Mochernuyk Y. The Noble-landed economy of the Kiev province (1861 - 1917)

The peculiarities of the functioning of aristocratic and landowning farms of the Kyiv province in the conditions of the modernization reform in the Russian Empire are investigated. The evolution of landlords farms, the process of their economic reorientation to market principles are shown. On the basis of the legislation of the Russian Empire the general tendencies of legal regulation of land relations in the Kyiv region, which were aimed at limiting the rights of Polish landowners to land have been systematized and analyzed. The main tendencies and peculiarities of agrarian development of the Kiev province are determined. On the basis of the actual material, the features of administrative management and economic planning of the development of aristocratic and landowning farms, land relations within their territory, the dynamics of changes in profitability and factors that influenced this process are disclosed. The analysis of the information related to the volumes of cultivation of cereals and industrial crops, the number of livestock, and so on. The study shows the role of nobles in the formation and development of individual industries (sugar production, vodka production, grain and forestry, animal husbandry). The work of the administrative apparatus in the estates is covered. Characterizing the effectiveness of the noble landlord economy in the second half of the XIX - the beginning of the XX century, it is proved that it was directly related to the economic planning and management, the presence of disposable money for hiring sufficient number of workers. The diversified farms had higher returns as they had their own sugar refining factories, distillation factories and flourmills, and provided the whole production cycle. However, a rather important part of income was made up due to temporary and self-employed peasants; profits from levadas, forestry; rental fees, etc. The main feature of the economic life of noble landlord economies, situated in the Kiev Governorate, was the spread of entrepreneurial activity and the growth of the profitability. The specialization of the separate economic powiats and use of new technologies for the crop cultivation contributed to it. A characteristic feature of the development of advanced noble economies was their participation in various agricultural exhibitions, where they demonstrated their achievements and took over the best practices.