The evolution of agricultural cooperatives in a market economy. Basic research. Dmitry Zubov: we are not competitors - we are partners

The IV All-Russian Congress of Agricultural Cooperatives was held under this motto. The event was attended by over 360 delegates from 73 regions of Russia, as well as representatives of government, science and public organizations.

On state support and imperfection of laws

The congress of agricultural cooperatives was opened on November 10 by the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Dzhambulat Khatuov, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev.

“We are faced with the task of building an effective system of cooperatives with good profitability and the creation of new jobs. Many rural areas need support, we must strengthen the Russian village, develop its infrastructure to the level of modern requirements, ”said Dzhambulat Khatuov.

In his speech, the First Deputy Minister noted that many problems have accumulated in the agricultural cooperation system, including the imperfection of the legislative framework, as well as insufficient financial and credit resources.

Among the main topics that require joint discussion between the state and the cooperative community, Dzhambulat Khatuov outlined the regulation of the legislative framework. He said that on behalf of Alexander Tkachev, a special working group was created to improve legislation in the field of cooperation, which includes representatives of cooperative unions and associations, science, regional management bodies of the agro-industrial complex.

At the same time, he urged the participants and delegates of the Congress to take an active part in preparing proposals for improving legislation in the field of cooperation and submitting them to the discussion of the working group.

At the Congress it was noted that today agricultural cooperatives can receive almost all types of state support provided for agricultural producers. In addition, since 2015, within the framework of the State Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2013-2020, the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia has been implementing grant support for agricultural consumer cooperatives for the development of the material and technical base.

At the end of 2015-2016 238 cooperatives received grants for construction, reconstruction of production facilities, purchase of machinery and equipment, payment of a part of the contribution under leasing agreements; 1.3 billion rubles were allocated to the regions. In 2017-2020, from the federal budget (according to the passport of the State Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2013-2020), the amount to support agricultural cooperatives is planned to be increased to 1.5 billion rubles annually.

The delegates expressed the opinion that a promising direction in the development of agricultural cooperatives is their unification with processing enterprises, building an agrological chain and involving cooperatives in work with wholesale distribution centers (ORCs), the creation and development of export-oriented cooperatives.

Another important condition for the development of cooperation, Dzhambulat Khatuov called educational, informational and ideological support, which should be provided by all levels of government in an accessible form.

“It is necessary to educate the population about the advantages and possibilities of cooperatives, about support measures, and replicate the best practices for the development of cooperation,” said the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. He called for active work in this direction, spoke in favor of the need to hold training seminars, forums, the involvement of youth in the cooperative movement, as well as the creation of a positive image of cooperation in the countryside.

Dzhambulat Khatuov recalled that, on the instructions of the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Alexander Tkachev, the regions were informed of the plans-assignments for the creation of at least 1,500 agricultural cooperatives in 2016-2017, taking into account regional specifics and peculiarities.

The plenary session was chaired by Vladimir Plotnikov, President of the Association of Peasant (Farm) Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives of Russia:

“Cooperation in Russia is developing more and more, further, effective and successful development of the agro-industrial complex without the development of cooperation is impossible. The main directions were discussed at the sections yesterday. The first is connected with the development of legislation, new laws, the second - with the need to fill this sphere of activity with real financial resources. These areas need to be seriously developed. "

Chairman of the Council of AKKOR Vyacheslav Telegin made a report on state support for the development of agricultural cooperation. He analyzed the reasons that hinder the unification of peasants in cooperatives. And this is, first of all, insufficient state support and imperfection of the legislative base.

Cooperators have to solve problems with lending, double taxation issues, overcome administrative barriers, in particular, double certification of products.

AKKOR considers it extremely important to provide agricultural cooperatives with state support, which needs to be strengthened, because most cooperatives, entire areas still do not have it. It is necessary to support all types of cooperation, as they complement each other, help each other to develop, stressed Vyacheslav Telegin.

The Chairman of the AKKOR Council outlined proposals for adjusting the rules for the allocation of grant support, in particular, state support measures should be extended to newly created agricultural cooperatives.

It is necessary to change the ratio of grant funds so that funds from the federal and regional budgets in it amounted to 80%, and own funds - 20% and to increase the terms of the grant to 24 months. In addition, allow the grant funds to be used to connect cooperative facilities to the engineering infrastructure, to pay an initial payment under lease agreements, to build, reconstruct or modernize access roads to cooperative facilities.

Also, credit cooperation should be included in the State Program and provided with a decent financial resource. The delegates agreed with the proposals of the Association of Russian Farmers. At the Congress it was noted that only in close cooperation with the state it is possible to create an efficiently working system of agricultural cooperation.

It will become the most important condition for the development of farms and rural areas, improving the living standards of peasants. This, in particular, was discussed by many participants in the pre-congress interregional conferences on the development of agricultural cooperation and at the sections of the congress.

New mechanism of concessional lending

The speeches of Natalya Chernetsova, Director of the Department of Economics and State Support of the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, were awaited like manna from heaven. And this is understandable. Behind the dry numbers of the report, the delegates of the congress built their future life, relations with banks, with officials. She said:

The federal budget for 2016 for the development of small businesses (hereinafter referred to as MFH) provides 10.2 billion rubles. Agricultural producers were transferred to the accounts of federal treasuries in the constituent entities of 9.8 billion, including: to subsidize interest rates on loans - 1.7 billion, to novice farmers - 3.8 billion, family livestock farms - 3.4 billion and for the development of material the technical base of agricultural cooperatives - 845 million. The use of federal money is 99.8%, and the regional part is lame. This mainly concerns the reimbursement of a part of the interest rate on borrowed resources attracted by the MFH. From the regional part to agricultural cooperatives, peasant farms and private household plots, only ... 58% was brought.

This is one of the reasons that led to the need to revise the State Program, the structure of which drew criticism at all levels. First of all, for the impossibility of a prompt response to the changes that took place at the regional level during the year.

The current budgetary legislation limited the redistribution of funds between areas of state support, as required by life, the speaker emphasized. In order to improve the quality of money management, decisions were made that formed the basis for the new structure of the State Program.

Today the structure of the State Program includes five subprograms and two federal programs. We managed to defend target programs for sustainable development of rural areas and land reclamation. The much talked about single subsidy included 27 support measures.

