Text: Ilya Rubin
Agricultural cooperation has never been considered a strength of Russia. When it comes to cooperatives, the world-famous Fonterra, Valio and Arla, which unite milk producers, immediately come to mind. Meanwhile, there are examples of successful cooperatives in Russian vegetable growing.
According to the Association of Peasant (Farming) Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives of Russia (AKKOR), there are about 4 thousand actually working agricultural cooperatives in Russia. This figure is approximate, and it has hardly changed over the past few years. The fact is that on paper, cooperation is flourishing in Russia: according to official data, there are about 400 thousand shareholders in almost 6 thousand cooperatives in the country, and their turnover exceeds 20 billion rubles.
However, Rosstat data indicate that over the past 10 years the number of farms in Russia has decreased by 40% - there are just over 200 thousand of them left. True, the surviving farmers have significantly increased their area during this time - 2,5 times, on average to 269 hectares.
In any case, the conventional wisdom about the failures of Russian agricultural cooperation can be exaggerated, because examples of successful cooperation of farmers in Russia are still encountered.
How to sell vegetables profitably
As a rule, the basis for long-term and fruitful cooperation of vegetable growers is their desire to profitably sell their products. The largest consumer is retail chains. Networks need guaranteed deliveries of large volumes with predictable quality. Small farms cannot do this, but, having united, they are quite capable of providing supplies in the network, moreover, on very favorable terms for themselves.
This is how the successful cooperation of the AgroKostroma cooperative developed. This agricultural consumer supply and marketing cooperative is engaged in the supply of outdoor vegetables. According to the system of checking counterparties "Kartoteka", the revenue of the cooperative
exceeds 120 million rubles. Net profit for a cooperative is not a significant indicator, but it is important that it is positive.
The history of "AgroKostroma" began with the fact that in 2007 several farms decided to unite for more efficient operation. “The main task of the cooperative was to sell products on equal terms for all members of the cooperative, thereby excluding competition between them. The association made it possible to jointly purchase machinery and equipment with the support of the state, as well as to receive means of production on more favorable terms, ”recalls Valentina Konkova, chairman of the AgroKostroma cooperative.
“A cooperative is, first of all, a beneficial cooperation for all its participants. Therefore, despite the fact that our composition was gradually changing (someone left the cooperative, new interested farms joined), we always found points of interaction ", -
says Valentina Konkova.
According to her, the main task facing the cooperative was to start cooperation with large federal retail chains. In 2017, the first major contract was signed for the supply of products of the members of the cooperative. “It is more convenient for large retail chains to work with large suppliers. Not all small farms have the resources for independent cooperation with them. The creation of a single logistics link allowed enterprises with different production volumes to become participants in this contract. We succeeded only thanks to well-coordinated teamwork, ”emphasizes Valentina Konkova.
By the way, profitable sales of products is not the only reason for cooperation. Very often, cooperatives can receive loans and grants only by uniting, because together they have more guarantees for banks, more resources for collecting documents and more grounds for obtaining government support.
For example, the vegetable-growing agricultural consumer marketing cooperative "Kazachiy", located in the city of Krymsk, Krasnodar Territory, was able to build storage facilities only thanks to the joint work of their farms. For their construction in 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Processing Industry of the Krasnodar Territory provided the "Cossack" cooperative with a grant in the amount of 19,5 million rubles. Another 13 million rubles. own funds were used to carry out construction work, purchase machinery and equipment. It would be much more difficult to get a grant and raise such funds separately.
Long-term cooperation of farms united in cooperatives almost always shows a positive result. We can cite as an example the SEC "Vyshgorodsky", which was founded in 2004 in the village of Vyshgorod, Ryazan region. He has a very broad specialization, including vegetable growing.
This cooperative became the leader of the region in the agro-industrial complex precisely due to the joint work of farms, which could not individually find enough funds to purchase agricultural machinery and equipment. In 2012–2019, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Ryazan Region, within the framework of the state program of the Ryazan Region "Development of the agro-industrial complex", the cooperative was provided with a loan and subsidies in the amount of 80,9 million rubles. for the purchase of equipment. In addition, the cooperative invested about RUB 9,9 million in the project.
own funds.
Thanks to these investments, the cooperative's revenue has grown over the years by 90%, and the yield of vegetable crops by tens of percent.
We can say that cooperation in vegetable growing makes it possible for scattered small farms to become as strong as agricultural holdings. At the same time, the ability to better manage small businesses can make them even more efficient. Nevertheless, it is believed that Russia is a country of large agricultural holdings that are about to seize the remnants of land from ruined farmers. However, this problem is somewhat exaggerated.
The myth of agricultural holdings
From the outside it may really seem that the entire agro-industrial complex in Russia is one continuous agricultural holdings, stretching from horizon to horizon. In fact, Russian agriculture, especially in vegetable growing, is represented by a huge number of small companies and farms.
farms.
