country has not yet been completed. However, sooner or later it will end. The attractiveness of large cities due to their overcrowding, transport collapse, environmental issues starts to decline.

However, urbanization in Russia had two features that explain the pain of its consequences. For our huge space characterized by a relatively rare network of large cities with their suburbs, attracting the population. And between them, as a result of the outflow of the population in the previously developed territories of the Non-Black Earth Region, a socio-economic desert was formed. There is no such thing in Europe. The second feature is connected with the specifics of the collective farm and state farm organization, which did not adequately respond to the challenges of the time. AT Western countries the decrease in the rural population stimulated a change in economic mechanisms, the introduction of new technologies to increase productivity, etc. And in the Non-Black Earth Region, flax and grain went under the snow, because there was no one to harvest them, and the sown areas were tightly controlled by the party bodies. The inflexibility of the economic mechanism was offset by the highest agricultural subsidies in the world, and their sharp reduction led to disaster in many areas.

— Is it possible to stop the dangerous devastation of rural Russia?

As long as people keep leaving. They go not only for work, but also for work. They want a different standard of living. Youth needs a different social environment, other opportunities for self-realization, you can’t keep it with one salary. But if you can't help, at least don't push the rest out.

At the same time, in order to achieve meager savings that are incomparable with social losses, the authorities are accelerating the depopulation of villages in areas of depopulation. First-aid posts are closing - adult children begin to take elderly parents to the cities. Unite rural settlements- the outlying villages find themselves outside the gravitational field of the new center of the settlement, road repairs do not reach them, shops are closed, mobile shops do not go. Rural elementary schools are closing, not only school graduates are leaving, but also young families with children, since not every parent will decide to send a child to a boarding school or drive him every day for tens of kilometers on bad roads on an unreliable bus. You can always find a way out. For example, in Tatarstan, in small villages, teachers' houses are being set up even for 2-3 children, where the elementary school teacher will teach them up to secondary school.

It is important to preserve the most basic infrastructure. After all, their children from nearest city by retiring. Summer residents, including those in Moscow, as a rule, also leave the villages if there are no local residents left, because without supervision their houses begin to be ruined. It must be understood that when a village dies, the territory not only goes out of economic circulation. We lose over her social control. And we need to keep it up new wave development of space in the center of Russia. For the next generation, which, under favorable conditions, will want to return here.

Central Black Earth economic region includes five regions located in the south of the central part of the country - Kursk, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Voronezh and Tambov. Voronezh is the largest city in this region, occupying more than 167 thousand square kilometers, and the population has almost reached the mark of 8 million people.

Economic and geographic location

The Central Black Earth economic region of Russia has an advantageous position, since it borders on the most developed region - the Central, not far from it are the Volga region and the North Caucasus, solid fuel and energy bases.

Rich massifs of fertile chernozem and iron ore reserves have a positive effect on the formation of its economic component, as well as natural conditions which are moderately continental. Despite some dryness, this ensures high yields, conditions are generally well suited for agricultural activities. Main geographical points- this is the Oka-Don lowland and the Central Russian Upland.

Voronezh is home to 1/8 of the total population of the region - one million people.

Rice. 1. Voronezh.

Resources and natural conditions of the Central Black Earth economic region

This part of Russia is rich iron ore, the main part of which is concentrated in the area of ​​the Kursk magnetic anomaly - according to experts, this field can produce 43.4 million tons of raw materials. This makes it one of the largest iron ore provinces on Earth. To date, 17 fields have been developed, and 14 more are actively used. The total area of ​​the anomaly is 160 thousand square kilometers, it is dispersed over two regions - Kursk and partly Belgorod. 62% of the total stock is the rich iron ore with a high iron content, and 38% are poor.

Rice. 2. Quarry in the area of ​​the Kursk magnetic anomaly.

Another point in the raw material characteristics of the Central Black Earth economic region is the copper-nickel province in the Voronezh region.

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The region also has non-metallic raw materials that are widely used in industry - these are Lipetsk dolomites, Voronezh refractory clays, Kursk phosphorites, etc.