In order not to be tempted to offend the MFH, the director noted, rules for the provision of subsidies have been developed, the draft of which is in the government. “We have provided for an increase in the grant for novice farmers from 1.5 to 3 million rubles, family livestock farms - from 21.6 to 30 million,” said Natalya Chernetsova.

Another innovation is that from 2017 it is planned to introduce a mechanism of concessional lending. The costs of the producer for servicing loans will be halted twice. Now he, receiving a loan from the bank, comes to the agro-industrial complex. There he may not be accepted, referring to the lack of money, and he is in a constant waiting mode: will they take an application for a refund of the interest rate or not.

And the preferential lending mechanism assumes that the borrower comes to the bank, takes a loan at 5%. Further, the relationship between the federal executive body and the bank comes into force, to which subsidies in the amount of 10% are transferred (the key rate of the Central Bank at the moment). The innovation allows you to reduce the time for processing documents.

And most importantly, in order to ensure the access of MFHs to borrowed resources, we have provided for in the rules the need to provide 20% of subsidies for loans received by MFHs, ”emphasized Natalya Chernetsova. “This will facilitate equal access to borrowed resources for both large and small borrowers. For work, 10 systemically important banks have been identified, then there will be more of them.

Why is cooperation not living up to expectations?

A report on the topic "Agricultural cooperation in Russia: obstacles and incentives" was read by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of VIAPI named after V.I. A.A. Nikonova Alexander Petrikov.

The main question that I will try to answer in my speech is as follows. Why agricultural cooperation, about the great importance of which literally everyone speaks in our country, in the development of which the majority of both producers and consumers of agricultural products are interested; for which, if not all, but the necessary legislative prerequisites have been created; although not in sufficient volume, special support measures are being implemented - why, under all these conditions, cooperation is developing slowly and does not meet our expectations ?! There are several reasons for this, both objective and subjective.

First, the academician spoke about the objective difficulties. Cooperatives develop in conditions of fierce competition, they have to literally win their place in the sun, competing with large retail chains, agricultural firms and holdings, large processing, supply and service enterprises and other market integrators holding a monopoly position in a particular market.

At the same time, potential participants in cooperation (farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises, high-value personal subsidiary plots) are territorially scattered and differ markedly in terms of production scale and economic situation. It is objectively difficult to combine them. This is superimposed on subjective difficulties, both on the part of the state and the cooperative community.

Support funds from the federal budget are directed exclusively to support individual cooperatives, and not institutions for the development of the cooperative system as a whole - financial aid funds, an information and consulting network, specialized centers for training and advanced training of cooperative personnel.

In a number of constituent entities of Russia (for example, in Lipetsk and Belgorod oblasts), this federal imbalance is smoothed out, but no more, which has extremely unfavorable consequences. There is a strong dependence of cooperatives on government support, the risks of creating false cooperatives just to “effectively” use government subsidies. The infrastructural network of self-development of the cooperative system is not being formed.

The state acts in isolation. For example, at our congress there are no representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Justice, and other departments. And without their participation, it is impossible to develop and implement an effective cooperative policy, - said the speaker.

He continued talking about the cooperative community. Unfortunately, it is still fragmented and poorly mobilized. For example, the decision of the first cooperative congress on the creation of a coordinating council (association) of various types of cooperatives has not yet been implemented.

Agricultural cooperatives did not become a unifying force for all rural cooperatives (which, incidentally, was reflected in the name of the current congress, which brought together not rural, but agricultural cooperatives).

What, in our opinion, needs to be done to overcome the listed difficulties? - continued the academician. - First of all, there is a lot of work to be done to reformat the state cooperative policy. Cooperative elements, measures to implement cooperative interests should be an integral part of not only agri-food and rural policy, but also the policy of general economic, tax, social, regional, educational, etc.

This is evidenced by the experience of the Priority national project for the development of the agro-industrial complex, when it was possible to implement not a narrow departmental, but an interdepartmental approach, a government commission worked at the federal level, and in the regions governors were responsible for cooperation.

And at present, in assessing the activities of the heads of regions, there is not a single indicator for the development of cooperation and, in general, individual indicators for the development of rural areas. Governors are responsible for the region as a whole, without breaking down into cities and villages.

Speaking purely about agricultural policy, the state needs to strengthen its antimonopoly focus and, in particular, refrain from preferences in favor of competitors of cooperative organizations. According to Alexander Petrikov, subsidized investment loans and compensation for incurred capital costs should be directed to the construction of exclusively cooperative storage facilities and cooperative wholesale and logistics centers, developed as a whole. Otherwise, the centers can become a place for transshipment of imported products.

As a result, a federal cooperative distribution and retail network should be formed, a cooperative trade brand - a worthy competitor to the existing large retail.

It is advisable to allocate part of the funds from the cooperative budget to the formation of institutions for the development of cooperation, namely, regional funds for financial support, centers for consulting and advanced training.

There is also a need to create an appropriate federal structure - the Agency for Cooperative or Rural Development in general, which would on an ongoing basis be engaged in the development and implementation of projects and programs for the sustainable development of rural areas and, above all, rural cooperatives.

Agricultural production cooperatives need special support. This is a special organizational and legal form based on the compulsory labor participation of its members. Production cooperatives keep their workers employed at times to the detriment of competitiveness, but they solve an important social problem. It is beneficial for the state to compensate for their losses, so as not to spend money on the fight against rural unemployment.

In order to strengthen the social base of cooperation, it is important to increase support for novice farmers and family livestock farms, keeping the financing of cooperatives and small forms within the framework of the State Program as a separate line. The inclusion of these areas of state support in a single subsidy will significantly increase the risk of reallocation of funds for other purposes.

The regulation of agricultural credit cooperatives should be approached in a special way. Among them there are many small ones, whose activities are so insignificant that, by definition, they do not carry any risk for the financial market. Such cooperatives are essentially savings and loan banks, and not mini-banks with rural specifics, as many people think, they should work exclusively in a self-regulatory system.

At the same time, it is impossible to replace the existing self-regulation system with a new one and insist on the transition of credit cooperatives to specialized self-regulatory organizations. This will not only cause additional, unaffordable for most cooperatives, costs, but also break the unified system of agricultural cooperation.

In conclusion, the academician spoke about the cooperative community. The time has come, he believes, to consolidate efforts. A Coordinating Council or Association, not formally, but actually uniting various types of cooperation, should be created. This will increase the efficiency of cooperative work and help protect cooperative interests.

