Abstract:

Russian authorities of different levels have continually highlighted the role and economic significance of small businesses in ensuring the competitiveness of the agro-industrial complex and the village revival. The purpose of the study is to create a farm development model, focusing on the social-economic potential of a rural area. The authors have analysed the trends in agricultural production of the farming sector and identified the issues in labor force development in rural areas. Foreign countries give preference to small businesses, focusing on family farms, which are very efficient due to their strong motivation and high productivity. Farming accounts for about 90% of the agriculture sector of the USA, Germany and Finland. In 2019, in the total volume of crop production in the world, US farmers produced 463.7 million tons, Chinese farmers – 210.4 million tons, Russian farmers – 53.7 million tons, and German farmers – 42.2 million tons, despite the facts that the contribution of agricultural products to GDP of those countries accounts for a mere 0.6-4.6%, and the share of rural population to total number of population in the above-mentioned countries is 18-41%.