Monograph prepared by Natalia Nikonova, a staff member of the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPC RAS), was bestowed the prize of the Foundation for Development of Domestic Education following the results of the All-Russian contest of the faculty and research institutes for the best scientific book of 2020. The scientific book covers practical and theoretical aspects of the dairy industry development in Russia.
Over three thousand scientific papers out of 420 research and educational organizations participated in the contest held by the Foundation for Development of Domestic Education. Monograph: "Economic Efficiency of Milk Production and Processing at Agricultural Organizations: Theoretical and Practical Aspects" by Natalia Nikonova was put on the list of winners in the nomination of "Economics".
“The monograph focuses on the main problems hindering the sustainable development of the dairy cattle industry under modern economic conditions. Proposals have been made to develop a mechanism aimed at both activating the internal potential of dairy farms and improving regulatory impacts from the State," says the author of the monograph Natalia Nikonova, researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (IAERD).
The need for deepening the research is specified by the ever-increasing demands of the economic environment with its specific parameters for prices of resources and dairy products, as well as the tasks of choosing effective forms and sizes of state support. In particular, there exists certain urgency in answering the questions: why, despite the significant pace of production modernization, constant growth as well as the tasks of choosing effective forms and sizes of state support. In particular, it is necessary to answer a questions: why, despite the significant pace of production’s modernization, the constant increase in cow productivity and the increase in budget support, there exists significant differentiality between farms in the milk production efficiency? What is the role of own milk processing by agricultural organizations in strengthening the economy of the industry?
"The research results can possibly be used by agricultural organizations when arranging for their own milk processing at the farms, and by agricultural management bodies - when developing areas of state support in order to increase the profitability of the dairy cattle industry and its sustainable development in the context of the implementation of the import substitution policy," Natalia Nikonova notes.
The book is composed of three chapters. The first one summarizes the main approaches to assessing the effectiveness of dairy cattle breeding and systematizes the factors of their increase, and also shows the successful experience in organizing own milk processing at the farm, based on domestic and foreign experience. The second part gives an in detail analysis of Natalia Nikonova of the current level of milk processing production and state support provided for the industry, examplified by a specific region - the Leningrad Region. The third chapter deals with the forecast of the changes’ dynamics in the cows’ number and productivity, as well as the volume of milk production in the Leningrad region until 2025. The scientist also calculated the economic feasibility of organizing milk processing within agricultural organizations specializing in its production, depending on various factors (the level of productivity of cows, the volume of processing products per day and its assortment, etc.).
The monograph was the result of three years of research in this field of agriculture, its volume was 256 pages. The book is available in the public domain in the author's profile in the electronic library E-library. In addition, it was published in a separate edition at the St. Petersburg State University of Economics.