Dmitry Zubov, Chairman of the Council of Tsentrosoyuz:

The speeches were on the case, sharp and specific. It is necessary to choose a rational path of movement, consumer cooperatives and agricultural cooperatives to consolidate. We are links in the same chain, there should be no competition between us. It is very important to work together on a unified legislation on cooperation, allowing people to unite in cooperatives and work in the countryside, to ensure food security in Russia.

Working in your field, you must become partners. Then it will work. Producers - they produce, and do not have to puzzle over how to sell what they have done. Consumer cooperation will store, process and sell products. Let this little train go.

Kamiyar Baitemirov, Chairman of the Association of Farmers and Peasant Farms of Tatarstan:

11 cooperatives have been created in the Republic. For example, the agricultural supply and marketing processing consumer cooperative "Turkey" works with farms and private subsidiary plots, has a full cycle - from hatching chicks to selling turkey meat.

One of the most acute is the unresolved land issue. It is necessary to create a commission to work with the State Duma on changing legislation. It is necessary to adjust the co-financing scheme for agricultural cooperatives: 60% should come from the federal budget, 20% - from the regional, 20% - from the agricultural consumer cooperative.

1

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Russia was the world leader in the development of cooperative forms of management and ranked first in the world in terms of the number of cooperatives and their members. This explains the birth in that period of a powerful flow of literature on cooperation. An analysis of the modern cooperative movement in our country suggests that cooperatives have at their core a significant unrealized potential and should take a more significant place in solving long-term economic problems of society as a whole. Promising directions for the stabilization and development of agricultural cooperatives should be: improving measures of state support for rural cooperatives, including support for cooperatives through the provision of land, state guarantees, tax preferences; modernization of the material and technical base of existing cooperatives; support of activities of economically significant regional programs for the development of cooperation and logistics centers; development of the federal union of agricultural cooperation; widespread popularization and dissemination of ideas of agricultural cooperation among the population, etc.

agricultural cooperation

agricultural production cooperative

agricultural consumer non-credit cooperative

agricultural consumer credit cooperative

1. Brutskus B.D. The agrarian question and agrarian policy. - SPb .: Pravo, 1922 .-- 234 p.

2. Martynov V.D. Farmer cooperation in the agro-industrial complex of the Scandinavian countries and Finland. - M .: VNIITEIagroprom, 1988 .-- 55 p.

3. Matusevich V. Farming and agricultural cooperation in the United States. - M .: Knowledge, 1991 .-- 48 p.

4. Serova E.V. Agricultural cooperation in the USSR. - M .: Agroprimizdat, 1991 .-- 160 p.

5. Yugay G.A. The Middle Way of Russia and Eurasianism // www.politology.vuzlib.org/book_o165_page_2.htm (date accessed: 13.03.13).

6. Chayanov A.V. The main ideas and forms of organizing agricultural cooperation. - M .: Nauka, 1991 .-- 456 p.

In recent years, hopes for the revival of agriculture in our country are increasingly associated with cooperation. There are reasons for this. The domestic experience of the beginning of the 20th century and the existing world practice prove that agriculture has no prospects outside of cooperation. However, the Soviet period in the development of agricultural cooperation was a period of destructive rather than constructive experiments in the field of the cooperative movement according to a previously outlined theoretical plan. The agricultural cooperation that has survived to this day has essentially lost its principles and contains only some of its minor elements. Insufficient development of agricultural cooperation in Russia at present is confirmed by many scientists and practitioners. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to study the current state of agricultural cooperatives and determine the prospects for their development.

Material and research methods

The data of the official website of AKKOR were used as an information base for the study. The study is based on the use of methods of monographic, logical analysis, as well as economic and statistical methods.

Research results and their discussion

Beginning in the second half of the 19th century, immediately after the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861, the cooperative movement rapidly gained momentum. According to S. Prokopovich's observations, over 10 years, from 1902 to 1912. the number of different partnerships has increased more than tenfold. By the beginning of 1917, the cooperative movement in Russia had a diverse, largely developed organizational network and united the broad masses of the population. At that time, Russia ranked first in the world in terms of the number of cooperatives and their members. About one and a half million peasant farms, mainly of the middle and poor strata of the countryside, were involved in cooperatives.

The opinion about the important role of the cooperative movement in the economic and social life of the country was widely accepted. N. Totomiants noted that no other social movement in Russia can compare with cooperation in terms of popularity and power. B. Brutskus wrote that the development of the cooperative movement aroused great moral satisfaction among the Russian intelligentsia, who actively participated in it, and among its broad strata - great hopes for the embodiment of future transformations of society.

G.A. Yugai already notes in modern conditions: “This is where the manifestation in life in practice of the Russian logos - the identity of matter and spirit - free, conciliar, cooperative. This is where the priority and somewhere even the primacy of spirit, ideal in relation to material being, is. And was it not this practice, life that inspired Russian writers, poets, philosophers, historians and other thinkers and figures to praise the Russian soul, its greatness and nobility! This was a continuation of the traditions of Russian culture, which was formed at the beginning of the 19th century, more on a spiritual, ideal than on a material and materialistic basis or on the philosophy of mercantilism and Western utilitarianism, consumerism. "

This explains the birth in that period of a powerful stream of literature on cooperation, which cannot in any way be compared with today. The main scientific conclusion made by another prominent scientist of that time A. Chayanov is that only cooperation of peasants can ensure the creation and development of a balanced production potential of the agrarian sector, its commercially profitable use, eliminate the contradiction between the advantages of individual labor and at the same time the advantages of large forms of production in agriculture. Moreover, the cooperative concentration turns out to be the more economically profitable, the further the sphere of agrarian activity subject to cooperation is from the direct work of the peasant with biological organisms.

In our country, these fundamental provisions have been undeservedly forgotten, the cooperation of peasant-proprietors has not become widespread enough. The Soviet period in the development of agricultural cooperation was a period of destructive rather than constructive experiments in the field of the cooperative movement. The state regulated all aspects of the activities of cooperatives, including collective farms, which actually became one of the links in the national economic system. In Soviet economic science, for many years, the problems of the cooperative movement were studied mainly from the ideological and socio-political points of view, only in connection with consumer cooperation and collective farms.

