The largest landowner in Russia, according to the 2019 rating, which was published in May, for the first time became the Miratorg company. In total, the consulting company BEFL counted 44 holdings in the country that manage land in excess of 100 thousand hectares, and another 12 agricultural enterprises with 100 thousand hectares.

The top five are especially impressive, in relation to which the word “most” is used many times (see infographic). Miratorg is the largest producer of beef and pork in the Russian Federation, Prodimex - sugar, EkoNiva - milk. Other prizes went to Rusagro and Agrokompleks. And the co-owners of the three holdings - Vadim Moshkovich, Alexander and Victor Linnik, Igor Khudokormov- are included in the Forbes ranking as the richest agricultural businessmen.

Who has the most pigs in Russia?

Latifundia, uniting many former collective and state farms, began to take shape in Russia about 15 years ago, when agriculture began to turn into profitable business. Huge fields and pastures lay desolate. To bring them back to life, money was needed. The farmers themselves had no money. But people who extracted oil and ore, managed banks, and imported food had them. It is not surprising that in the end it was they who collected the largest plots, buying shares of former collective farmers and entire agricultural firms.

The Linnik twin brothers became rich by supplying meat from Holland and Brazil. Igor Khudokormov and Vadim Moshkovich climbed on Ukrainian sugar. Among the other largest latifundists in Russia is the Volgo-Don Agroinvest holding, created by the former first vice president of Lukoil. Sergei Kukura, and the Steppe company, owned by the billionaire AFK Sistema Vladimir Evtushenkov.

If you study family ties founders of other agricultural giants, you will find high-level officials. The most famous example is “Agrocomplex named after. N.I. Tkacheva", which first entered the top 10 of the BEFL rating in the years when its founder Alexander Tkachev worked as a minister Agriculture RF. The land bank of this Kuban company (that is, all land acquired as property or lease) grew 1.4 times from 2016 to 2018. The acquisitions were made with loans received from the largest state-owned banks.

At the same time, other agricultural oligarchs are also rapidly expanding their holdings. BEFL estimates that the amount of agricultural land held legal entities, from 2012 to 2018 grew by 38%. During these years, the government was actively engaged in reducing imports and increasing food exports. Purchases of most products from European countries that announced anti-Russian sanctions were prohibited, and state support for domestic producers was strengthened. And the first in line for subsidies and soft loans were large companies. By 2012-2014 they have already managed to get the most best lands and build their own processing plants. Who else to help if not the strongest and most experienced if you need quick results?

For Miratorg, the Bryansk Regional Duma even specifically changed the local law, which allowed one company to own no more than 35% of the land in one administrative district. The norm was raised to 50%. Now Linnikov has the largest herd of black Aberdeen bulls in the world, 629 thousand heads, and the largest number of pigs in Russia.

Russified foreigners

The story of a German Stefan Duerr- generally a plot for a movie. 30 years ago, he came to a student internship at a collective farm near Moscow, where he worked as a pig inseminator. Married a Russian girl. And in the end, having sold his farm in Germany, he bought the first 5,000 hectares near Voronezh, Kursk and Orenburg through the Russian “daughter” of his foreign company. Russian legislation prohibits foreigners from owning land. But various legal schemes make it possible to bypass this restriction. And among the 56 largest agricultural holdings in the BEFL rating, at least 4 are of foreign origin: Kazakhstan, France, Turkey, and the USA.

But the company, founded by an enterprising German, is now purely Russian. Former Voronezh governor and current Deputy Prime Minister for Agriculture Alexey Gordeev personally asked Vladimir Putin grant Stefan Duerr Russian citizenship. And after the presidential decree was issued in December 2013, the business of the EkoNiva company went forward by leaps and bounds.

Costs of gigantism

Big bet results domestic business- on the shelves. Russia has completely stopped importing raw beet sugar, and its dependence on overseas meat has sharply decreased. But experts also see the other side of success: the cost of production in agricultural holdings is too high. If borders are reopened to imports, our pork, beef, milk and even sugar will be uncompetitive.

