ON THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC MODELING IN MEASURING THE EFFICIENCY OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION AND LAND MANAGEMENT

The article examines the problems and prospects of the development of agricultural cooperation in Russia as a tool to increase the efficiency of small forms of agricultural entrepreneurship. Despite the steady growth of the agro–industrial complex, largely supported by large agricultural holdings, small agricultural producers demonstrate insufficient development dynamics ‑ this exacerbates socio-economic tensions in rural areas and requires the search for new support mechanisms. The central place in the work is occupied by the analysis of existing methodological approaches to assessing the effectiveness of cooperation: economic, socio‑managerial and national economic criteria are considered, as well as institutional concepts, in particular, savings on transaction costs, network models of interaction and a stakeholder approach. Special attention is paid to the limitations of current methods: the lack of unified criteria and low comparability of results due to the heterogeneity of the applied indicators. The article systematizes the key problems hindering the development of cooperation in the Russian agro‑industrial complex: the "rut effect" (the legacy of the collective farm model), negative perception of collectivization, high transformational costs, the risk of the "lock-in effect" and legislative restrictions. It is shown that the effectiveness of cooperatives should be assessed differentially depending on their type and objectives. A proprietary model for evaluating the effectiveness of agricultural cooperation is proposed, combining financial and operational indicators with institutional and social criteria. The model is applicable both at the stage of creating a cooperative and in the process of its functioning. The perspective of network interaction models is emphasized, which are less formalized and can provide participants with a wider range of opportunities to reduce risks and extract benefits. The practical significance of the research lies in the possibility of using the proposed model for empirical testing on the basis of Russian agricultural cooperatives, as well as in a conceptual rethinking of approaches to cooperation in agriculture, considering modern market requirements.