At present, the undertaken agrarian transformations, the cooperation has not yet acquired its former glory, despite the fact that the experience of foreign countries also testifies to the wide possibilities and functions of cooperation, the diversity of its forms. In many of them, cooperatives play a very significant role in the system of interconnections between the agrarian sector and related sectors of the economy. Almost one hundred percent participation in farmer cooperatives is traditional for the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Japan. In a number of continental European countries, in the United States, about 80% of all farms are united in cooperatives. Cooperatives are somewhat less widespread in Great Britain and Italy, where about 35-40% of all farms participate in them.

An analysis of the modern cooperative movement in our country suggests that cooperatives have at their core a significant unrealized potential and should take a more significant place in solving long-term economic problems of society as a whole.

Currently, the activities of cooperative formations in Russia are mainly regulated by Federal Law No. 193 "On Agricultural Cooperation" and RF Law No. 3085-1 "On Consumer Cooperation (Consumer Societies, Their Unions) in the Russian Federation".

Table 1 shows the modern structure and number of rural cooperatives as of January 1, 2012.

As follows from the table. 1, the most massive organizational form of agricultural cooperation in modern conditions is an agricultural production cooperative (SEC). SEC is a commercial organization created by citizens in order to meet their material and other needs for joint activities in the production, processing and sale of agricultural products, as well as to perform other activities not prohibited by law, based on the combination of their property share contributions and personal labor participation members of the cooperative. SPK dynamics for 1995-2012 is presented in table. 2.

Table 1

The number of agricultural cooperatives in the Russian Federation as of 01.01.2012

Cooperative type	Registered cooperatives	Incl. working
			percent
SEC (as of 01.01.2011)

As follows from the table. 2, despite the fact that the SEC is the most common form of organizing agricultural cooperative production, their number tends to decrease. In 2012, their number was 10,319, which is 33% less than in 2001. One of the main reasons explaining this trend is the fact that, according to the current classification, the SEC does not belong to “small forms of farming in the countryside,” even if they meet the criteria established for a small business entity. This deprives them of the opportunity to use a certain preferential treatment provided for small forms of farming in the countryside. They are entitled to the same forms of state support as agricultural organizations of other organizational and legal forms. Although it is more difficult for them than for other organizational forms to carry out their production activities. Most SPKs operate on leased land. There are frequent cases of predatory appropriation of the property of the SEC by individuals through their illegal transformation into various joint-stock companies, deliberate bankruptcy, and raider seizures. As a result, SEC members often remain without their property shares, without land and without work. In a real agricultural cooperative, even if it is a production cooperative, the right to a share in joint property must be unshakable. Otherwise, it will mean socialization, nationalization, elimination of the economic independence of the members of the cooperative.

table 2

Dynamics of the number of agricultural production cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 1995-2012, units

Agricultural consumer non-credit cooperatives (SPoK) - non-profit associations of citizens - owners of private household plots, peasant (farm) farms, legal entities - producers of agricultural products, created to reduce their costs or generate additional income by transferring to the cooperative the functions of selling, supplying, processing products, construction , insurance services and other activities to service members. These cooperatives are usually referred to as marketing, procurement, processing, service, or a combination of these. Building cooperatives have stood out among those serving in recent years.

According to estimates, the role of cooperatives differs significantly across the regions of the country. The development of this kind of agricultural cooperatives takes place primarily in those of them in which they are provided with a certain financial and economic support. First of all, we are talking about financing the capital expenditures of cooperatives. Since such costs are incurred once, and activities based on this are carried out over many years.

At the federal level, agricultural consumer non-credit cooperatives receive support in the form of reimbursement of part of the cost of paying interest on loans and borrowings.

Agricultural consumer cooperatives of this form are at the earliest stage of their development. The dynamics of their numbers is presented in table. 3.

As follows from the table. 3, the number of consumer non-credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 2006-2012. constantly increasing, which testifies to the prospects of this form of organizing agricultural cooperation in our country.

Table 3

Dynamics of the number of agricultural consumer non-credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 2006-2012, units

Agricultural consumer credit cooperatives (SECC) are non-profit associations of agricultural producers and rural population that issue loans to their members at the expense of funds raised from members, associate members, credit organizations and other sources.

In modern conditions, SPKK more than 6% meet the needs of small rural entrepreneurship in borrowed funds, while occupying the third place after OJSC Rosselkhozbank and OJSC Sberbank of Russia. However, the difficulties in obtaining bank loans in some cases make agricultural consumer credit cooperatives the only source of borrowed funds available to a rural resident for organizing and conducting business. The dynamics of the number of these types of cooperatives is presented in table. 4.

Table 4

Dynamics of the number of agricultural consumer credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation in 1996-2012, units

As you can see from the table. 4, the development of agricultural consumer credit cooperatives in the Russian Federation has intensified strongly since 2006. This is explained by the fact that at first SPKKs were formed mainly at the expense of their own financial resources. The conditions of their activity have changed significantly since the beginning of the implementation of the Priority National Project "Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex". In the course of the implementation of this project, SPKK gained access to loans from Rosselkhozbank, which provided a number of cooperatives with significant funds as an associate member's contribution. For example, for 2006-2009. this amount was about 710 million rubles. At present, SPKK do not receive direct financial and economic support at the federal level, which explains their uneven, spasmodic development.

Thus, the cooperative movement in the agrarian sector of the country is developing slowly and contradictory. The development of cooperative foundations is largely impeded by the insufficient and ineffective state support and state regulation of agricultural cooperation, the lack of adequate financial and economic conditions for the creation and development of cooperatives, lack of understanding and skills of economic self-government on democratic cooperative principles, cooperative illiteracy of the population, insufficient propaganda of ideas and principles of cooperation, etc. The situation is also complicated by the unresolved number of cardinal problems of the further development of a market economy, the principles of which are an indispensable condition for the development of agricultural cooperation.

Promising directions for the stabilization and development of agricultural cooperatives should be:

Improving measures of state support for rural cooperatives, including support for cooperatives through the provision of land, state guarantees, tax preferences;

Modernization of the material and technical base of existing cooperatives;

Support for activities of economically significant regional programs for the development of cooperation and logistics centers;

Development of the Federal Union of Agricultural Cooperation;

Widespread popularization and dissemination of ideas of agricultural cooperation among the population.

These and other areas should be comprehensive, have clear targets linked to specific deadlines, stages and possible resources to achieve them, combine federal and regional approaches within a single system.

