Peasant farming: is the game worth the candle

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Russian peasant farming has been leading its history since the period of Stolypin's reforms in 1906. It was his ideas that largely formed the basis of the new agrarian policy of perestroika Russia, when domestic agriculture approached a new stage in its development. In 1990, after a long period of collective farms and state farms, they started talking again about private peasant farms. At the same time, an appropriate legal framework was created to regulate their work. Today, the legal basis for the KFH is the Federal Law No. 74-FZ of June 11, 2003 (as amended on December 25, 2012).

By stimulating the rise of agriculture, the government supports the creation and growth of peasant associations. In many regions, land is leased for free for farming, initial subsidies and soft loans are provided for development. However, not everyone who lives by labor on earth decides to officially register their activities. In many ways, receiving income from a personal plot turns out to be more accessible and profitable.

One of the first pitfalls awaiting a young peasant farm is the defect in the status of this association of citizens. Under the terms of the 1990 Law, peasant farms were registered as legal entities. Today, this requirement has been abolished, only the head of the economy is registered as an entrepreneur, while remaining an individual. But when reporting, the rules established for legal entities still apply. There is confusion, exacerbated by the fact that many previously established farms did not change status (this is acceptable).

Problematic is the division of property shares in a situation where one of the participants leaves the peasant farm. More precisely, such an option is not provided at all, only monetary compensation is expected, commensurate with the contributed share. The division of property is permissible only when the KFH leaves all its members, completely ceasing its activities. Obviously, the risk of losing their property stops potential farmers.

Significant legal difficulties are encountered by members of the peasant economy in the event of the sudden death of their head. Answers to questions about how to deal with the share of the deceased in this case, how to re-register the farm and its property, remain largely unthought.

Another big problem: social support. On the one hand, members of the peasant farm receive the right to a social package in full. These are seniority, pension accruals, a policy for medical care,payment for sick leave and annual leave, payments for pregnancy and child care, etc. However, in practice, people face problems. So, for example, a peasant farm submits reports once a year. And to confirm income in the USPN, you must provide data for 3 or 6 months. Because of this discrepancy, many members of farms cannot receive legal benefits and payments. This is also the reason for the unpopularity of KFH among the population.

Many questions are also raised by the wording of the types of activities that a peasant farm can be engaged in. According to the text of Art. 19 of Law No. 74-FZ, the main activities should be the production and processing of independently produced agricultural products. However, this provides relative freedom in the choice of additional activities that do not always coincide with the main ones. At the same time, their specific enumeration is not regulated anywhere. Consequently, each region is free to interpret in its own way whether it is acceptable for a peasant farm to create, for example, a canned food workshop, a fur tailoring studio or a wool yarn production. After all, in fact, all such activities may or may not be considered processing of agricultural products.

Due to such shortcomings in the legal norms governing the activities of farms, many do not dare to officially register their businesses, preferring to generate income only from subsidiary lands,being in personal property. Of course, the prospects here are less, but the responsibility is not so terrible.