Stephen K. Wegren

Food Security and Russia's 2010 Drought

An American specialist on Russias agricultural sector examines the progression and impact of that countrys 2010 drought (the worst in a half-century), leading to a grain harvest one-third smaller than originally forecast. A particular focus is on the countrys grain reserves and the governments response to drought in such areas as grain export policy and maintaining the size of the domestic livestock herd, responses which the author argues are conditioned by the drive for food security, a concept that has dominated the political discourse in tandem with resurgent economic nationalism during the post-Soviet period.

Land reform in Russia : institutional design and behavioral responses

This ambitious work is the definitive account of Russias land reform initiatives from the late 1980s to today. In Russia, a country controlling more land than any other nation, land ownership is central to structures of power, class division, and agricultural production. The aim of Russian land reform for the past thirty years--to undo the collectivization of the Soviet era and encourage public ownership--has been largely unsuccessful. To understand this failure, Stephen Wegren examines contemporary land reform policies in terms of legislation, institutional structure, and human behavior. Using extensive survey data, he analyzes household behaviors in regard to land ownership and usage based on socioeconomic status, family size, demographic distribution, and regional differences. Wegrens study is important and timely, as Russian land reform will have a profound effect on Russias ability to compete in an era of globalization.

The politics of private farming in Russia

This article seeks to explore why private farming in Russia has fared so poorly even after private farming was designated the centrepiece of Russian land reform and political capital was invested in its success. The underlying causes for the lack of success extend beyond economic and social factors. While the entire agricultural sector has been adversely affected by reform policies undertaken since 1992, private farmers have been hurt the most because they were more vulnerable. Private farmers have not been successful in defending their interests because they are politically weak, a fact that led them to seek out urban alliances whose interests differ from private farmers, and because of intra‐rural divisions that have weakened the efforts by agrarians to defend their interests.

Prospects for Managed Democracy in Russia

Abstract The 2003 Duma election resulted in the victory of the party of power, thereby strengthening managed democracy in Russia. Since then, political trends in Russias regions and rural politics provide considerable evidence of the increasing ability of pro-Kremlin forces to maximise their electoral fortunes in national contests. These political trends make it likely that United Russia will not only emerge as the dominant party in the 2007 Duma election, but will provide the Kremlin and Putins successor with a compliant lower house. The outcome is that Putins successor will find the political infrastructure to continue managed democracy.

Food security in the Russian Federation

The article analyzes food security in the Russian Federation. In the international realm, Russia is different from other countries in that it defines security through the prism of national interest. In this regard, Russian leaders have expressed concern over the volume of food imports, the dollar value of imports, and the degree to which the nation lacks self-sufficiency in certain food commodities. In the domestic realm, the evidence about food security is mixed. Food consumption and production have increased since 2000. The paper finds that poverty and food insecurity often go hand in hand. A discussion is presented about which groups in the Russian population are most food insecure. The paper also assesses state policies for their impact on food security.

Why Russia's Rural Poor Are Poor

Specialists on the Russian rural sector examine the level, extent, causes, and consequences of rural poverty in Russia. Analysis is based on survey data from person-to-person interviews of 800 rural households in five regions within Russia. The article examines structural, behavioral, and psychological factors, comparing the poor with the non-poor on each dimension.

Russian Agriculture During Putin's First Term and Beyond

An American specialist on Russian agriculture surveys developments during Putins first term in office, as well as the challenges that loom for the future. The focus is on how economic growth more broadly, and agrarian reform policy more specifically, have led to increasing agricultural output and improved financial stability of farms, with emphasis on the large-farm sector (former state and collective farms). Among the at least partially successful stabilization measures described in some detail are development of reliable sources of farm credit, debt restructuring and cancellation, greater fulfillment of state budget obligations, state intervention in grain markets, and trade protectionism. The paper also assesses the agenda for increasing Russian agricultures global competitiveness in Putins second term. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, O18, Q10. 3 tables, 61 references.

Winners and Losers in Russian Agrarian Reform

More than ten years after Russian agrarian reform was begun, it is appropriate to reflect upon winners and losers. Using survey data from 800 households in five Russian regions, this article is interested in the effect of reform within the rural sphere. The analysis focuses on four groups of rural actors within the food production sphere: private farmers, farm managers, specialists employed on state and collective farms and their juridical successors, and farm workers employed on state and collective farms and their juridical successors The first part of the article examines winners and losers using the following variables: self-perceptions about winners and losers, monthly household income, job security, and ownership of certain durable goods. We conclude that private farmers have fared best relative to other occupational groups. On large farms, managers have fared best. The second part of the article analyses why winners win by considering structural and behavioural factors. We conclude that winners win because they take advantage of reform opportunities and engage in market-based activities.

New Perspectives on Spatial Patterns of Agrarian Reform: A Comparison of Two Russian Oblasts

The author, based on field work, interviews, and examination of local and regional literature and official statistical sources, compares the experience in agrarian reform in two disparate locations—KostToma Oblast, northeast of Moscow in the Noncher-nozem Region, and Rostov Oblast on Russias Black Sea littoral in the fertile Chernozem (Black Earth) region. It examines both the reorganization of state and collective farms and the establishment of private peasant farms in the two oblasts, with particular emphasis on the latter. The sections on private farms represent an initial attempt, based on in-depth information for a limited sample population, to garner insights, at the rayon level, into factors that may be influencing regional variations in the number, size, and location of private farms across the Russian countryside. 2 maps, 6 tables, 53 references.

Observations on Russia's New Agricultural Land Legislation

An American specialist on Russian agriculture provides an in-depth examination of the pivotal Law on Turnover of Agricultural Land, enacted in 2002. He first surveys the recent, post-Soviet history of land legislation in the agricultural sector to provide a context for debates leading to the drafting of the current law, and proceeds to enumerate notable aspects of that law, covering land ownership by foreigners, size of land holdings, sale of farm land, leasing of land, distribution of land shares to members of large farm enterprises, and potential impacts on the development of a land market. The paper concludes by assessing the likely impacts of the law vis-à-vis other variants that could have been enacted. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, O18, Q10. 9 references.