Russian Agricultural Societies of the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries in the Assessments of the Contemporary

Abstract

The article is devoted to the views of A. G. Shcherbatov on the role, tasks and significance of the agricultural societies of the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Shcherbatov was the Chairman of the Moscow Imperial Society of Agriculture and an official of the Ministry of Agriculture. His position largely determined the ideology of agrarian public organizations. He contributed to the formation of state policy in agriculture. A. G. Shcherbatov considered agricultural societies a simple and effective way to solve the agrarian question in Russia. The agrarian public organizations performed many functions. The most important task A. G. Shcherbatov considered was to improve the commercial profitability of agricultural societies and their competitiveness on the market. Their activities became more effective with the support of the state and zemstvos. Regional agricultural societies had their own specifics. Prior to the First World War, these agrarian associations achieved significant results. The program of A. G. Shcherbatov on agricultural societies was to some extent realized.