The fuel used in the region is almost completely imported due to the poverty of its fuel and energy resources. It is also poor in water, which negatively affects its economic development. Forests are almost not used in industrial production, performing mainly two roles - recreational and soil protection. Wherein soil resources are of great value, because 80% of them are black soil.

Labor force and population

This economic region is home to 5.3% of total number the population of Russia, that is, 7.9 million people. There is not such a significant gap between urban and rural population, as in other regions: 616 and 38.4%, respectively. For a long time, the Central Black Earth region was labor surplus and supplied labor resources to other regions, however, the violation of the age and sex structure of the population has led to negative trends - gradually it becomes labor-deficient.

In general, the district belongs to the category of uniform settlement, which is rare for Russia.

Economic complex of the Central Black Earth region

Two subdistricts were formed here - Western (Kursk and Belgorod region) and Vostochny (Voronezh, Lipetsk and Tambov), which have different branches of specialization in industry. Thus, in the Western sub-region, the main attention is paid to ferrous metallurgy, metalworking, mechanical engineering, the chemical industry, and also to oil refining, mining and light industry. The production centers are not only Belgorod and Kursk, but also Zheleznogorsk, Oskol and other large cities.

Rice. 3. Belgorod.

In the Eastern subdistrict, machine building and chemical industry, and he also specializes in the construction industry, horse breeding and the food industry. The largest centers are Lipetsk, Borisoglebsk, Tambov, Lebedyan and others.

In the structure of industrial production of the Central Black Earth region, 30% comes from the Voronezh region.

On the one hand, the local engineering industry produces equipment for local extractive industries, and on the other hand, it specializes in the production of precision instruments (these are televisions, computers, refrigerators and other similar equipment).

Agriculture is very developed in the region - 60% of fertile lands are plowed here, on which wheat, fruits and vegetables are grown. On the high level there is meat and dairy cattle breeding, pig and poultry farming.

Due to the uniform settlement, it is well developed transport network. As for energy complex, it works almost entirely on imported raw materials, and due to the poverty of water resources, it does not include hydroelectric power plants.

What have we learned?

The Central Black Earth economic region includes five regions and one of the largest ore deposits in the world, the Kursk magnetic anomaly, is located here. The region is also rich in soil, in short: more than 80% of the land here is fertile black soil. The main industrial sectors are ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering, and the chemical industry. The population is distributed relatively evenly throughout the region, there is no obvious bias towards urbanization, but a shortage of labor resources is gradually beginning to be felt.

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The non-chernozem zone occupies 9 million square meters. km, or 52.7% of the territory Russian Federation It accounts for about 40% of the country's population. There are 42.6 million hectares of agricultural land here, or only 17.4% of its territory in Russia.

There are 4 natural and agricultural zones in the Non-Chernozem zone, which differ significantly in geographic location, soil and climatic conditions, afforestation, population and economic development and other conditions.

1. The polar tundra natural and agricultural zone covers an area of ​​1.98 million square meters. km, or 11.6% of the territory of Russia, and covers the northern part of the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk regions and the Komi Republic with arctic, tundra, gley soils. The European part of the zone differs from the Siberian in a smaller development permafrost and a significant distribution of peatlands. However, the peat-humus horizon, which underlies the gley horizon, is shallow. In the southern part of the tundra there are peat-bog soils.

The average daily temperature in July is from 5 to 11°C. The number of days with temperatures above 10°C per year is no more than 30-40, and the sum of physiologically active temperatures does not exceed 400°C. Snow cover persists for 220-250 days. The average annual rainfall is from 150 to 400 mm.

Most of them fall in winter, however, due to low evaporation, the zone is recognized as excessively humidified.

The harsh climate and the presence of permafrost make it difficult to farm here. Agricultural lands, mainly natural hayfields and pastures, occupy less than 0.03% of the zone.

Agriculture specializes in reindeer breeding and fur farming. Dairy farming is developing in the river valleys on the basis of natural fodder lands. Agriculture is practically non-existent. Of the crop industries, vegetable growing has been developed in protected ground conditions.