Reviewers:

Polushkina TM, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Economics of Cooperation and Entrepreneurship of the Saransk Cooperative Institute (branch) of ANO VPO Tsentrsoyuz RF "Russian University of Cooperation", Saransk;

Imyarekov S.M., Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of World Economy and Management of the Saransk Cooperative Institute (branch) of ANO VPO Tsentrsoyuz RF "Russian University of Cooperation", Saransk.

The work was received on April 22, 2013.

Bibliographic reference

Maslova S.I. STATE AND PROSPECTS OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION DEVELOPMENT // Fundamental research. - 2013. - No. 6-3. - S. 704-708;
URL: http://fundamental-research.ru/ru/article/view?id=31578 (date of access: 03.24. We bring to your attention the journals published by the "Academy of Natural Sciences"

© Obedkova L.V., 2011

MANAGEMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

UDC 338.436 BBK 65.321.8

DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IN MODERN RUSSIA

L.V. Obiedkova

The role of agricultural consumer cooperatives in the implementation of the agrarian policy of the region as part of the agro-industrial complex of Russia is considered. The practice of managing cooperative forms of organizing agricultural production in the Volgograd region is shown. It is noted that the priority national project "Development of the agro-industrial complex" and the State program "Development of agriculture and regulation of markets for agricultural products, raw materials and food for 2008-2012" gave impetus to the revival of agricultural consumer cooperation - supply and marketing, processing and credit.

Key words: organizational forms, cooperative forms, national project, agro-industrial complex, agricultural consumer cooperation, agricultural consumer cooperative.

The transition from the administrative-planned economy to the market one for the Russian cooperation was difficult and contradictory. We have to admit the fact that the potential of the cooperative sector in Russia in recent years can hardly be called fully or at least to a large extent revealed. “If in the rest of the world cooperation is one of the constituent parts of the economic system, where it fills a niche prepared for it, serving certain segments of the population who have a need to enter the market, but who cannot do this.

If we do not interact with other carriers of the same needs, then in our country cooperation either disappears from social and economic life, or is declared a panacea for all ills. " However, despite this circumstance, cooperation continues to act as a unifying force in Russian society, primarily in the agrarian sphere.

In recent years, significant changes have occurred in the agro-industrial complex (AIC) of Russia, associated with both the reform of property relations and the reorganization of agricultural, processing and service enterprises. This gave rise to not only a number of new economic processes and phenomena, but also forced to perceive in a different way the traditional for the economy of the Soviet era.

period economic forms. Agricultural cooperation remains one of these traditional forms of management in the agricultural sector. At present, the theorists and practitioners of the cooperative movement continue to discuss the process of modeling the organizational forms of the modern system of agricultural cooperation. In general, this process proceeds from the following methodological principles: the adequacy of cooperative activity to the nature and basic values ​​of cooperation, adaptation of cooperation to the external environment, the use of cooperative advantages and the application of an innovative approach.

The essence of the principle of the adequacy of cooperative activity to nature and the basic values ​​of cooperation means for agricultural cooperation, first of all, an orientation towards its own capabilities inherent in it, based on its traditional values. It is not only about economic or material values, but also about moral and spiritual values. They play a significant role in the life of the cooperative and show a special ideological connection with its economic mechanism. The documents of the International Cooperative Alliance indicate that the main values ​​of cooperation in the third millennium are: cooperative ethics and business competence; democracy in government; flexibility and competitiveness; promoting a person and his needs in the first place, not benefits. The history of our country in the early 90s. XX century showed that the rejection of "their spiritual roots" led to the elimination of various forms of cooperation.

The second principle is the principle of adaptation. For agricultural cooperation, it presupposes adaptation to various conditions of economic activity. If we turn to the origins of cooperation abroad and in Russia, then historical experience shows that it owes its origin precisely to the unfavorable socio-economic situation in society and the state. A feature of cooperation is that neither the form of ownership nor the ideals of cooperation are created once and for all, therefore, the uniqueness of the cooperative

new form of management consists in its constant adaptation to the dominant forms of ownership and to cooperation with them. The question of choosing the organizational form of an agricultural cooperative in our country arises whenever the economic and socio-political environment in which they exist changes. For example, in the period of the command-administrative economy, these are collective and state farms. In modern conditions, this is an agricultural production cooperation. In addition, the principle of adaptation of cooperative structures to the modern socio-economic environment is a kind of "protective process", which is able, while maintaining its values, to assimilate the rational elements of other organizational forms of the market economy, for example, agricultural firms, agricultural holdings and other integrated formations.

The third methodological principle is based on the use of cooperative advantages. Traditionally, the competitive advantages of agricultural cooperation include: the implementation of a communication role in rural areas, the presence of its own socio-economic base, the diversified nature of activities contributing to the creation of an integrated economy, the presence of its own infrastructure at the local and regional levels that has been preserved since Soviet times.

The content of the principle of applying the innovative approach is that agricultural cooperation is characterized by a constant search for new solutions and options for applying this form of management to the needs of the rural population. This approach is primarily associated with the creation of an effective system of professional management in its very lowest level - an agricultural cooperative. In the world theory and practice of managing cooperative production, the main methods for solving this problem in the concept of "agency relations" have already been formulated. The responsible person (employer) hires an agent and uses his abilities and knowledge to obtain the results he wants. So, in an agricultural consumer cooperative, shareholders act as

as employers, and executive managers and board members as agents. Therefore, the main difficulty faced by a modern agricultural cooperative is the delineation of the functions of social and professional management. Public administration bodies are mainly assigned legislative and control functions, and professional administration bodies - entrepreneurial functions. In our opinion, an effective management system for an agricultural cooperative, in addition to separating the functions of public and professional management, should include organizational, economic, technological and social directions in the work of the cooperative. The organizational and economic direction means the determination of the optimal structure of production, the choice of the organizational structure, the introduction of business planning techniques, etc. The technological direction is associated with increasing the efficiency of land use, as well as fixed and circulating assets, with the introduction of resource-saving technologies, ensuring the competitiveness of products, etc. The social direction, among other tasks, deals with the improvement of the social infrastructure of the village, for example, solves the problem of unemployment.

