Legal regulation of small farming in Ukraine

Abstract

Problem setting. The development of small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises contributes to the creation of new jobs, reducing hunger, raising the standard of living in rural areas and strengthening the country’s economy. The military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine creates significant obstacles to the activities of agricultural enterprises. It is important that the state directs its support specifically to helping small farms, which are in a more vulnerable state compared to large agricultural enterprises. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the criteria according to which small farming differs from medium and large agricultural enterprises and to define the concept of small farming. Analysis of recent research and publications. The following scientists have devoted their works to the study of small-scale farming in Ukraine: Amons S.E. [10], Yavorska T.I. [9], Nifatova O.M. [11], Danko Y.I. [11] and many others. Target of research. The article is devoted to the study of the concept of small farming in Ukraine. The legislation of Ukraine is analyzed to outline an exhaustive list of regulatory legal acts that regulate the activities of small farming in Ukraine. It is emphasized that the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine significantly hinders the activities and development of small farming. Attention is drawn to the need to direct state support specifically to help small farms, which are in a more vulnerable state compared to large agricultural enterprises. Article’s main body. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Farming”, farming is a form of entrepreneurial activity of citizens who produce agricultural products, process them and sell them for profit. This law does not provide for the differentiation of farms into large, medium and small, there is no concept of small farming, there are no criteria by which a farm can be classified as a small farm. The norms of the Law of Ukraine “On Development and State Support of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship in Ukraine” for the definition of the term “small business entity” refer to the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Peculiarities of Regulation of Activities of Legal Entities of Certain Organizational and Legal Forms in the Transitional Period and Associations of Legal Entities”. This law stipulates that business entities, depending on the number of employees and the amount of income from any activity per year, may belong to micro-enterprise entities, small, medium or large business entities. In micro-enterprises, the average number of employees per calendar year may not exceed 10 people, and the annual revenue may not exceed the equivalent of 2 million euros. In small-scale enterprises, the average number of employees per calendar year may not exceed 50 people, and the annual revenue may not exceed the equivalent of 10 million euros. But the differentiation of farms according to such an approach as annual income and number of employees leads to the fact that a farm with an area of 50 hectares and another with an area of over 1000 hectares can both be subjects of small business. Legislative consolidation of the differentiation of farms by size is important in terms of the distribution of state support funds. Since small farms need more support than large agricultural enterprises. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The legislation of Ukraine does not provide criteria for dividing agricultural enterprises into large, medium and small. Considering the provisions of the existing legislation, most agricultural enterprises can be classified as small business entities. The need for legislative consolidation of the criteria for differentiating agricultural enterprises into large, medium and small would allow identifying small business entities in agriculture that are most in need of support from the state.