Russian agricultural resources and the geography of their use in import-substitution conditions

The paper considers Russia’s main agricultural resources based on the well-known political economic labor–land–capital triad. The study concerns problems of employment in agriculture against a background of intensified spatial polarization of the countryside and analyzes the territorial redistribution of the population from the countryside to cities both in search of permanent residence and temporary work, as well as the consequences of previous crises and the transition from a labor-consuming to a labor-saving model of agricultural development. The author reveals features of agricultural land use, territorial differences in the areal sizes of abandoned lands, and the possibilities of its return in use. Structural reforms in agriculture related to multiform expansion, the appearance of farm enterprises, and the arrival of big business in agriculture are considered in detail. The investment priorities in the agroindustrial complex that have led to spatial shifts in agricultural production are revealed, and examples of agroholdings are presented. The paper concludes with the problem of food security in connection with sanctions and import substitution, with its division into security for the state and for the population, the latter in relation to worsening of the economic situation. © 2016, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.