The focus of modern agricultural cooperation is not only the principles of building organizational forms of the cooperative, but also the formation of an effective mechanism for the distribution of agricultural products. This is due to the fact that Russian market reforms in the agricultural sector have caused significant and deep structural changes in the system of production and bringing agricultural products to the consumer. The most viable were large agro-industrial enterprises (associations) that are engaged in the production, storage, processing, transportation and sale of finished products. In addition, there has been a change in the marketing channels for agricultural products. If in the pre-reform period the main buyers of agricultural products were state structures

tours - processing, procurement and trading enterprises and organizations, now there are new distribution channels. This is, first of all, the sale of products on the market, through our own trade network, including through resellers of agricultural products. This kind of restructuring of the economic mechanism led to a change in the system of relations between producers and consumers of agricultural products. The undoubted fact is that such agro-industrial enterprises as agrofirms will remain the leader in the agrarian sector. However, the functioning of agricultural enterprises based on personal interest and private property does not deny their joint activities,

on the contrary, it presupposes its necessity and expediency. In this regard, it is legitimate to say that one of the most effective ways of "survival" for agricultural producers is cooperation in various forms of its manifestation - agricultural, consumer, marketing, credit, etc.

Therefore, in modern conditions, the goal of agricultural cooperatives as socially oriented forms of management is to optimally combine the economic interests of all its participants with an increase in the efficiency of production and sale of agricultural products. Achievement of this goal is ensured by solving such problems as the purchase of agricultural machinery and tools, mineral fertilizers and seeds; repair, maintenance of equipment, performance of a certain type of work requiring special equipment; organization of nurseries, research and demonstration fields, breeding farms and entire farms; organization of a cheap loan for production purposes; provision of advisory and information services, etc. The main result of solving these problems is the linking into a single technical and economic chain of production, processing and sale of agricultural products.

However, a paradoxical situation is emerging - there is experience, motivation and material and technical base for the development of agricultural cooperatives, but the model, structure

tours, directions and procedures for their creation have not been sufficiently worked out. The overwhelming majority of the population does not perceive cooperative organizations as more attractive and alternative to other organizational and legal forms of business. Similar views on cooperative economic structures were formed under the influence of such Soviet forms of cooperation as the former collective and state farms. The formal privatization processes carried out in most of them do not facilitate their participation in the development of cooperation. It is the differentiation that has arisen that enhances the desire of agricultural producers to protect their living conditions, promotes their self-organization and creates the basis for the formation of an organizational structure that would not allow the exclusion and exclusion of this group of people from participation in the socio-economic life of society. Therefore, speaking about the problems of adaptation of an agricultural producer to market conditions, it should be emphasized again that the development of agricultural cooperation in the current conditions is an effective direction for both the development of production and marketing of agricultural products, and the development of the agricultural sector as a whole. Currently, of all forms of agricultural cooperatives, trade-procurement, supply-marketing and processing cooperatives have the most significant impact on the growth of production and sale of agricultural products and, as a consequence, on the organization and stable functioning of the domestic food market.

The next rise of agricultural cooperatives became especially noticeable after the entry into force of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 N ° 264-ФЗ "On the development of agriculture", as well as during the implementation of the priority national project "Development of the agro-industrial complex" and the State program "Development of agriculture and regulation of markets for agricultural products, raw materials and food for 2008-2012 ”. Despite the presence of such negative phenomena as the active promotion of industrial and commercial capital in the agricultural sector, a decrease in the number of production cooperatives

tiv, including in land use, the first achievements in this area convincingly testify to the preservation of the Russian agricultural cooperative movement. Thus, according to Rosstat data, as of January 1, 2008, there were 5.6 thousand agricultural consumer cooperatives in the country, including: credit - 1,634, processing - 880, procurement and supply and marketing - 1,974. In recent years, financial support for agricultural consumer cooperatives has also significantly increased. Thus, JSC Rosselkhozbank, which is the main creditor of these associations, allocated 6 billion rubles to help them, including: credit cooperatives - 1,352 million rubles, processing, purchasing and sales and service - 3,977 million rubles. The Fund for the Development of Rural Credit Cooperatives made a significant contribution to financial support for agricultural cooperatives, which provided loans to cooperatives in the amount of over 8 billion rubles. ... Among others, the republics of Mordovia and Chuvashia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Volgograd, Belgorod, Kaluga, Penza regions continue to occupy the leading positions in the creation of agricultural cooperatives. This is evidenced by at least the fact that personal subsidiary and peasant (farmer) households began to be involved in the sphere of agricultural consumer cooperatives, and in a number of regions an attempt is being made to create agricultural consumer cooperatives on the basis of privatized processing enterprises.

As the practice of developing cooperative forms of management in the Volgograd region has shown, as of January 1, 2010, 216 agricultural consumer cooperatives were created in the region. So, in the Mikhailovsky municipal district of the Volgograd region, 18 agricultural cooperatives have been created. In addition, within the framework of the project for the intensive development of small-scale production of the municipality in the Mikhailovsky district, it is planned to create in 2011 in the Bezymyansky rural settlement as a pilot project 8 family dairy farms with 100 cows each and one milk processing cooperative.

It is here that commercial milk production is most developed in personal subsidiary plots and conditions have been created for the implementation of the federal program "Family Dairy Farms", in particular, there is an unemployed population ready to create family farms, there are the necessary pastures and farms ready to produce grain fodder and other fodder. Also, the specified project involves the organization of a business incubator on the basis of the Troitsky agricultural consumer service cooperative (SPOK) to train cooperators in supplying, procurement and processing activities.

In the Chernyshkovsky district of the Volgograd region, in the course of the implementation of the priority national project "Development of the agro-industrial complex", a serving consumer agricultural cooperative "Victoria-Agro" was created. It included 11 farms, 11 private household plots and 3 legal entities. For them, the cooperative has become the "main assistant" in the implementation of technical and technological modernization. In the Surovikinsky district of the Volgograd region, 37 farms have created an agricultural marketing and supply cooperative "AKKOR". As a result, the members of the cooperative had the opportunity not only to share machinery and equipment, but also to introduce intensive technologies for growing agricultural products.

In the Bykovskiy district of the Volgograd region, agricultural cooperatives are represented by agricultural consumer cooperatives Prostor and Zarya, which are actually the only “city-forming enterprises” in the countryside. They are engaged in providing personal family subsidiary plots with fuel, fertilizers, seeds, fodder, etc., and also provide production services. So, the cooperative "Prostor" included 25 personal family subsidiary farms, each member of the cooperative contributed his property share, which they got when leaving the state farm "Krasnoselsky" in the process of its reform. SPOK "Zarya" is organized on the basis of four pigsties, it provides not only the organization of services for the provision of shareholders

breeding pigs for rearing and fattening with the subsequent harvesting and sale of pigs through various channels, but also buys grain from farmers-shareholders and makes compound feed from it.

