The problem of intensification of agricultural production in peasant farms of the agricultural center of Russia in the late 19th – early 20th centuries

this article attempts to study the process of intensification of peasant farms in the Ryazan, Tula, Tambov provinces, which belong to the so-called agricultural center. Examples of drawing the peasant population of these provinces into commodity relations in the late 19th – early 20th centuries are shown. The study shows the factors that contributed to these processes. Attention is also paid to the reasons for the weak intensification of peasant farms in this region as the main factor capable of overcoming the processes of "impoverishment" - the decline of agricultural production. A comparison is made of the degree of distribution of advanced agricultural technologies, such as the use of heavy plows, perennial grass seeds, the introduction of multi-field crop rotations in landowner and peasant farms. The assertion that communal land use could not be a serious obstacle to the intensification of peasant farms is questioned. It is concluded that due to the lack of financial resources for the majority of both peasant and landowner farms, there was a characteristic weak introduction of modern agricultural technologies. Only in some large private estates with the necessary financial resources were heavy ploughs used for land cultivation and multi-field crop rotations were practiced. Among the commodity branches of agriculture in this region during the period under study, the cultivation of fruit trees, vegetable gardening, tobacco growing, and dairy farming were becoming widespread. The main reasons contributing to the intensification and overcoming of the semi-natural nature of peasant farms include the influence of some private estates successfully growing agricultural crops, the proximity of urban centers, and the availability of transport infrastructure, in particular railways.

agricultural center, intensification, commodity relations, peasant farms, landowner farms, agricultural technologies, branches of agriculture, impoverishment, ploughs, multi-field crop rotations