Agricultural land is a strategic resource of the state

Agricultural land (SC) is the basis for the production of basic types of food, animal feed and raw materials for individual industries. Therefore, for them a special regime of use is established, designed to provide protection, raising the level of fertility, as well as preventing their withdrawal from circulation.

Types of land

The legislator in the Land Code of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law "On the circulation of agricultural land" No. 101-FZ allocates the following types of lands in the territories designated for agriculture:

1. Agricultural land is a land of high value, having priority for the state and subject to special protection. They are a means for the production of basic types of food. In addition, these areas are allocated particularly valuable and productive areas, which provide an additional degree of protection.

2. Non-agricultural ( servicing ) lands - areas on the surface of which objects ( natural, artificial ) are used, used for agriculture and maintenance of surrounding lands.

Accordingly, the GCN regions can be simple and complex. In the first case, they consist of one type of territories that can have equal or heterogeneous quality and degree of use. And complex, in turn, consists of both agricultural and "serving" land in a different percentage.

According to the National Land Fund, the area of agricultural land in Russia is 195.6 million hectares, and the territory for servicing the land is 207.6 million hectares.

The concept of agricultural land

According to the "List of Land Accounting Terminology" approved by the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR on July 21, 1970, the agricultural land is a land used in agriculture as the main means of production: arable land, fallow land, perennial plantations ( without forest area ), hayfields And pastures ( without reindeer ). They are a means of production and are heterogeneous in their structure, quality and area.

This term reflects the features of the functional use of the territory, due to its natural properties ( soil, terrain ) and the availability on it of the resources required to conduct a certain type of activity. Using this term, clarify the legal regime of specific sites.

Structure and features of the sites

In Art. 79 CC RF clearly defines the structure of agricultural land ( arable land, hayfields, pastures, perennial plantations ). In the Decrees of the Federal State Statistics Service No. 104 of December 20, 2007 ( paragraph 41 ) and No. 95 of November 30, 2005 ( clauses 12.5-12.1 1), the following provisions were made:

1. Arable land is an agricultural land that is systematically processed and used for sowing food crops (cereals, vegetables, oilseeds, perennial grasses, etc.), as well as for accommodation of greenhouses, greenhouses , and vapors. The latter include:

• Clean ( black ) - the area, plowed fall last year under the winter crops of the current year.
• The wings are areas where high-stalked crops were planted to trap snow in winter and combat soil erosion.
• Sederal - the territory with sown beans, which in future will be processed into green fertilizer.

2. Hay mowing is an agricultural site, systematically used for haymaking ( harvesting forage grasses ).

3. Pasture - a site on which grazing ( pasture ) of animals is regularly carried out.

4. Perennial plantations - a site occupied by artificial plantings of shrubs, fruit trees and grasses intended for harvesting fruits, berries, medicinal herbs and technical products.

In practice, these types of land are allocated as a deposit. These are agricultural lands that were previously used as arable land, but left unseasoned for more than 1 year and are not prepared for steam.

It is also often suggested that the notion of "inconvenient lands" - sections of dry wells, unsuitable for normal farming or requiring restoration ( solonchak, solonetz, washed-out, stony lands, etc. ) be included in the list. Moreover, the territory of agricultural lands may become unusable as a result of natural factors ( erosion, landslides, water logging, etc. ), human actions ( excessive use ) or man-made disasters.

The concept and types of non-agricultural land

Non-agricultural lands are land plots whose surface is the basis for the placement of certain objects intended for agriculture ( maintenance of territories, protection, etc. ).

Types of land of this type are listed in Art. 77 of the RF LC. This list includes:

1. Lands occupied by tree and shrub vegetation, necessary to protect the sites from adverse events. In this case plantations do not belong to the forest fund and completely belong to the owner, who can dispose of them at his discretion ( cutting down ). According to the National Land Fund, the area of land with woody and shrub plantings of protective type is 19 million hectares.

2. Sites with enclosed water bodies located on them. By the latter means ponds, wetlands (not swamps) and watered quarries, which, according to Part 2 of Art. 8 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation, are not state property. As of 2016, the area of land under closed water bodies reached 13 million hectares.

3. Lands on which in-farm roads and communications for agriculture pass ( meliorative systems, irrigation pipes, etc. ). It is worth noting that under the roads means rustic ( unauthorized, self-wounded ) trails and ruts that do not belong to the Russian Federation, the region or the municipal formation. The areas under the roads across Russia occupy an area of 2.3 million hectares.

4. Land plots with buildings and facilities used for processing ( primary ), production and storage of agricultural products ( mills, warehouses, dairy stores, etc. ).

Non-agricultural lands are a compound object, where the earth is the main thing, and various objects - accessories.

Agricultural land as an object

Often, in legislation, the site is considered as an independent object of ownership or used as a synonym for the land plot. For example, Art. 58 of the LC RF refers to agricultural land, deer pastures that are owned by citizens or organizations, and in paragraph 2 of Art. 4 of Law No. 101-FZ "plot" replaces the concept of "plot".

However, such substitution is fundamentally wrong and even dangerous for the statistical calculation of the territories of the SCH land in Russia and the definition of their structure. It should be understood that the "site" does not have individual boundaries and is not taken into account in the state cadastre as an independent object. In civil circulation ( buying and selling, renting, etc. ), it can participate only in the composition of a certain section.

Limitations in civil circulation of the sites

Turnover of UCN sites is carried out according to the rules of civil and land legislation and takes into account the current restrictions. The latter are understood as prohibitions or conditions established by the NPA, which restrict the rightholders in the process of owning or disposing of the site of the Union of Artists.

Federal Law No. 101-FZ provides for the following restrictions:

1. Prohibition to foreigners ( individuals, organizations with foreign participation in more than 50% ) to acquire agricultural land. In this case, the rent of land in unlimited quantities is not prohibited in any way.

2. Impossibility to change the purpose without statutory grounds. The use of agricultural land without the purpose of conducting relevant activities is unacceptable.

3. Establishment of the maximum size of the SCH sites that can be owned by one person or organization. Specific indicators are determined at the level of the region in the range from 10% to 90% of the total area of land in a particular municipality.

4. The pre-emptive right of the subject and the administrative district for the acquisition of the site of SHC in case of its sale.

Restrictions in turnover are due to the fact that agricultural territories are strategic objects that ensure the country's food security. The obstacle to free circulation of land is in the legislation of almost all countries, and in the Russian Federation they are quite soft. For example, in Denmark, organizations do not have the right to purchase or lease land, and purchasers-individuals should live in rural areas for at least 8 years.