2. The forest-tundra-northern taiga natural and agricultural zone covers an area of ​​2.34 million square meters. km, or 13.7% of the territory of Russia. The European part of the country covers central part Arkhangelsk, Murmansk regions and the Komi Republic, as well as the northern part of Karelia. It differs from the polar tundra in greater forest cover (37.7% of the territory) and swampiness (14%). Among the marshes, upland ones predominate. Lowland swamps suitable for agricultural use make up no more than 11% total area swampy areas.

This natural zone also belongs to the cold zone with a short period of possible vegetation of plants (40-90 days) and the sum of active temperatures of 1200-1400°C. The average annual amount of precipitation is 400-600 mm, including 150-200 mm for the warm period. Snow cover reaches 60-90 cm.

The zone is dominated by gley-podzolic and permafrost-taiga soils in combination with marsh-podzolic and marsh soils. Lighter in texture soils are located in the west of the region, while loamy soils on moraine deposits predominate in its central and eastern parts. Along the banks of the rivers there are floodplain lands most suitable for agricultural use.

Agricultural lands occupy a small part of the territory of the zone and are located mainly on sandy loamy podzolic illuvial-humus soils with more favorable water-air and thermal regimes.

The leading branch of agriculture is animal husbandry (including reindeer breeding and fur farming). Agriculture is developed along river valleys near large settlements and roads. Early maturing varieties of barley, fodder crops, as well as potatoes and vegetables are cultivated here.

3. The middle taiga natural and agricultural zone covers an area of ​​2.23 million square meters. km, or 13% of the country's territory, and covers the southern part of the Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic, the northern part of the Vologda and Leningrad regions, part of Karelia, the Kirov and Sverdlovsk regions, the Perm Territory. The zone is moderate climate zone with an average degree of continentality. The forest cover of the zone is 76.4% of the total territory of the zone.

The sum of active temperatures here reaches 1600°C, and the period of possible vegetation of plants is 90-110 days. The average annual amount of precipitation is 500-800 mm. They provide sufficient soil moisture during all growing seasons, but their level increases from spring to autumn. Due to the low temperatures of this period, excessive moisture and waterlogging of the soils are observed. The soil cover of the zone is represented mainly by podzolic soils, most of which, according to their mechanical composition, are classified as light and medium loamy. A significant part of the territory is occupied by swampy soils. In Prionezhie there are sod-calcareous soils with higher fertility. Floodplain lands are common along the river valleys.

The natural conditions of the middle taiga zone are suitable for dairy farming and farming, in which the leading crops are winter rye and wheat, oats, and barley. Among fodder crops, perennial grasses occupy a leading place. In the southern regions, fiber flax is grown. Potato growing and vegetable growing are developed around the cities.

Agricultural development of the territory is about 6%. This area has great potential for further development agriculture through the development of unused arable land with the help of their melioration. To improve soil fertility in this zone, liming, the application of organic and mineral fertilizers, and the creation of a deep cultivated root-inhabited soil layer are of particular importance.

4. The southern taiga natural and agricultural zone occupies a vast territory of 2.45 million square meters. km, or 14.4% of the entire territory of Russia. This zone includes southern part Vologda, Leningrad regions and Karelia, the entire territory of the Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Kaliningrad, Smolensk and Yaroslavl regions, as well as part of the Kaluga, Moscow, Bryansk, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk regions, the Republic of Mari El , Udmurtia and Perm region. The degree of afforestation of the zone is 57.6%. The main areas of agricultural land and arable land of the entire Non-Chernozem zone of Russia are concentrated in the zone. The area of ​​agricultural land in the southern taiga zone is 42385 thousand hectares, of which arable land - 25480 thousand hectares, natural fodder land - 16905 thousand hectares, or 39.9% of the agricultural land area.

The territory of the southern taiga zone is divided into two natural agricultural provinces: the Baltic and Central Russian.

The Baltic province includes Kaliningrad, Pskov, Novgorod region and almost all Leningrad region. The climate of this province is slightly continental. The period of possible vegetation of plants is 105-140 days, and the sum of active temperatures is 1600-2200°C. The average annual amount of precipitation is 500-800 mm with their uniform distribution over all seasons. Forests occupy 40% of the territory, swamps - about 9%, and lowlands account for 43% of the total area of ​​\u200b\u200bmarshes. Agricultural land makes up 34% of the total territory, of which half of the area is arable land.