By the way, in European countries, where there are practically no large farms, but there are mainly small family farms, cooperatives have achieved great success, and some of them have existed for tens or hundreds of years.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service, in Russia, the share of farms with an area of more than 10 thousand hectares in recent years has reached a third of all Russian farms, while in the mid-2000s this figure was less than 20%. However, not only the area of agricultural holdings has grown, but also the land
plots of not very large agricultural companies, which was facilitated by the ruin of many personal subsidiary farms. This is what caused the growth of the areas of "medium" agricultural companies in Russia - "professional" farmers are pushing "amateurs" out of private household plots. For example, the total area of farms has doubled over the same period - up to almost 2 million hectares. This is especially noticeable in vegetable growing, where, against the background of a reduction in the total number of agricultural organizations, the number of farmers increased.
Now there are more than 200 thousand farmers in Russia, and they are expanding their areas, just like agricultural holdings. However, their land plots are small - the average farm area is 269 hectares (while each Russian agricultural organization accounts for about 6 thousand hectares). Therefore, farmers have more chances in cooperation.
Currently, there is an increase in the popularity of cooperation. In total, in 2018-2020, 1848 agricultural cooperatives were created in Russia, of which 1698 were consumer ones, the Federal Corporation for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses provides data. This is due to the presence of
agricultural producers the objective need to create cooperatives to perform various specific operational tasks.
In order to spur the development of cooperation, the SME Corporation, together with the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, SME Bank, Rosselkhozbank, Sberbank and Rosagroleasing, developed a package of support measures ("box" product) for agricultural cooperatives and farmers-members of agricultural cooperatives. This package of support measures includes specialized financial products for agricultural cooperatives. This includes guarantees from the SME Corporation, credit products from SME Bank, Rosselkhozbank, Sberbank, synchronized with grant support and subsidies from the Ministry of Agriculture
Russia, specialized leasing products of regional leasing companies for the purchase of equipment and leasing products of Rosagroleasing.
In addition, the Package of Support Measures includes measures to support the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia to attract financing in the stock market. Also, in addition to financial support measures, it contains information on non-financial support measures, including expanding product markets: promoting products on the Internet, purchasing major customers, and cooperation with federal retail chains.
However, all these support measures are unlikely to be able to solve the main problem of cooperation - the lack of trust between farmers, says Alexander Nikulin, director of the RANEPA Center for Agricultural Research under the President of the Russian Federation. He studies the cooperative movement in Russia and within the framework of his
scientific work regularly interviews farmers. “In theory, small farmers could unite and thus begin to compete with agricultural holdings in supplying federal and regional networks, but in practice they rarely succeed,” says Alexander Nikulin.
However, there is hope that a new generation of farmers, who have no prejudices about cooperatives, will begin to actively create cooperatives. The expert sees the first signs of this movement in the Moscow region, where young farmers are already creating an alternative cooperative organization to AKKOR.
And what about the laws?
It is very difficult for agricultural cooperatives to exist without sound government policies. “In many European countries, cooperation has achieved success precisely due to the care of small farms. For example, in France, farmers are officially considered part of the cultural heritage, and in Switzerland, small farmers are provided with significant financial support (not so much direct, but more in the form of infrastructure, good credit conditions, and the like) ", - says the marketing director of the law firm Hoban Law Group Halston Punchek.
He emphasizes that the famous and powerful cooperatives - Valio, CHS, Mondragon or Arla - were created with unconditional government support, which continues to this day. In Japan, for example, more than 90% of all farmers are members of cooperatives; their ZEN-NOH cooperative is one of the largest in the world. Farms there are small, but thanks to such a merger they can defend their rights at the highest level, and therefore the share of government subsidies in their profits is more than 50%.
Now the need for state support for cooperatives is also being discussed in Russia. Due to the peculiarities of cooperation, the support of state authorities is of great importance for its development. In this regard, in all regions (except for Moscow and St. Petersburg), developed and
programs for the development of cooperation are being implemented, and the centers of competence in the field of agricultural cooperation and support for farmers are involved in organizing infrastructure support.
Thanks to the support, the leading regions in the development of agricultural cooperation are Lipetsk, Tyumen, Belgorod regions, Krasnodar Territory, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. According to experts, the following areas may be promising: the production of organic and eco-products, products with high gastronomic and culinary characteristics, as well as
production of unique regional food products, including products with a high export component.
«If we look at the statistics showing the number of cooperatives in dynamics in recent years, we will see that the leaders there are constantly changing, - says Alexander Nikulin. - Recently, Tatarstan was among the leaders in terms of the number of cooperatives, and now it is the Lipetsk region. This is explained
namely regional support. Now some, then other regions begin to allocate funding and support cooperation in every possible way, but over time, interest in this area decreases, and after that cooperation also fades. "
According to him, there are contradictions in the law on cooperation, and the initiative "from above" does not always coincide with the desire of the farmers themselves to unite. Hence the problems that are often talked about and written about. But young farmers are much easier to cooperate. So maybe somewhere in Russia
a future vegetable cooperative will soon grow, which will be comparable in size and influence to the famous dairy Fonterra.