Legal problems of legislative definition of agricultural commodity producers as key subjects of the state agrarian policy

One of the strategic directions of the state policy of the Russian Federation is the sustainable development of the agro-industrial complex, including support for agricultural producers as key participants in agrarian transformations. However, the current legislation demonstrates inconsistency in approaches to determining the legal status of these entities: different normative acts provide different definitions used solely for the purposes of specific laws. This fragmentation creates legal uncertainty and makes it difficult to implement government support measures. The legal establishment of the category of agricultural producer directly affects the possibilities of receiving subsidies, participating in rehabilitation programs, applying special tax regimes, and participating in bankruptcy proceedings. At the same time, certain forms of agricultural activity, such as family farms and small business entities, despite their economic importance, often find themselves outside the legal field or receive the status of “support entities” without a clear legal identification. This necessitates a systematic understanding of the legal content and boundaries of the agricultural producer category, the identification of legal gaps and the formation of proposals for the unification of terminology in agricultural legislation.

Purpose: to analyze the existing legal regulation of the legal status of agricultural producers, identify discrepancies in terminology used in agricultural, tax, bankruptcy and cooperative legislation, and substantiate the need to unify approaches to defining this key subject of agricultural policy in the Russian Federation.

Materials and methods: dialectical and systematic methods, method of comparative analysis, method of normative and legal analysis, logical method.

The results of the study. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there is no uniform approach to the definition of an agricultural producer in Russian legislation. Federal laws regulating various spheres of agrarian legal relations, such as the law on agricultural Development, the law on agricultural cooperation, the law on insolvency (bankruptcy), the law on financial rehabilitation of agricultural producers, as well as the provisions of the Tax Code, contain definitions of varying scope and criteria, applicable within the scope of the relevant legislation.relevant regulations. It is also established that certain groups of subjects of agrarian relations – in particular, family farms, personal subsidiary farms of citizens and small forms of management – are either directly excluded from the number of agricultural producers within the framework of individual laws, or are included in the circle of recipients of support measures without their preliminary legalization as subjects of civil or agrarian legal relations.

Discussion and conclusion. The revealed terminological disunity in the regulation of the legal status of agricultural producers indicates the need to form a unified approach to the concept and criteria for attribution to this category. The unification of the conceptual framework is particularly important in the context of the implementation of strategic goals of the state agrarian policy, including food security, sustainable rural development and support for family entrepreneurship. In conditions where differences in definitions are not only formal, but also substantive, law enforcement agencies, government authorities and commodity producers themselves are forced to act in conditions of uncertainty. This may lead to a refusal to receive subsidies, the inability to apply special tax regimes or participate in financial recovery programs, despite the actual conduct of agricultural activities.

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