State Policy in the Field of Agricultural Development: Current Issues of Law and Practice

Mukhlynina Mariya Mikhailovna PhD in Law Senior Researcher of the Sector of Environmental, Land and Agrarian Law, Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences 119019, Russia, Moscow, Znamenka str., 10 muhlyninamm975@mail.ru

The issues of state support and legal regulation of agriculture and the entire agro-industrial complex are currently gaining unprecedented relevance, since it is this sector of the economy that is designed to ensure Russia's food sovereignty, and even despite restrictions from some foreign countries, it shows positive dynamics. The impetus for this development is largely given by the President of the Russian Federation, who attaches great importance to issues of a sectoral nature, drawing his attention to the importance of creating, for example, his own breeding and genetic reserve in both poultry and animal husbandry. Support of the agro–industrial complex (hereinafter referred to as the agro-industrial complex), branch science, is considered by the state as a matter of technological, scientific and food sovereignty of the country, sustainability and filling the Russian market with affordable and high-quality food products. All this undoubtedly affects the increase in the sovereignty of Russia as a whole.

At the international level, the topic of global food challenges is becoming more acute, especially painful for the poorest countries of the world, which are primarily affected by food shortages due to political and economic imbalances. As for our country, Russia, even despite all its advantages in this area and the status of the largest agrarian power in the world, has been subjected to the strongest sanctions pressure in recent years, the purpose of which is to destroy trade chains, cause food shortages or slow down the development of economic sectors, including agriculture. However, we note that these negative processes against the Russian Federation have been launched for a long time. Since the late 1990s - early 2000s, both on a global scale and in our country, there has been an aggressive conquest of sales markets by global corporations, which used all their advantages to deter competitors, monopolizing the production of genetic materials and the field of breeding.

The United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have made a great contribution at the international level to improving governance in the interests of ensuring sustainable development of food and agriculture and, as a result, accelerating the achievement of the SDGs. The documents of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) note that food systems are now facing serious risks, which, in turn, threaten the future of the food systems themselves: "Despite the global improvement in calorie production and the significant development of food and agricultural markets, there has been a huge inequality in access to food and the redistribution of added value, which has led to new serious problems in the field of nutrition and social problems" ^[1].

Undoubtedly, FAO provides assistance to Member States in identifying, analyzing, formulating and solving management problems in order to ensure the sustainable development of food and agriculture at the global, regional and national levels, but despite this, each State implements its own food policy independently.

The Russian Federation takes an active position in solving food problems both at the international and national levels, a significant number of political and legal acts are devoted to the development of the agricultural sector in our country. In particular, Federal Law No. 264-FZ of December 29, 2006 "On the Development of Agriculture" (Federal Law of the Russian Federation. 2007. No. 1 (Part 1). Article 27) establishes the basis for the implementation of state policy in the field of agricultural development in order to provide the population with domestic food products. If we talk about the understanding of the term "provision" of the population, then A.E. Epifanov, A.Y. Mokhov see self-sufficiency in food as the share of food products produced by domestic subjects of the agro-industrial complex to the amount of food necessary for consumption by citizens of the Russian Federation ^{[2, p. 69]}.

On September 08, 2022, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the Strategy for the Development of Agro-industrial and Fisheries Complexes for the period up to 2030 (hereinafter referred to as the Strategy) (The official Internet Portal of Legal Information http://pravo.gov.ru , September 12, 2022), updated on behalf of President Vladimir Putin, taking into account new economic and political realities. "The Head of State set the task to take into account current challenges in it and create conditions for the expansion of the industry in all major areas," Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin recalled. - It is necessary to achieve a steady average annual growth of production in the sector at the level of 3%, which will require financing in the amount of at least 900 billion rubles. annually" ^[3]. Proactively, Russia took measures aimed at supporting the agro–industrial complex and industry science, which allowed it to overcome the turbulence associated with the rapidly changing macroeconomic environment, to rebuild the supply chains, to search for internal reserves to reduce import dependence - all this allowed it to maintain one of the leading places among the world's agricultural producers, providing not only its needs, but also helping countries that are facing food shortages. And even despite the obvious successes listed above, the Strategy voiced the need to introduce a new model of economic development. Experts from among practitioners support legislative innovations, noting their relevance: "We consider it timely and correct to update the Strategy for the development of the agro-industrial complex, taking into account changes in market conditions and current restrictions," notes A. Neduzhko, CEO of Step Agroholding, "The tasks of ensuring food security, import substitution, digital transformation, and the development of new export directions are now becoming even more relevant to ensure the further development of the agro-industrial complex" ^[4].  Legislative consolidation in the Strategy for the introduction of a new model of economic development is a very important step forward to the new stated priorities. Agriculture in Russia is a key sector of the economy, it provides stability, security and self-sufficiency of the country. The main sign of the country's food independence, according to researchers, in particular, H.U. Belkharoev, is the state of security - both of the individual and of the state as a whole ^{[5, p. 111]}.