“The question arises: at what price did large companies feed the country? - asks Director of the Center for Agricultural Policy of RANEPA Natalya Shagaida. - They received huge subsidies, and the prices that buyers pay for their products are higher than if the same products were imported. It turns out that the growth of diversified holdings is paid for by all consumers and taxpayers in the country. It's not fair. Create special conditions for companies with high production costs it is only possible temporarily. And during this time they must learn to produce competitive products.

Other countries are trying to prevent such a high concentration of land among several dozen owners, as happened in Russia. This is believed to hinder the development of small agribusinesses - the basis of sustainable agriculture. In the USA and the European Union, government subsidies are deliberately limited to large farms. And Russian experience shows: industries in which the share of farm production is high are the most competitive. In 2016, for example, farmers provided 29% of the grain harvest and 32% of the sunflower harvest versus 23% and 31.4% for holdings. And Russia is the leader in the export of these products.

At the same time, sooner or later the latifund companies will stop developing, continues Natalya Shagaida. “They will not be able to reach the level of the leaders of the global agro-industrial complex, who process agricultural raw materials, and outsource production to independent agricultural firms and farmers. It is too difficult to effectively manage a huge economy, including factories and hundreds of thousands of hectares of land.”

The ten largest private landowners in the United States are businessmen, billionaires and philanthropists. They add thousands of hectares of land to their lands every year. Some are interested in profit, others are concerned about the fate of the planet and the environment, and others are guided by personal motives.

Among the landowners there are family dynasties whose histories go back hundreds of years, and newly-made millionaires. If the estates of the ten largest private landowners in America were combined, their area would be about 5.5 million hectares, or 55 thousand square kilometers, which is larger than the size of individual US states, such as Maryland, Connecticut or Hawaii. Yulia Gushchina, a Tranio specialist, found out for Dom who owns America.

10. The Pingree Family

Total land area: 336 thousand hectares

In 1841, the founder of the Pingree dynasty, merchant David Pingree, began acquiring timber plots in Maine. Seven generations later, the family now owns 336 thousand hectares, mainly in Maine and New Hampshire. Unlike typical landowners who sold their property to factories for timber harvesting, members of the Pingree family collaborated with corporations, retaining voting rights, and ensuring that the work was carried out in an environmentally friendly manner.

In 1964, Pingree's heirs formed the Seven Islands Land Company, which now controls the use of the family's lands. The Pingrees have always cared about more than just profit - even in those times when forest conservation and conservation environment Few people cared. Three quarters of Pingri lands have the status of specially protected natural areas, which support habitat habitat of wild animals.

9. Stan Kroenke

Total land area: 343 thousand hectares

Stan Kroenke is one of America's largest and wealthiest real estate developers and the owner of several sports teams, including London's Arsenal Football Club.

Kroenke spends a significant part of his fortune on acquiring land. The total area of ​​the billionaire's holdings in Arizona, Montana and Wyoming is 4.5 times the territory of New York. In 2012, Kroenke purchased a ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Montana worth $132 million and covering 50,000 hectares—about the size of Birmingham. On the plot there is a house of 930 square meters with a swimming pool. At the same time, the billionaire needs the ranch not so much for preserving capital and recreation: first of all, elite breeds of livestock are bred here.

In 2016, Kroenke spent a tenth of his fortune buying one of America's twenty largest cattle ranches, Waggoner Ranch in Texas. The estimated purchase price was $655 million. Kroenke plans to build a luxury residence on the ranch, and the land will be used for growing wheat and raising livestock.

