Range and behavior of the Russian grain subcomplex center in 2000-2020

Abstract

In the 2000s, a new model of the agrarian economy was formed in the country, in which large agricultural holdings, collective and private peasant farms were organically integrated, united by powerful state support and state regulation. This model has manifested itself to the greatest extent in the functioning of the grain subcomplex: the growth of acreage and yield of grain crops, increasing soil fertility, the formation of new logistics and communication corridors, value chains, ultimately providing the country with a leading position among grain-producing countries, making this subcomplex import-independent. Like any agricultural object, the grain subcomplex has a spatial character. At the same time, its space is heterogeneous and not static; the zones of high and low activity are constantly changing, their areas are shifting, affecting the overall dynamics of the entire subcomplex. The goal - determine the location of the center of the grain subcomplex of Russia and calculate the impact of its changes on the dynamics of gross grain harvest. Methods - centrographic, correlation, graphical, as well as descriptive. Scientific novelty - clarification has been made to the existing methodology of the influence of the geographical factor on the dynamics of agriculture, in which the concept of geographical center has been introduced. The methodological innovation is tested on the example of the grain subcomplex of Russia. Results - the area of the grain wedge of the country was determined, its geographical center was calculated, its time shifts in the north-south and east-west directions were revealed, the changes in the center of the sown areas of grain crops on the gross grain harvest were quantified, it was revealed that the shift of the center of the sown areas in the south-west direction gives a greater increase in the gross grain harvest, than in the north-east, the causes and nature (cyclicity) of these increases (shocks) have been clarified, which together will allow for the regulation of the directions of development of the complex in the direction of the greatest efficiency.