Central Black Soil Region's Sugar Agro-Industrial Complex: Territorial Changes Over Half a Century

Abstract

The purpose is to identify and describe the territorial shifts in sugar beet and sugar-sand production within the Central Black Soil Economic Region over the past half-century. Materials and methods. Statistical data, materials from electronic catalogs, websites of enterprises and the media, and the "Yandex Maps" internet resource were used. During the fi eld study, 15 expert interviews were conducted with the heads and employees of sugar factories and local administrations of the Kursk Region. Results and discussion. The dynamics of sugar beet and sugar-sand production from 1970 to 2023 in the context of regions and districts was analyzed. The scale and causes of the industry's post-reform decline and subsequent powerful recovery growth were described. A series of maps refl ecting the territorial shifts in the development of the sugar agro-industrial complex of the Central Black Soil Economic Region has been compiled. The typology of sugar factories according to the dynamics of revenue and profi t was carried out. The indicator of sugar beet «productivity» of the territory has been introduced. Conclusions. There is a beet production shift to the north of the Central Black Soil Economic Region, to less arid areas, which stimulate yield growth. The west-east gradient of the fi nancial and economic condition of sugar factories has been revealed. The optimal raw material zones of the CERR sugar factories have been substantiated and mapped, taking into account the actual transport accessibility. The enterprises with a defi cit and a surplus of production capacities have been identifi ed. The optimal locations for three new sugar factories have been determined.