SPECIAL UNITS OF AGRARIAN STRUCTURE SYSTEM 

Ovchintseva Lyubov' Aleksandrovna, candidate of economical sciences, leading researcher, department of institutional analysis
of agricultural economy and rural cooperation, Federal research center of agricultural economy and social development of rural
areas – All-Russian research Institute of agricultural Economics, branch of the All-Russian Institute of Agricultural Problems and Informatics named after Alexander Nikonov (build. 1, 21 B. Kharitonievski lane, Moscow, Russia), E-mail: lovchintseva@viapi.ru 

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Background. The author calls gardening, horticultural and summer housing associations of citizens as a special unit of agrarian structure. Such economic activity in Russia today is common and national statistics refers it to a form of agricultural production. The purpose of the article is to show the dual nature and current trends in the evolution of the system of gardening, horticultural and summer housing associations.
Methods. The study uses data from the State (National) Rreport on the Atate and Use of Land in the Russian Federation for the period from 1999 to 2016 and the All-Russian Agricultural Censuses of 2006 and 2016. The comparative analysis of statistical data is carried out mainly in graphical form and supplemented by the analysis of the legal framework that forms the institutional framework for the activity of this economic form, as well as personal observations of the author.
Results. Structural changes in the system of gardening, horticultural and summer housing associations of citizens are revealed: the share of land used for agricultural production is reduced and the infrastructure provision of garden and summer housing associations
is increased. Changes in the Federal legislation regulating the activities of horticultural associations do not contribute to the preservation of collective gardening as a place of agricultural production.
Conclusions. In fact, gardening associations are becoming less and less a place of agricultural production and more a place of residence and recreation, which requires appropriate regulation not only at the Federal but also at the local level. 

agricultural structure; Russian dacha; gardening, horticultural and summer housing associations of citizens; suburbanization