The importance of the development of agricultural cooperatives for the agricultural sector is also evidenced by the foreign experience of many countries with developed market economies. They function most effectively in Sweden, Italy, France, Denmark, Germany, etc. Moreover, the specificity of the cooperative form is so great that, for example, in the French legal system, in which societies are divided into civil and commercial, agricultural cooperatives do not belong to those nor to others. The main goal uniting marketing consumer cooperatives abroad is to ensure the protection of the interests of farmers in the national production and sale of agricultural products, especially those that do not withstand price competition with imported similar products. The practice of the cooperative movement in Russia only partially uses the accumulated cooperative experience of developed countries. One of the promising areas for the development of agricultural cooperation in rural areas is serving cooperatives to assist the participants in the cooperation in purchasing fuel, seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, equipment, and obtaining loans. It is also necessary to note the integrated development of pilot rural settlements, and the increase in the territorial availability of goods to rural residents by stimulating development through the system of consumer cooperation and the private sector in rural settlements, small retail trade enterprises, and the creation of a system of state information support, information and consulting services, and measures to promote the marketing of agricultural products through the creation of a trade and logistics system on a cooperative basis.

The synergistic effect arising in cooperative structures provides not only an increase in labor productivity, a decrease in production costs, an increase in the financial stability of an enterprise, but also contributes to the development of rural areas, an increase in the employment of labor resources in the countryside, the preservation and

updating the material and technical base of the agro-industrial complex. So, according to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, the share of agricultural cooperatives among all agricultural producers is more than 45% in 2009. Consequently, modern world practice and the accumulated Russian experience of recent history indicate that the further development of agriculture will largely be determined by the use of the advantages of cooperation, and the most acceptable way to solve the problems of servicing family farms and small agricultural enterprises is to create agricultural cooperatives.

The reviving Russian agricultural cooperation in modern conditions is not just a type of production or a form of management, but an economically justified ideology of the survival of an agricultural producer in the harsh conditions of a market economy and globalization of the economic space.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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tsiferova // International Agricultural Journal. - 2009. - No. 3. - S. 18-20.

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AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION DEVELOPMENT IN MODERN RUSSIA

The author discusses the role of agricultural consumers ’cooperative society as part of the agroindustrial complex in Russia and shows its realization in the agrarian policy of Volgograd region in terms of managing co-operative organizational forms of agrarian production. It is marked that a revival of agricultural consumers' cooperation - purchase-sale, processing and crediting ones - has been given by implementing the priority national project "The development of the AIC" and the State program "The 2008-2012 development of agriculture and regulation of markets of agricultural produce, raw stuffs and food ".

Key words: organizational form, co-operative forms, national project, agro-industrial complex, agricultural consumers 'cooperation, agricultural consumers' cooperative.

On May 21, a conference call was held at the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia on the coordination of activities and tasks facing regional centers of competence in the field of agricultural cooperation.

The meeting was attended by Vladimir Svezhenets, Director of the Rural Development Department, Alexander Braverman, General Director - Chairman of the Management Board of SME Corporation, representatives of regional governing bodies of the agro-industrial complex, Rosagroleasing JSC, Rosselkhozbank JSC, as well as cooperative unions and associations.

Vladimir Svezhenets said that the Russian Ministry of Agriculture is systematically working to develop agricultural cooperation, regularly developing new support mechanisms and stimulating an increase in funds for these purposes.

The director of the department recalled that today the maximum grant for agricultural cooperatives is 70 million rubles, of which 60% are funds from the federal and regional budgets, 40% are the cooperative's own funds.

In 2017, 1.5 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget for grant support to cooperatives. As a result, 174 cooperatives in 61 regions received support, the average grant amount was 10.7 million rubles. (In 2016, 900 million rubles were allocated from the federal budget; 164 cooperatives in 44 regions received grants, the average amount of state support was 7.5 million rubles).

“Interest in the development of agricultural cooperation is growing from year to year. Today we are presenting to the regions a joint product of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, JSC SME Corporation, JSC Rosagroleasing, JSC Rosselkhozbank, which will make it possible to develop agricultural cooperation more efficiently. The task of the regions is to understand this in detail and bring the information to every farmer, ”said Vladimir Svezhenets.

Alexander Braverman spoke about the complex of support measures for agricultural cooperatives and farmers-members of cooperatives.

According to him, since 2016, SME Corporation JSC, together with the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, has been implementing a priority project "Small Business and Support for Individual Entrepreneurial Initiatives" in terms of the development of agricultural cooperation in the regions of Russia.

Within the framework of the priority project Small Business and Support for Individual Entrepreneurial Initiatives, JSC SME Corporation jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia developed recommendations for the development of state programs (subprograms) for the development of agricultural cooperation based on the best regional practices. At the same time, within the framework of the priority project, work is being carried out to identify regional centers of competence, for this purpose, SME Corporation JSC has developed Methodological Recommendations for defining the regulation on a competence center in the field of agricultural cooperation.

Currently, 36 competence centers have been identified in the regions.

“Centers of competence in the development of agricultural cooperation at the regional level will be key infrastructure facilities for the development of this area. Their main task is information, consulting and methodological assistance to cooperatives and peasant (farmer) households, accompanying them in the preparation of business plans and feasibility studies, applications for subsidies from the federal and regional budgets, organizing and conducting seminars and sessions; consulting on the use of the services of the Business Navigator Portal, developed by the SME Corporation, and much more, ”said Alexander Braverman.

The General Director of the SME Corporation JSC recommended that the regions accelerate the development of programs and promptly bring them to direct consumers.

It is assumed that the centers of competence will provide effective (multilevel) support and development of the agricultural cooperation system.
In addition, the centers will make it possible to systematize the work on the development of agricultural cooperation, and will also contribute to an increase in the number of small and medium-sized businesses interested in creating agricultural cooperatives.

Representatives of the regions reported on the readiness of the centers, and also talked about the problems and advantages of this area.

INTRODUCTION The term "agricultural cooperation" is increasingly found in the agricultural sector, in agricultural literature, on newspaper strips. This phenomenon is almost unfamiliar to modern man, which negatively affected the development of all agriculture. This happened against the background of the large-scale development of agricultural cooperation in the leading countries of the world with intensive highly developed agricultural technologies.

