Farming strategies regarding "social responsibility" in the Russian agricultural sector

Abstract

ACLInternational audienceIn this article, we discuss the fact that the social role Russian farms have been developing since 1991 has to be considered as a twofold strategy. The first goal is to expand the activities of some institutionally selected enterprises and the second is to reproduce some "communities". The observation highlights a specific feature: there are several "non-economic" functions carried out by farms. This analysis leads to the establishment of a link between the social role of farms and the existence of opportunities offered by the economic, political and social environment. Then, the concept of "productive configuration" is applied to study game plans developed by several actors in the Orel Oblast' and to identify four strategies organizing the relationship between food production and social responsibility, each configuration showing an institutional arrangement to secure the survival of farms in a highly competitive context