8. The King Family

Total land area: 369 thousand hectares

The King dynasty of landowners has owned a vast territory in southern Texas for more than 150 years - enterprising businessman Richard King began buying land here back in 1853 and expanded the land until his death in 1885. Today, the King Ranch is the largest in Texas, covering the territory of six counties in the state. About a dozen books have been written about Richard King himself, and the town of Kingsville, located not far from the ranch, was even named in his honor. In 1961, the King Ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The lands owned by the King family are open to the public - tours are held on the territory for tourists and farmers are taught how to farm modern methods, safe for nature. Eco-tourists come to King Ranch - here you can fish, ride bicycles, and watch birds.

The ranch's territory is so vast and rich that it allows the owners not only to raise livestock and grow vegetables, nuts and citrus orchards, but even to extract oil and gas.

Total land area: 450 thousand hectares

Henry Singleton was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, one of the founders and head of a large electronics concern, Teledyne, Inc. In the mid-1980s, Singleton became interested in land investments and began purchasing ranches in New Mexico and California. Over the course of 14 years, the businessman bought 28 ranches and became one of the largest landowners in America and the world. By 1999, Henry Singleton already owned 1.5 percent of New Mexico. After his death, his five children took over the management of the ranch.

One of the Singletons' properties is in a historic area in New Mexico, south of the city of Santa Fe. Archaeological excavations are being conducted in this area, and the Singletons themselves are collaborating with historians to preserve the cultural heritage of the region.

6. The Irving Family

Total land area: 485 thousand hectares

The founder of the family, Kenneth Colin Irving, was a major Canadian industrialist, one of the fifteen richest people in the world. Today, his sons and grandsons own about 300 companies involved in business in the oil and gas industries, forestry, construction and telecommunications.

In addition to 485 thousand hectares in the USA, the family owns territories of more than 800 thousand hectares in Canada - the Irvings are considered one of the largest landowners in the world. They are also the main landowners in Maine.

5. The Reed Family

Total land area: 565 thousand hectares

The Reeds, who are among the top 150 richest families in America, are engaged in timber processing. The Green Diamond Resource Company has been run by the family for five generations. The Reeds own land and forests in Washington, Oregon and California. The family appeared in the ranking of the largest landowners in America only recently: the Reeds acquired almost half of their territories, 243 thousand hectares, in 2014.

Green Diamond Resource Company complies with all environmental standards and can serve as an example for other corporations in the forest industry. According to its charter, the company is obliged to preserve water and land resources, wild flora and fauna, cultural and historical monuments in the developed area. In 2015, at a celebration in honor of the 125th anniversary of the Green Diamond Resource Company, the Reeds planted their hundred millionth tree.

In 2000, the company approved a plan according to which 51 species of wild animals and their natural habitats would be specially protected on the Reed lands. Every year, the company uses only two percent of the available land in the production cycle, on which new trees are subsequently immediately planted so that the forest growth cycle is not interrupted.

4. Brad Kelly

Total land area: 670 thousand hectares

Major tobacco magnate Brad Kelly owns a lot of land in the states of New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado. According to Kelly, he did not set himself the goal of becoming one of the largest landowners in the United States. The future billionaire grew up on a farm, and the land is something that is close and familiar to him since childhood.

Kelly bought his first plot at age 17, right after graduating from school. Later, investing in land became one of the businessman’s favorite ways to preserve and increase capital. Kelly has a good instinct for good deals - the last of the assets he acquired doubled in price in five years. The billionaire does not manage the ranch, he only invests money in the purchase, and the previous owners continue to work on the land as tenants.

One of Brad Kelly's hobbies is breeding new breeds of livestock and raising rare species of animals. Kelly works with zoos and conservation foundations wildlife. On one of his farms, dwarf buffalo, antelope and wild bulls are bred, as well as tapirs, hippos and rhinoceroses.

3. The Emerson Family

Total land area: 770 thousand hectares

The Emerson family owns land and forests in California. The Emersons' lands are rapidly expanding, every year they acquire new territories - only in 2015 plots were added to the family's treasury with total area 22 thousand hectares. The head of the family, Archie Emerson, is the largest private landowner in California.

