About Non-use Of Agricultural Land

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The land should have a real caring owner. Soon they will begin to take unused land from careless users

Many gardeners can give an example to large agricultural enterprises in the use of agricultural land. Each piece of the six acres they have is well-groomed and processed, and benefits the owners. The picture is quite different in the fields of some regions. Where rye used to grow or there were haystacks, now more and more shrubs are growing, trees are rising. And often this happens in the center of the country, on the lands that have been feeding Russians since ancient times, for example, in the Pskov region.

Perhaps these lands are ownerless, although how can there be ownerless fields that can feed our people! But even more indignation is caused by the situation when the land has an owner, who, it seems, was going to grow crops or keep livestock. Or another situation: recently in the TV show "Moment of Truth" there was information that some banks bought many hundreds of hectares of land on the cheap, they are not using them, but are waiting for a possible increase in the value of hectares in order to resell them profitably. And the lands are empty! And across the country there are thousands of such careless owners. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, now about 18% of the land is not used, which is more than 65 million hectares. This figure is amazing, because the unused land area exceeds the entire territory of Holland, which until recently supplied us with its vegetables, fruits and flowers. But how many tons of grain or potatoes, vegetables could be obtained on this unused land, how many livestock and poultry to grow! It would be possible to completely abandon purchases abroad of those products that we ourselves can grow.

Apparently, this situation worried the authorities. And on 23.04.2012, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted Resolution No. 369 "On signs of non-use of land plots, taking into account the specifics of agricultural production or other activities related to agricultural production in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. " It entered into force on May 6, 2012. It highlights the characteristic features that speak of the non-use of the land:

• the arable land is not cultivated;
• not planted, crops are cultivated;
• hay mowing is not carried out;
• more than 30% of cultivated plants in haymaking are weeds;
• perennial plantations are not looked after, including cleaning and uprooting;
• on the plowed area, more than 15% - shrubs and trees, and on farmland - 30%;
• boundedness and (or) waterlogging over 20% of the area of the entire site.

If the owner does not use the land within 3 years from the date of entry into ownership, then the state authorities have every reason to seize the land. In case of gross violation of the law, the term does not matter. If the environmental friendliness of the land has been violated, the state control bodies can seize it after the owner fails to comply with the administrative order. If the land is in the right of use (under a lease agreement), then it is terminated and no longer extended. When the site belongs to the right of permanent use (indefinite), the land can also be withdrawn. This requires an official decision of the state authorities.

It should be noted that our neighbors, the Republic of Kazakhstan, have been using such measures for a long time. And they don't have to wait three years if they know for sure that the land is not being used.

In his speech to the Federal Assembly in December 2015, Russian President V. V. Putin said that it was necessary to take unused land plots from careless owners and transfer them to those who can cultivate the land.

And after that the matter got off the ground. For example, as reported by the newspaper Vedomosti: “The Moscow Region authorities have begun to implement President Vladimir Putin’s order to seize agricultural land that is not used by their owners for their intended purpose. The first claim was filed for the seizure of a land plot”.

Further in the message it is said that the regional Ministry of Property has filed a claim with the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region. The agency asks to seize a land plot of almost 227 hectares from CJSC Leninskoye. The regional government intends to file more lawsuits against a number of companies from which about 900 hectares of land may be confiscated for improper use.

Changes have been outlined in other areas as well. Our editorial office has established permanent contacts with the information department of the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration for the Kostroma and Ivanovo regions. During the first quarter of this year, we received from them about ten informational messages on inspections of land use. For example, an agricultural plot with an area of 2.9 hectares in the Ivanovo municipal district of the Ivanovo region was checked. The check showed that “… it is not currently used for agricultural production. As a result, the site is overgrown with perennial weeds (sow thistle, tansy, etc.) and shrubs. These circumstances testify to the inaction of the owner of the land plot.

For this offense - failure to comply with the established requirements and mandatory measures to improve, protect land (agricultural land) and protect soil, the citizen was brought to administrative responsibility with the imposition of fines in the amount of 23 thousand rubles. He was given instructions on an admitted violation of land legislation, obliging to take measures to improve the land …"

In another case, the check showed that a land plot with an area of 4.48 hectares in the same Ivanovsky municipal district was not used. The land owner was fined 20 thousand rubles for the offense.

Another negligent landowner maintains a neglected land plot with an area of 88.2 hectares located in the Palekh municipal district of the Ivanovo region. The owner of the site was fined and ordered to use the land for its intended purpose.

And changes do not always come. From another message from the information department, it follows that an unscheduled on-site inspection of the execution of the order to eliminate violations of land legislation was carried out. It was noted that "… When inspecting the agricultural land located in the Ivanovo municipal district, it was found that it is still not used for agricultural production, overgrown with perennial weeds and trees." By the decision of the magistrate of Ivanovo, the guilty person was punished with a fine of 30 thousand rubles.

Probably, land owners will become more agile and efficient when the land is taken away from them. Russian President V. V. Putin ordered the development of a draft law "On the seizure of land from unscrupulous owners and its resale at auctions. " This legislative act should come into force in the fall of 2016.

I would like to hope that the measures taken will return many thousands of hectares of land into circulation for the production of grain, vegetables, for grazing livestock and will help provide our stores and markets with their own agricultural products. By the way, part of the land taken from careless business executives could well be transferred to gardeners. They have successfully mastered swamps and inconveniences in many places, and they will restore neglected lands in a matter of years. And gardens will bloom on them, beds with potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbage and other crops will be spread.

E. Valentinov

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