In our opinion, one of the most difficult tasks in terms of implementing the tasks set in the Strategy for the state is to improve the quality and standard of living of the rural population and socio-economic development of rural municipalities, which requires a comprehensive transformation of engineering, transport and social infrastructure in rural areas. Rural territories, in this strategic document, are called the key resource of the country, since they ensure the development of the agro-industrial complex, "their importance is growing rapidly in the context of globalization processes and the increasing importance of natural and territorial resources for Russia" (Part I of the Strategy). Legislator The basis of state policy in the field under study, including sustainable development of rural areas, is planned to be formed from 8 Strategy goals aimed at achieving national goals outlined in Presidential Decree No. 474 of 21.07.2020 "On National Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2030" (Federal Law of the Russian Federation, 14.05.2018, No. 20, art. 2817), namely: national goal No. 3 "A comfortable and safe environment for life" and national goal No. 4 "Decent, effective work and successful entrepreneurship" form the goal of the Strategy "Preserving the share of the rural population in the total population of the Russian Federation" (Part III of the Strategy). The efficiency of use and involvement in the economic turnover of agricultural land are called underestimated resources for increasing yields. All these measures are necessary for further effective solution of the problem of food security.

If we turn to the analysis of the stated goals and the reality of their implementation, then it is worth paying attention to one of the goals - an increase in the volume of exports of agricultural products, however, according to the target and basic scenario of the Strategy (Part III), self-sufficiency indicators for all basic foodstuffs are planned (in the period from 2022 to 2030) below 100%, even by main export products: vegetables and melons (90%), fruits and berries (43%), meat and meat products (85%), grain (95%), milk and dairy products (85%), vegetable oil (90%), sugar (90%), fish and fish products (85%). The question arises: how to ensure the export of this agricultural product, even if the indicators of self-sufficiency are not fully realized? The President of Russia at a meeting with farmers noted on this occasion: "Of course, we know what else needs to be worked on: fruits, vegetables, milk, dairy products, milk in general. But I repeat, the potential for further development of the industry, given our land and other resources, is very large," and the basis of the agro-industrial complex, according to the head of state, and the basis for increasing the yield of Russian fields and farm productivity is the seed and breeding stock. It is interesting that V.V. Putin, speaking about milk and dairy products, in addition to his own potential, notes the prospects of allied relations with Belarus in all directions, "this part is largely closed by supplies from Belarus" ^[6].

Not only the Strategy in 2022 has undergone changes, adjustments have also been made to the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2017-2030 (NW, 04.09.2017, No. 36, Article 5421), which assumes a reduction in the level of import dependence by bringing to 35% the level of innovation activity in agriculture in the areas of the program. This position is echoed by the conclusions of researcher N.P. Voronina about the presence of two trends aimed at the sustainable development of agriculture: the first is the use of innovative methods of agricultural activities, biotechnologies that allow to obtain agricultural products with predetermined characteristics, adapt its cultivation and production to unfavorable natural conditions; the second is the production of organic agricultural products ^{[7, p. 178]}.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the key result to be achieved is the sustainable development of agriculture, and "we consider the reduction of import dependence as a fundamental task for the future in the agro–industrial sector as a whole, for this purpose work has been intensified on the implementation of the Russian scientific and technical program for the development of agriculture." In 2022-2023, it is planned to launch nine important subprograms at once, including, if we talk about animal husbandry, this is the dairy and meat direction, a subprogram for the creation of a domestic cross of meat chickens is also already in operation. In 2022, 11 research institutions that are engaged in breeding, production of vaccines for animals, breeding poultry farming were transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture. Thanks to the electronic veterinary certification system, transparency of the entire supply chain is ensured and, accordingly, the share of falsification is reduced. A unified information and analytical system of breeding resources is being created, which in the future will allow obtaining complete information about the quantity and quality of breeding stock ^[6].

It seems obvious that there is a need to improve regulatory legal regulation and strategic planning in the direction under study, in particular, in order to ensure the declared average annual growth rates of the agro-industrial complex, the introduction of new or expansion of existing mechanisms of state support, to increase the indicators of import substitution of critical types of agricultural products, as well as products used in the agro-industrial complex. The existing gaps in legal regulation do not contribute to ensuring food security. The implementation of state policy in the field of agriculture can also develop in the following directions:

- implementation of a program for the development of sheep breeding in the North Caucasus, where sheep farming is a traditional activity and, to some extent, the main source of income for many families;

- building a closer dialogue between science and business in the field of agriculture;

- evaluation of the effectiveness and market prospects of existing scientific developments in the agricultural sector;

- creating conditions for the investment attractiveness of the domestic agro-industrial complex;

- legislative regulation of agriculture.