Generations of Emersons have worked in the timber industry. They own the second largest lumber company in the United States, Sierra Pacific Industries. The company also cares about the environment: every year, farmers cultivate only a little more than one percent of the Emersons' land, and new trees are planted to replace those that are cut down.

Billionaires who could afford to live anywhere in the world wouldn't trade California for anything. Archie Emerson says that since childhood, more than anything else, he loves to be in the forest. There is no better recreation for him than hunting or fishing in his own lands.

The Emerson Woods are privately owned but open to the public. Here you are allowed to engage in fishing, hiking, and cycling, but it is prohibited to pick flowers, mushrooms and berries, spend the night in tents and light fires.

2. Ted Turner

Total land area: 809 thousand hectares

When CNN founder Ted Turner was a boy, his favorite things to do were hunt, fish and wander through the woods. The billionaire claims that as a child he even ended up with the police for shooting a squirrel on his neighbor’s property. Then he swore to himself that someday he would earn a lot of money and buy as much of his own land as he wanted. Turner kept his word. Today he is one of America's largest landowners.

Favorite place Turner, where he spends a lot of time is the Vermejo Park Ranch. The billionaire hosts guests - politicians, royalty and show business stars - in a mansion built in the middle of a ranch more than a century ago. By the way, “mere mortals” can also live here: a room in the Turner mansion can be rented for $550-650 per night.

Recently Ted Turner decided to take on new business- ecotourism. “Vermejo Park” and three other ranches of the entrepreneur were opened to the public who want to go fishing, cycling, hiking, photo safaris and so on.

The billionaire plans to turn his private holdings into national park, but more intimate and cozy than, for example, Yellowstone. According to Turner, in his park hundreds of cameras will not be aimed at bison - here you can be alone with nature.

1. John Malone

Total land area: 890 thousand hectares

John Malone ranks first in the ranking of the largest landowners in the United States. The founder of Liberty Media Corporation, one of the hundred richest people in the world, owns ranches in Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado, as well as forests in Maine.

Malone's territory is 150 times the size of Manhattan and three times the size of the million-person state of Rhode Island. The billionaire's lands in Maine make up more than five percent of the state.

Malone recently took first place in the ranking of America's largest landowners. He acquired about half of his land - 485 hectares of forests in Maine and land in New Hampshire - in 2011. Malone is an old friend of the previous hero, Ted Turner. According to the businessman, it was Turner who “infected” him with land fever. And, according to the millionaire, his passion for collecting lands was influenced by his Jewish roots and the genetic memory of a people living in him who for centuries did not have their own territory. In addition to financial and environmental reasons, Millarder says what motivates him to continually acquire more and more land is the special sense of awe and admiration he feels when looking at the vast expanses of land that he owns.

Few people know that it was not by chance that director Baz Luhrmann invited actress Nicole Kidman to play the sophisticated lady Sarah Ashley in the film “Australia”. After all, the actress is not only his favorite: the role of a wealthy aristocratic landowner adequately reflects Kidman’s current state.

According to New Statesman research, the Hollywood-moved Aussie's family is now the eighth largest private landowner in the world, and the first outside of monarchs. Her possessions extend throughout the Green Continent, and the total area of ​​the territory owned by the Kidmans exceeds the area of ​​90 countries in the world and amounts to 24 million acres or approximately 9.71 million hectares. Only one of the clan's properties (which contains the world's largest cattle ranch, Anna Creek) is larger than the size of European country like Belgium.

But the most amazing thing is the state of the family- the fact that the founder of the dynasty, Sir Sidney Kidman, made it practically “from scratch”. The son of poor emigrant farmers from Adelaide, born in 1857, he ran away from home at the age of 13 to become a cattle driver: then all his property consisted of a one-eyed mare and five shillings. But soon the teenager realized that he was bored of being a simple hired worker and went into business. His first venture was Butcher shop in New South Wales. Things went well, and soon Sidney was already involved in horse trading. And in late XIX century, at the age of 29, he had already purchased his first large plot of land in Owen Springs. The Kidmans' land empire began with him.