Soddy-podzolic loamy soils on the moraine and sandy and sandy loam soils on glacial deposits predominate in the Baltic province. One third of the arable land is located on marsh-podzolic and marsh soils. Loamy bog-podzolic soils have excessive moisture; sandy loamy, sandy and sod-calcareous soils are less waterlogged. A significant part of arable land is located on moraine and calcareous deposits and contains many stones.

To improve soil fertility in this province great importance they are drained, limed and cleaned from stones, the introduction of increased doses of organic and mineral fertilizers.

The natural conditions of the Baltic province favor the intensive development of animal husbandry, in particular dairy. Quite a lot of arable land here is occupied by fodder crops, especially perennial grasses. Flax growing, potato growing and vegetable growing are developed. Grain crops are cultivated on significant areas, primarily rye, barley and oats.

The Central Russian province, which occupies 24% of the territory of the entire Non-Chernozem zone of Russia, includes the southern parts of the Kirov and Vologda regions, as well as Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Tver, Smolensk, Moscow, Bryansk region, Udmurtia, Mari-Eyl; and the northern part of the Nizhny Novgorod and part of the Ryazan region.

According to climatic conditions, this province belongs to the temperate mid-continental zone, characterized by mild winters in the western part and cold in the eastern, moderately cool summers. The sum of active temperatures here ranges from 1600 to 2200°C, and the duration of the growing season is 110-140 days. On average, 525-650 mm of atmospheric precipitation falls per year, moisture in normal precipitation years is sufficient. The probability of excessively wet years is 25-40%, semi-arid and arid - 12-20%. AT individual years seasonal droughts occur in the southeast of the province. Thermal conditions for agricultural crops are less favorable here compared to Baltic province(early frosts, more severe winters). The sums of temperatures over 10°С decrease from 2200-2300°С in the southwest to 1700-1800°С in the northeast, the growing season shortens accordingly from 140-145 to 120-125 days.

In the central part of the zone, humidification is less stable compared to the western and northwestern parts; there is a significant unevenness of precipitation over the years and during the growing season. Periods of waterlogging are often replaced by dry periods.

Land resources include about 9 million hectares of arable land (35.5% of the zone's arable land). The plowed area averages about 25% and decreases from south to north. More than 85% of arable land is located on various soddy-podzolic soils (including waterlogged and waterlogged), up to 10% - on gray forest soils. There are more than 20% sandy loamy soils on arable land, 3% sandy soils, and about 7% stony soils. More than 75% of arable soils are acidic, less than 25% are close to neutral. The content of mobile forms of phosphorus and potassium in them is predominantly low and medium; soils with a high content of these elements are only 12-15%. Less than 3% are under swamps, over 40% are lowlands. Along with bushy lands and undergrowth, these swamps are a reserve for increasing arable land. 38% of the province's territory is used for agricultural land, over 60% of it is arable land. In the northern part of the province (Vologda, Kostroma and Yaroslavl region) the total area of ​​agricultural land is 15-20%, and in the southern (Bryansk, Kaluga region and part of Ryazan) - more than 45-50% of the total territory.

Common type of soils: soddy-podzolic, loamy, sandy loamy and sandy with different thicknesses of soddy and podzolic horizons and unequal degree of moisture. In the southern part, no large areas are occupied by light gray forest soils. confined to the lowlands large masses marsh peatlands.

Due to the low natural fertility of the soils of the Central Russian province, they need further cultivation: deepening the root layer, liming, applying organic and mineral fertilizers, and introducing crop rotations with perennial legumes. Significant areas of arable land and natural fodder lands can be improved by draining and carrying out cultural and technical work.

resource potential. Soil and climatic conditions allow the cultivation of many grain crops here, including wheat and buckwheat, late-ripening potatoes, fiber flax, vegetable and fodder crops, perennial and annual grasses, sunflower, corn for silage, root crops.