Over the years of market transformations, peasant farms, personal subsidiary plots, which, nevertheless, constitute the individual-family sector of agriculture, as well as small agricultural organizations, have become an integral part of the diversified rural economy and the national economy as a whole.

There are 261.4 thousand peasant (farmer) farms in the country (total land area 19200.4 thousand hectares, on average 73 hectares per farm); 16.0 million personal subsidiary plots (7014 thousand hectares; 0.44 hectares); 14.5 million families are engaged in gardening (1259 thousand hectares, 0.09 hectares), 4.3 million families in gardening (408 thousand hectares, 0.10 hectares), 19.3 thousand small agricultural organizations (in them employs 203 thousand workers).

In the future, the socio-economic role of the individual-family sector (first of all, peasant (farm) households and high-value personal subsidiary plots) is increasing, especially in filling local and regional agri-food markets, in the production of "ecological agriculture", in the provision of public goods (conservation rural settlement, rural lifestyle and culture; meeting recreational needs; ensuring social control over the territory).

As a result of the reform of large and medium-sized insolvent agricultural enterprises, a significant part of their land, material, technical and labor resources will move to small enterprises, peasant (farmer) and high-value personal subsidiary plots.

Currently, the production and social potential of farms and other small forms of farming is not used effectively enough. Farm owners, rural entrepreneurs are experiencing a number of significant legal, economic and social problems. As the world and domestic experience shows, the most acceptable way to solve the problems of servicing individual family farms and small agricultural enterprises is the creation of consumer cooperatives by agricultural producers.

In this work, I would like to consider:

1. What is a "consumer cooperative"

2. Identify the problems that hinder the development of agricultural consumer cooperation.

3. And the role of the state in supporting consumer cooperatives.

1 .Basic concepts of agricultural consumer cooperation

This paper uses the definitions of the concepts given in the current Federal Law "On Agricultural Cooperation". Here are a few concepts necessary for this work:

Agricultural cooperation- the system of agricultural production and agricultural consumer cooperatives and their unions;

Agricultural cooperative- an organization created by agricultural producers and (or) citizens leading personal subsidiary plots on the basis of voluntary membership for joint production or other economic activities based on the combination of their property shares in order to meet the material and other needs of the members of the cooperative. An agricultural cooperative (hereinafter also referred to as a cooperative) may be created in the form of an agricultural production cooperative (hereinafter also referred to as a production cooperative) or an agricultural consumer cooperative (hereinafter also referred to as a consumer cooperative);

Cooperative member- an individual or legal entity taking personal labor participation in the activities of a production cooperative or an individual or legal entity taking part in the economic activities of a consumer cooperative, who meet the requirements of this Federal Law and the charter of the cooperative, who have made a share contribution in the amount and procedure established by the charter of the cooperative, accepted into the cooperative with the right to vote and those bearing subsidiary liability for the obligations of the cooperative;

Associate member of the cooperative- an individual or legal entity that has made a share contribution for which it receives dividends, bears the risk of losses associated with the activities of the cooperative, within the value of its share contribution and has the right to vote in the cooperative, subject to the restrictions established by this Federal Law and the charter of the cooperative;

Share contribution of a member of the cooperative - property contribution of a member of a cooperative or an associate member of a cooperative to the cooperative's mutual fund in money, land plots, land and property shares, or other property or property rights that have a monetary value. The share contribution of a member of the cooperative can be mandatory and additional;

Mandatory share contribution- the share contribution of a member of the cooperative, which is obligatory and gives the right to vote and the right to participate in the activities of the cooperative, to use its services and benefits provided for by the charter of the cooperative, and to receive relying cooperative payments;

Additional share- the share contribution of a member of the cooperative, which he makes at his own request in excess of the mandatory share contribution, according to which he receives dividends in the amount and in the manner provided for by this Federal Law and the charter of the cooperative;

Share- part of the property of the cooperative, reflecting the amount of participation of the member of the cooperative or associate member of the cooperative in the formation of the property of the cooperative and accounted for in value terms. The share of a member of the cooperative consists of his share contribution and the incremental share. The share of an associate member of the cooperative is equal to his share contribution;

The indivisible fund of the cooperative- part of the property of the cooperative, which during the existence of the cooperative is not subject to division into shares of members of the cooperative and associate members of the cooperative or payment upon termination of their membership in the cooperative and used for the purposes determined by the charter of the cooperative;

In world practice, there are two types of agricultural cooperatives: consumer cooperatives and production cooperatives.

Consumer cooperative a voluntary association of citizens and legal entities on the basis of membership is recognized for the purpose of satisfying the material and other needs of the participants, carried out by combining property shares by its members. Agricultural consumer cooperatives - non-profit organizations of citizens- owners of peasant (farm) farms, personal subsidiary plots, legal entities - producers of agricultural products to reduce costs or generate additional income by transferring to the cooperative the functions of selling, supplying, processing products and other activities for servicing participants.

To implement the functions transferred to the cooperative, its members form a mutual fund at the expense of monetary and other contributions. The property of the cooperative is its property. The members of the cooperative conduct independent activities in the production of agricultural products within their farms, using the services of the cooperative. The activities of the cooperative are carried out in the interests of its members, the income from the activities of the cooperative is distributed among its members. To maintain the staff of employees, to strengthen its material and technical base, members of the cooperative make annual membership fees. A consumer cooperative can also serve any farms whose owners are not members of the cooperative. The profit received from this type of activity is the property of the cooperative and is subject to taxation in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The characteristic features (principles) of cooperative forms of activity are:

Voluntary membership based on economic interest, awareness by business entities of the need and profitability of the association;

Self-management, economic and administrative independence of the enterprise, which implies functioning at its own peril and risk in the interests of its members (shareholders);

Equality of the members of the cooperative among themselves on the principle of "one member - one vote";

Subordination of the elected bodies of the cooperative to its members and the construction of an organizational system of cooperation according to the "bottom up" principle;

Association by members of the cooperative on a voluntary basis, financial and material resources necessary for the functioning of a joint venture through participation in the formation of share capital, the creation of common funds, self-financing, material responsibility;

The direct participation of members of the cooperative in its operations, the distribution of the income received is proportional to this participation, and not to the size of the share capital.

The main goal of the activity a cooperative enterprise or organization - not profit maximization, but serving the economic interests of the united commodity producers, achieving certain benefits for their members (including increasing the profitability of farms).

The main differences between agricultural production and consumer cooperatives, recorded in Russian legislation, are presented in table. one.