As Sidney himself said:, he always had a dream: to make his possessions stretch across the entire Australian continent - through the central arid territories, from one cattle farm to another, along river beds: this would allow cattle to be driven across the entire continent and delivered as close as possible to to the buyer. Obsessed with this idea, the businessman began buying farms and surrounding land one after another in Central Australia and eventually acquired more than 100 such plots.

As it turns out, it was a wise decision.. The vast spaces gave the cattle business flexibility: if a drought suddenly occurred at one end of the continent, Kidman simply moved the herds to another place, while his small competitors, who did not have sufficient land resources, suffered losses and went bankrupt one after another. By 1935, Sidney Kidman had become one of the richest people in Australia and its largest landowner (about England, he sarcastically said that he would not mind turning one of the British Isles into a personal “cattle pen”).

But despite all my condition, he retained the habits of a poor farmer until the end of his days. He could have easily afforded to buy his own train, but instead he always traveled around the country in second class - and that, he said, only because “there is no third class in Australia.”

At the time of Kidman's death in 1935 it owned about 3% of Australia. Today Sidney's landowning empire has shrunk to about a third of what it was eighty years ago. But this does not in the least prevent the fourth generation of Kidmans from successfully dealing with weather adversity and repelling the attacks of developers and speculators on their vast estates.

Last year, family business, part of which is owned by one of the most beautiful and stylish women in Hollywood, has collectively earned more than $2.55 million in profits. This may not be much for a modern high-tech company, but it is more than enough for an investor who invests in the most valuable resource available on the planet - land.

To be completely precise, neither the Kidmans nor anyone else in Australia formally owns land. This entire country belongs to Queen Elizabeth II, as do Canada, the British Isles and a host of other territories. But it’s real, of course

Largest private landowners in the world (data The New Statesman)

The world's largest private landowner is Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain - she owns 6.6 billion acres or 2 billion 670 million hectares, approximately a sixth of the earth's land.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia owns 547 million acres or 221 million hectares. Officially, he owns the land in the interests of his people, and he received it as a gift from the Lord.

To the current Pope Benedict XVI, which is the formal administrator of the territory of the Roman Catholic Church, owns 177 million acres, or just over 71.5 million hectares.

Australian landowners occupy 8 of 24 places in The New Statesman's ranking of the largest private landowners. In the vast majority of cases, these are families of former former livestock farmers, like the Kidmans.

At the same time, America's largest private landowner, media mogul Ted Turner, owns a modest 2 million acres of land or 809 thousand hectares (24th place in the world) - a mere pittance compared to Australian competitors.

Rating of Russian regions by the number of largest agricultural holdings (that is, those who received a profit from 4.1 to 74,058 billion rubles) http://lavkagazeta.com/bolshaya-zemlya/zaxvachennye-perspektivy/

Original taken from nilsky_nikolay in Latifundists in numbers

The largest landowners in Russia in 2016 (amount of arable land, thousand hectares)

Source: BEFL

Number one on the list owns three Moscows, the last one owns two Novosibirsks. If you measure in parrots hectares.

You can download “The largest owners...” in pdf here http://www.befl.ru/upload/iblock/d5a/d5afcc7fae971c46b34e928b6575a668.pdf
For comparison, 1 hectare = 0.6101988638 tithe economic round, i.e. 790,000 hectares = 482,057.102 dessiatines - 5-6th place in Russia approximately in 1900.

Original taken from wg_lj in The largest landowners of the Russian Empire (as of 1900)

Based on the book by D. Lieven "Aristocracy in Europe 1815-1914."

And for comparison with other countries

The world's largest private landowners (data from The New Statesman)

The world's largest private landowner is Queen Elizabeth I of Great Britain I - belongs to her 6.6 billion acres or 2 billion 670 million hectares, about a sixth of the earth's landmass.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia owns 547 million acres or 221 million hectares. Officially, he owns the land in the interests of his people, and he received it as a gift from the Lord.