The Volga-Kama region of the Non-Chernozem zone covers the territories to the west of the Ural Mountains.

The climate here is mid-continental, heat and moisture supply are somewhat lower, the probability of semi-arid and dry years is 15-25%.

In the Volga-Kama part of the zone, the unevenness in moisture over the years and during the growing season is as clearly expressed as in the central part of the zone.

The area of ​​arable land in the region is more than 7 million hectares (about 21% of the arable land of the zone), the plowing of the territory is on average 20-22%.

The soils are mostly sod-podzolic (about 85% of arable land), as well as sod-calcareous, in the south of the zone - partly gray forest. In contrast to the more western regions, there are many heavy loamy and clayey soils (almost 40% of arable land) and less sandy and sandy soils. There are few rocky soils. About 85% of arable soils are acidic.

Due to the more severe and continental climate conditions in this part of the zone are not favorable for the cultivation of winter wheat, and one of the leading crops is spring wheat.

The West Siberian, East Siberian and Far Eastern regions of the Non-Chernozem zone are characterized by poor heat supply, harsh continental climate, and a short growing season. There are relatively few arable lands here (about 1 million hectares), the plowing of the territory is low.

The poor agricultural development of these regions is due to a number of reasons, not only natural, but also socio-economic.

The sums of temperatures above 10°С differ within the zone of 1000-1100°С, the period with such temperatures is 50-60 days. To unfavorable natural factors, in addition to the poor heat supply of the territory, there is a wide distribution of waterlogged soils in Western Siberia and in the Far East and thin soils in the elevated territories of Eastern Siberia.

Cold soddy-podzolic soils of these regions are inferior in fertility to similar soils in the western part of the zone by 1.5-2 times. In Siberia and the Far East, soils freeze to a depth of 1.5–2 m or more, slowly thaw, and only by the end of summer warm up to a depth of 1 m. The soils of Siberia and the Far East, especially in the colder regions of the zone, have reduced biological activity. The weak activity of soil microflora, primarily nitrogen fixers and bacteria that convert nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, does not favor the formation of mobile forms of nutrients in the soil.

Even less favorable water-physical and physicochemical characteristics have waterlogged soddy-podzolic soils widespread on arable land.

The soddy carbonate and floodplain soils of the zone are much better in terms of properties and level of fertility. However, their areas are relatively small. Soddy-calcareous soils make up 4-5% of the arable land of the zone, floodplain soils - about 1.5%.

The soil and climatic conditions of Siberia and the Far East are favorable for the cultivation of fodder, vegetable crops and potatoes.

Soddy-podzolic soils, which make up the main fund of the arable land of the Non-Chernozem Zone, despite significant differences in fertility in its different regions, have a number of common features. They are characterized by increased acidity, low content of humus, low thickness of the humus horizon, weak saturation of the absorbing complex with bases, and poverty of exchangeable calcium. Soddy-podzolic soils, poorly structured, prone to swimming and crusting, have greater density. Loamy and especially clayey varieties are characterized by low filtration coefficients in illuvial horizons. During periods of rain, waterlogging of these soils and their extremely weak aeration are observed. During dry periods, moisture from the lower, denser and heavier in mechanical composition illuvial horizons slightly moves to the upper layers, where the main mass of roots is concentrated.

Large areas are occupied by lowland swamps, shrubs and low forests. This is a large reserve for increasing the area of ​​agricultural land. Improvement in the use of arable lands can be largely facilitated by the elimination of the small-contour plots in areas where the average area of ​​the contour of arable land does not exceed 3 hectares, and hayfields - 2 hectares.

Fine contouring reduces the efficiency of the use of agricultural machinery, makes it difficult to organize field work, application new technology and most productive technical means. A simple enlargement of the fields under such conditions does not give a significant effect. It should be accompanied by small melioration, i.e., the development of non-arable land separating arable land, and the elimination of redundant field roads, as well as cultural and technical work to equalize new plots in terms of fertility with old arable land.

