Differentiation of rural areas for implementing support measures for organic agriculture

Abstract

This paper considers approaches to improving the effectiveness of state support measures for organic agriculture based on the differentiation of territories according to the potential of the relevant economic activity. The shortcomings of some existing methodologies are identified: excessive number of private indicators, complicating the assessment; use of indicators not included in the system of statistical reporting of rural areas; use of indicators for a single reporting period. The system of indicators and approach to the clustering of rural areas according to the overall development potential of organic agriculture, as well as of organic crop and livestock production are proposed. The proposed method is implemented on the example of a separate subject of the Russian Federation. A distinctive feature of the proposed approach is the abandonment of the use of indicators characterizing environmental conditions and their consideration through the assessment of the performance of traditional agriculture. The differentiation of territories using the proposed approach can be used to identify priority areas in terms of the application of organisational and financial measures to support organic agriculture by regional authorities.