The current Pope Benedict XV I, who is the formal administrator of the territory of the Roman Catholic Church, belongs to 177 million acres or just over 71.5 million hectares.

Ten largest private landowners in the United States

- businessmen, billionaires and philanthropists. They add thousands of hectares of land to their lands every year. Some are interested in profit, others are concerned about the fate of the planet and the environment, and others are guided by personal motives.

1. John Malone - 890 thousand hectares
John Malone ranks first in the ranking of the largest landowners in the United States. The founder of Liberty Media Corporation, one of the hundred richest people in the world, owns ranches in Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado, as well as forests in Maine.

2. Ted Turner - 809 thousand hectares, OCNN founder

3. Emerson Family - 770 thousand hectares
The Emerson family owns land and forests in California.

Sierra Pacific Industries property Photo: Paul Sakuma / AP PHoto

4. Brad Kelly - 670 thousand hectares
Tobacco magnate Brad Kelly owns a lot of land in New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado.

5. Reed Family - 565 thousand hectares
The Reeds, who are among the top 150 richest families in America, are engaged in timber processing.The Reeds own land and forests in Washington, Oregon and California. The family appeared in the ranking of the largest landowners in America only recently: the Reeds acquired almost half of their territories, 243 thousand hectares, in 2014.

6. Irving Family - 485 thousand hectares
The founder of the family, Kenneth Colin Irving, was a major Canadian industrialist, one of the fifteen richest people in the world. Today his sons and grandsons own about 300 companies.
In addition to 485 thousand hectares in the United States, the family owns territories of more than 800 thousand hectares in Canada - the Irvings are considered one of the largest landowners in the world. They are also the main landowners in Maine.

7. Singleton Family - 450 thousand hectares
Henry Singleton was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, one of the founders and head of a large electronics concern, Teledyne, Inc. In the mid-1980s, Singleton became interested in land investments and began purchasing ranches in New Mexico and California. Over the course of 14 years, the businessman bought 28 ranches and became one of the largest landowners in America and the world. By 1999, Henry Singleton already owned 1.5 percent of New Mexico.

8. King Family - 369 thousand hectares
The King dynasty of landowners has owned a vast territory in southern Texas for more than 150 years - enterprising businessman Richard King began buying land here in 1853 and expanded the land until his death in 1885. Today, King Ranch is the largest in Texas, covering six counties in the state.

9. Stan Kroenke - 343 thousand hectares
The total area of ​​the billionaire's holdings in Arizona, Montana and Wyoming is 4.5 times the territory of New York. In 2012, Kroenke purchased a ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Montana worth $132 million and covering 50,000 hectares—about the size of two Birminghams.

10. Pingree Family - 336 thousand hectares

Top 50 land-owning companies in Russia

Ak Bars Holding, Agrosila Group and Krasny Vostok Agro are recognized as one of the largest landowners in Russia according to consulting company BEFL. In its rating, Ak Bars Holding took fifth place among Russian latifund holdings with a land bank of 0.5 million hectares. And in total, the largest land owners in Tatarstan own over 1.1 million hectares of agricultural land, or a quarter of the republic’s agricultural land. Read more in the material of Realnoe Vremya.

Three Tatarstan holdings are in the top 50 landowners in Russia

BEFL has published an annual review of large agricultural land owners in Russia, prepared on the basis of April 2017 data. It includes a rating out of 50 Russian companies, under whose control there is a total land bank of more than 12 million hectares.

The top five, as BEFL experts note, remained unchanged. Just like last year, the first places were taken by Russian agricultural holdings and food producers Prodimex (790 thousand hectares), Rusagro (670 thousand hectares) and Miratorg (644 thousand hectares).