The quality of agricultural land in the Non-Chernozem zone is very diverse. Along with cultivated soddy-podzolic, gray forest and chernozem soils, a considerable area is occupied by soils with high acidity, waterlogged, with high fossilization. Particularly large areas of such land fall on natural hayfields and pastures. So, swampy and waterlogged haylands make up about 35%, and pastures - about 25% of the total area.

A distinctive feature of the arable soils of the zone is their low fertility. The content of humus in soddy-podzolic soils is 1.5-2%, and on sandy soils - 1.0-1.3%. More than half of arable land has a very low and low content of easily digestible forms of phosphorus and potassium.

Rugged topography, high precipitation and poor physical properties of most soils contribute to the development of water erosion. In the Non-Chernozem zone, there are significant areas of erosion-hazardous and eroded eroded lands. AT southern regions its large areas are occupied by ravines and gullies formed as a result of water erosion. Only in one Central region 3444 thousand hectares, or 15.5% of the area of ​​agricultural land, including 2493 thousand hectares, or 18.8% of the total area of ​​arable land, are eroded to varying degrees.

In the northwestern regions, in soils lying on a moraine, the arable layer contains many stones that impede field work and cause frequent breakdowns and premature wear of tillage, sowing and harvesting machines and tools. Soddy-podzolic soils have low total reserves and content of mobile forms of nitrogen and phosphorus. Most of the phosphates are in tightly bound, inaccessible forms for plants. Sandy and sandy soils are also characterized by a low content of exchangeable potassium.

Very significant differences in the level of fertility of soddy-podzolic and other soils of the zone are associated primarily with differences in climatic conditions, which are much less favorable in the east than in western regions. To the west of the Urals, soddy-podzolic soils freeze weakly, shallowly and irregularly in winter, and in summer they warm up to a temperature of 10 ° C and above to a depth of 3 m.

Due to these features soil cover Significant areas of land in the zone require radical measures to cultivate and increase land fertility. These include draining waterlogged and waterlogged soils, carrying out a full range of cultural and technical work on them, liming acidic soils, developing and implementing soil protection measures.

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The zone is characterized by a temperate continental climate, sufficient, and in some areas excessive rainfall. The continentality of the climate increases in the direction from west to east. AT reverse direction the amount of precipitation and the sum of active temperatures change. With a general high amount of precipitation, their distribution during the growing season is uneven; droughts are not uncommon at the beginning of summer, and excessive precipitation often falls in the second half of it.

The soils of the Nonchernozem zone are represented by several types with large quantity subtypes, classes and varieties. The most common are soddy-podzolic soils with low potential fertility and unfavorable agronomic properties. These soils are poor organic matter and nutrients, biologically inactive, acidic, with unfavorable physical properties.

Climatic conditions the zones allow, with active regulation of soil conditions in intensive agriculture, to obtain high and stable yields of grain and fodder crops, fiber flax, vegetables and root crops. Developed fodder production allows for high-intensity dairy and meat animal husbandry, as well as industrial poultry farming.

The leading grain crops of the Non-Chernozem zone are winter rye and wheat, spring barley and oats; peas and spring wheat are less cultivated. The main industrial crop is fiber flax. The main potato areas are concentrated here, and vegetable growing is developed.

The soils of the zone, along with an increase in fertility, need cultural and technical improvement. The arable land is represented by small and small fields (small-contour), the arable layer is hardened, microdepressions and saucers are frequent in the fields, and there is a lot of shrubs.

In the large farms of the Non-Chernozem zone, crop rotations of various types and types are introduced. If necessary, special importance is attached to the agrotechnical organization of the territory and the complex of soil protection measures, including also soil protection crop rotations.

Without touching on the features of individual crop rotations, we will only give the best predecessors for the main field crops of the zone. Winter crops are placed mainly on occupied fertilized fallows. Various fodder mixtures, perennial grasses after the first mowing, early potatoes and vegetable crops are used as fallow-occupying crops. AT northern regions zones, and also, if necessary, to have a so-called repair field, winter crops are placed in clean fallows. In specialized crop rotations, winter crops are also placed on non-fallow predecessors: after barley, fiber flax, and oats.

