Perspective vectors of developing agriculture in fairs, festivals and exhibitions (Russian and foreign approaches)

Tinyakova Elena Aleksandrovna ORCID: 0009-0009-4226-5537 Independent researcher, Honorary Doctor of Sciences of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (International Association of Scientists, Teachers and Specialists); Master of Law; Member of the Working Group of Socio-Economic Design of the St. Petersburg Union of Scientists; Professor of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (Moscow) 141370, Russia, Moscow region, Khotkovo, 2nd Rabochaya str., 28, sq. 6 etinyakova@bk.ru Other publications by this author

The new format of agricultural fairs, festivals and exhibitions opens up new horizons for the development of agriculture.

The subject of the article's research is to enhance the importance of agricultural activities for the development of modern agriculture. Therefore, the study of the object of research - agricultural fairs, festivals and exhibitions - allows us to reach the purpose of the study - to identify factors that stimulate and improve agricultural labor and its effectiveness with the resulting socio-cultural consequences. With the development of agriculture in different countries, traditional agricultural fairs, festivals and exhibitions of agricultural innovations and technologies are gaining in scale, but their quality is also changing. ^{[1, 2]}.These events, which are final for analyzing the success of agriculture, acquire new features that meet the growing needs of society for people's livelihoods. The human natural-productive mind strives to penetrate deeper into the disclosure of the possibilities of agriculture, which provides new varieties and types of agricultural products ^[3,4]. The scale of these activities, useful for increasing the production of natural food resources and improving the comfort and productivity of agricultural labor, is growing disproportionately fast. In terms of agricultural labor support technologies, exhibitions especially demonstrate that labor is approaching the high standards of urban industrial production. ^[5] Therefore, it is logical that the urban environment is becoming more hospitable to the demonstration of agricultural development and the number of visitors is growing. The line between urban and provincial, rural spaces is practically blurred due to agricultural festivals and exhibitions. ^[6] The challenges of increasing agricultural productivity unite countries. Therefore, the international scale of these three main demonstration events of agriculture prevails.^[7] The space of agricultural events is no longer limited to trade visitors and agricultural producers, and the program of agricultural events includes cultural space and entertainment, and tourism has a strong attraction for visitors. The entertainment sphere is expanding on images of agricultural themes and its cultural content concerns all types of art. Agriculture itself rises a step higher in socio-cultural development and influences the cultural space. The article examines in detail the content of agricultural fairs, festivals and exhibitions in terms of their diversity and scale growth. Moreover, the author compares the Russian approach to this largely leading line of development of modern civilization with foreign concepts.

The methodology of the work is based on a way of understanding the ecological and socio-cultural environment through agricultural fairs, festivals and exhibitions in history and modern times.