The Tatarstan holding Ak Bars of Ivan Egorov lagged behind a little - it has 505 thousand hectares of land located in Tatarstan and nearby regions. According to this indicator, it took fifth place in the federal ranking. And “Agrosila Group” of Ilshat Fardiev with a land bank of 300 thousand hectares and “Red Vostok Agro” of Ayrat Khairullin, owning 268 thousand hectares, were in the second ten. The first took 11th place in the ranking, the second - 16th place. Nevertheless, in total they own over 1.1 million hectares of agricultural land in Tatarstan, or a quarter of the republic’s agricultural land.

The Tatarstan holding Ak Bars of Ivan Egorov lagged behind a little - it has 505 thousand hectares of land located in Tatarstan and nearby regions. Photo abh.ru

These data indicate the continuation of the process of consolidation of agricultural land by large owners. “2016 was an extremely productive year for large agricultural holdings in terms of increasing their land bank,” says the BEFL review. - Statistics show that the area of ​​farmland owned by legal entities continues to increase. Each of the companies leading the rating in 2017 already has more than half a million hectares of land under control.”

"Agrosila" is gaining mass, and "Red Vostok" is "drying out"

Agrosila Group, the only Tatarstan agricultural holding that has managed to increase land plantations, is actively striving for this milestone. Over the past year, he managed to increase the land bank by 28%, BEFL experts note. Therefore, Agrosila Group took fifth place in the related BEFL ranking in terms of the growth rate of land assets. According to some reports, the company purchased land exclusively in Tatarstan, investing up to 2 billion rubles. “This year the agricultural holding plans to implement several large investment projects with a total cost of 4 billion rubles,” the company’s press service told Realnoe Vremya. “At the end of 2016, the revenue of the Agrosila holding company amounted to 31 billion rubles.” Will the company continue to buy land? Rather yes than no.

In contrast, Ak Bars has suspended the purchase of new land - over the past two years the company has not acquired a single extra hectare. As follows from the dynamics of changes in the land bank of the rating leaders, the peak of Ak Bars transactions occurred in 2013-2014. During this period, the state holding increased its assets from 316 to 505 thousand hectares, and the total income of the agricultural unit for 2014 amounted to 9.1 billion rubles, an increase of 28%. Since then, more than 40% of the holding's revenue has been provided by agro-industrial complex, which includes such large enterprises, such as Avangard LLC, Agro-Kama LLC, Zelenodolsk Dairy Processing Plant LLC, Ak Bars Poultry Farming Complex OJSC.

"Red Vostok Agro" of Airat Khairullin, owning 268 thousand hectares, was in the second ten. Photo by Maxim Platonov

15 years of consolidating land assets

Consolidation of land assets by private agricultural holdings has taken place over the past 15 years. As the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan told Realnoe Vremya, in 2003, with the adoption in January of this year federal law“On the turnover of agricultural lands”, which allowed the free purchase and sale of land, about 10% of the agricultural lands of the Republic of Tatarstan were transferred to private ownership. The first “latifundists” were the agro-industrial groups of Tatfondbank and Tatagroprombank, which were liquidated this year, as well as the then-called Krasny Vostok OJSC, which initially took ownership of 65 thousand hectares of land in the Zelenodolsk, Alkeevsky and Verkhneuslonsky districts. Now the Krasny Vostok Agro holding manages acreage in the Trans-Volga region of Tatarstan.

In conclusion, we add that in 2016, the volume of gross agricultural output in Tatarstan increased by 5% to 238.6 billion rubles, and profit amounted to 7.4 billion rubles. The highest among investors specific gravity gross agricultural output was noted precisely among local latifundists - OJSC "Krasny Vostok Agro", CJSC "Agrosila Group", Holding Company "Ak Bars", LLC Management Company "AgroInvest", LLC "APK "Prodprogramma" and LLC "Archa" .

The largest owners of agricultural land in Russia as of April 2017, thousand hectares

Louise Ignatieva