Potatoes and vegetable crops are most expediently placed after winter perennial grasses in the layer, according to the turnover of the layer. Repeated cultivation of potatoes and alternation of different types of vegetable crops are acceptable.

The classic predecessor of fiber flax for a long time was a layer of perennial grasses. Now it is placed in specialized flax crop rotations after winter crops, as well as after tilled crops.

The most important agrotechnical role in the crop rotations of the Non-Chernozem zone is played by clover and clover-cereal mixtures. They are sown under the cover of winter and spring cereals. With a high yield of winter crops, oversowing perennial grasses under them does not always give positive results. In this case, fodder mixtures from annual crops of the continuous sowing method are used for overseeding of perennial grasses.

The soil treatment system of the Non-Chernozem Zone takes into account their unfavorable physical properties: high density, the possibility of excessive moisture. Therefore, the main processing is carried out, as a rule, on full depth arable layer, mainly with its wrapping. Taking into account the biological characteristics of crops during the main processing, the arable layer of the soil is deepened. Deep autumn plowing is preceded by stubble peeling as an important agrotechnical method of weed control.

Pre-sowing tillage is carried out by loosening working bodies to a shallow depth. Combined implements are widely used in pre-sowing treatment.

Post-sowing tillage and crop care practices are built taking into account the reduction of mechanical impact on the soil (minimum tillage) and the widespread use of herbicides.

The fertilization system is intensive. Moisture conditions and soil features of the zone provide high efficiency of mineral and organic fertilizers, as well as liming. A special place is occupied by organic fertilizers, which provide extended reproduction of soil fertility in the zone in many respects. Advanced farms annually apply up to 20 tons/ha or more of organic fertilizers. At the same time, they not only receive high yields of all major crops, but also create conditions for the increasing efficiency of the entire agrotechnical complex. Along with organic, mineral fertilizers provide high efficiency. Important condition high payback of fertilizers - periodic liming of acidic podzolic soils.

The system of methods for protecting plants from weeds, pests and diseases includes such important agrotechnical measures as strict adherence to accepted crop rotations, timely and high-quality processing methods, all field work. At the same time, with the use of progressive technologies for the cultivation of field crops, the use of chemical plant protection products - pesticides is also growing.

Required condition further intensification of agriculture in the Non-Chernozem zone - land reclamation. Its high efficiency is due to the presence of a large number waterlogged soils, as well as waterlogged areas and peat bogs.

Modern normative-technological systems of farming in the zone are being developed by scientific and design and survey institutions. They define all the specific technological methods of cultivating agricultural crops. Agrotechnical complexes are inextricably linked with differentiated models of soil fertility, parameters of their reproduction, organizational and economic capabilities of the economy. An important distinguishing feature of farming systems is that soil fertility parameters are given at two levels: modern optimal and perspective. According to this gradation of fertility models, the level of soil productivity also changes.

At the same time, in the system of agriculture both today and in the near future, special importance is attached to soil protection in all its elements: erosion control, prevention of chemical pollution, mechanical compaction, etc.

The system of agriculture is the technological law of production. After its development, any deviation from the quantitative and qualitative standards provided for by it is unacceptable. At the same time, she assumes creative attitude agronomic service of the economy to specific technologies, taking into account weather conditions growing season. In addition, from time to time new technological and organizational and economic elements are introduced into the farming system: new varieties, machines, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.

During the development of the farming system, the team of developers exercises authorial control over the correct implementation of its main elements. At the same time, possible minor flaws in the technological and organizational order are identified and promptly eliminated. In this and subsequent periods, the first results of the development of a new farming system are summarized, first of all, ensuring the planned yields of field crops and the corresponding economic indicators of their production, the correspondence of the actual parameters of soil fertility reproduction to the calculated ones, etc. All this is used for the systematic strengthening of the direction of the farming system, the regulatory and technological refinement of its individual elements.

The farm guarantees timely and high-quality provision of the new farming system by all necessary resources, strict observance technological standards, and also provides favorable conditions for the author's control over the development of the farming system and its further improvement.

The effectiveness of the application of scientifically based zonal farming systems finds concrete confirmation in the practice of advanced farms in the Non-Chernozem Zone.