Territorial Structure and Organization of Agriculture in Tyumen Oblast in 1973 and 2014: Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The reduction in agricultural areas is a vivid manifestation of the spatial contraction of post-Soviet Russia’s socio-geographical space. Based on a case study of Tyumen oblast, the author examines the changes in the territorial structure of agriculture. He compares agricultural indicators in two time slices: 1973 and 2014. The sources for the work were the 1976 Atlas of Tyumen Oblast, Rosstat statistical materials, and also freely accessible Rosstat data on the accounting statements of enterprises. The results of the study showed that individual elements of the spatial structure of agrarian industry established in the Soviet period have been preserved and reproduced in modern conditions. The transition to the market led to the spatial contraction of agrarian production; however, the structure of sown areas remains close to the early 1960s model, where in terms of farm distribution, the prior cores and confinedness to large landscape and transport axes remain. Major shifts have been revealed in how the contribution of individual territories to gross regional product is distributed. The main revenue in the region’s agricultural sector is concentrated with a small number of agroindustrial enterprises located close to the regional capital. This indicates (1) an increased dependence of the location of production on the accessibility to a large city as a source of qualified personnel and a market outlet, and (2) an altered model of organizing production, towards its greater centralization and strict specialization, as well as a functional distinction between head (processing) and subsidiary (raw materials) companies united in a closed production chain.