The methodology of the research subject area of the article is based on the principles of efficiency of the organization of agricultural production: the principle of regularity, complexity, optimality, balance, integration and rhythm. Studying the chosen problem of agricultural science, the author used the descriptive method, the historical method, the method of categorization, the method of analysis. The application of these principles is highly variable in Russia due to the diversity of territorial location and differences in climatic zones. ^[6] However, the following analytical descriptions of agricultural events in Russia and abroad, both in history and in modern times, have a clear focus on the main, leading method of agricultural science—deepening and expanding environmental management activities for productive contacts of people's livelihoods and caring for and preserving nature. At the beginning of the methodology for considering this research topic, let us turn to the history of Russia. The establishment of the tradition of agricultural fairs in Russia had a specific justification, unlike in European countries. Maslova A. I. writes in his article: "Vast spaces, sparseness of population, poor communication routes, fragmentation of production, concentration of the main branches of the manufacturing industry in a few centers, lack of capital gave trade in the Russian Empire, unlike in European countries, a special look and character."^[8]. Reliable historical evidence of Russian fairs dates back to the 16th century, however, historical chronicles from the time of Kievan Rus contain descriptions of auctions similar to fairs. In the XI-XII centuries. in the north-west of Ancient Russia, churchyards served as a place of trade, which functioned as centers of rural communities, Torzhok, especially monastic ones, which attracted merchants from distant towns and villages in addition to residents of neighboring villages. In Ancient Russia, retail outlets were set up near churches. The trading events were focused on the dates of the Orthodox Church calendar. The Arsk Fair, which was held near Kazan, dates back to the middle of the 13th century. In connection with the robberies of Russian merchants by the Tatars, Vasily III forbade trips to this fair and founded a new one in Vasilsursk in 1524, which later became known as the Makaryevskaya Fair (at the Zheltovodsk Monastery). Contradictions with the Mongol Horde delayed the formation of fairs in Russia until the 15th century. Three main features led to the development of fair trade in Russia: the vastness of the space, the spread of the population and the fertility of large areas for development under agricultural land. To these reasons, a fourth factor is added — the development of capitalism since the 18th century. Fairs played an important role in the initial period of the liquidation of the feudal fragmentation of Russia in the XV-XVI centuries. In Arkhangelsk, the fair arose after the founding of the city in 1584. In Siberia, fairs were held in every settlement and large village, when the church of each place celebrated its annual holiday.^[8] Maslova A. I., quoting Mironov B. N., provides the following statistics: "...in the middle of the 18th century, 43 urban and 191 rural fairs operated in Russia, at the beginning of the 19th century – 1,405 exclusively rural, and in the early 1860s - 1,100 fairs... other information: in 1868, 6,496 fairs operated in all provinces of the Russian Empire, including 1,159 urban and 5,337 rural.". ^[8]. Fairs contributed to the formation of the All-Russian market. Therefore, we cannot agree with some researchers who write that fairs came to Russia from abroad. ^[9,10]. The presented material on Russia shows the factors of the fair trade development that are special for Russia. However, even in that distant historical time, fairs were held under the "eye" of the state and royal decrees, so there was a whole category of merchants who evaded paying trade duties. In the subsequent course of historical development, which survived the revolution of 1917, this part of agricultural producers was defeated by collectivization, followed by the "hungry years for Russia", until gradually a new type of agriculture was formed on collective farms. In Soviet times, fair trade was not popular because agriculture was a public sector that economically did not allow market relations. ^[11] But the nationalization of agriculture has also brought new levers for its development. The best achievements of agriculture began to be presented at exhibitions of agricultural achievements. On February 17, 1935, the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy was founded. The state has become a powerful lever to pull out Russia's agriculture, which was devastated after the revolutionary events. Gradually, international contacts in the development of agriculture began to be established. So in 1979, there was a large exhibition "Agriculture in the USA" at the Sokolniki exhibition complex. Fairs and festivals actively returned to Russia after perestroika with the gradual expansion of the non-governmental sector and the development of market trade^[12]. Against the background of the historical picture of the formation of the market and festival presentation of agriculture in Russia, let us turn to Europe and the American continent. In Europe, the importance of fairs increased in the X-XI centuries. with the emergence and development of cities, the growth of urban handicraft production, the emergence of the domestic market and the strengthening of international trade relations, the development of land routes and means of communication. The first European fairs were held in the central settlements of the region and small towns in the hinterland to sell seasonal products. A large set of various goods was brought to the fairs. Italian fairs were famous for expensive fabrics and oriental goods, French for wine and cloth, English for wool, coarse cloth, lead, tin, coal, South German for wine, Danish for herring, Swedish for iron and copper. In the beginning, agricultural food products were not allocated to a separate sale. In Europe, agricultural fairs with agricultural products began to stand out by the XVI-XVII centuries. Let's start with an example of one of the oldest and largest such European fairs, the Onion Fair in the German city of Weimar. The first mention of it dates back to 1653! In the resort town of Menton on the Cote d'Azur in the French Riviera, citrus fruits have been grown since the 15th century, and the "priority" among them is lemon, which has become a symbol of the city. This is where the lemon festival and fair in France comes from. Wine and grape festivals have ancient roots and their history on different continents. The wine and grape festival, the feast of Dionysus (or Bacchus in Greek mythology), the god of wine and grapes, has been known since ancient times. It was a popular event in ancient Greece and Rome, and its celebration lasted for several days, including religious and religious ceremonies. The Burgundy region in France, which is famous for its vineyards and the production of high-quality wines, holds the primacy among the famous wine and grape festivals in the history of European fairs. The first agricultural fair in the United States was held in 1841 in Syracuse, New York, and it is held annually. In the future, fairs began to accompany the emigrants arriving in America settling in a new land. Fairs flourished in the USA in the 19th century. The second American fair started in Detroit, Michigan. The first nationwide U.S. agricultural fair was held in Syracuse, New York, in 1941. ^[14]. Modern agricultural festivals in Europe are crowded urban events of the largest scale, when the population of cities increases 4-5 times due to the influx of visitors. These events are so large-scale that the word "fair" fades into the background. One large festival consists of several fairs. European agricultural festivals have an international status.^[15]. A huge amount of agricultural products is supplied to European festivals and fairs for sale and cooking of various dishes, however, one culture stands out, which gives the name to the agricultural event ^[15]. Examples of the most popular and well—known agricultural European festivals are the Onion Festival in Germany (the central city of Weimar), the Lemon Festival in France (in the resort town of Menton on the Cote d'Azur), the tomato festival in Spain (Bunol, Valencia), the Grape Harvest Festival in Montmartre (Paris), the Strawberry Festival in Germany. European agricultural festivals are traditionally held in historical sites near ancient castles, which once again proves that such events are a historical tradition dating back several centuries, which, in addition to access to an abundance of agricultural products, is becoming a tourist business.^[16] Another distinctive feature of European agricultural festivals is the construction of huge structures made of fruits. Such gigantic decorations are called "agricultural sculpture". ^[17]. Agricultural festivals in the USA are original in choosing the culture that defines the name of the festival. Garlic Day is celebrated annually across America on April 19th. The days of agricultural fairs, festivals, and exhibitions in the United States are fixed in the calendar, but there may be differences in dates in different states. [18. 19]. On May 21, "Eat More Fruits and Vegetables" Day is celebrated annually in the United States. On February 20, Apple Day is celebrated in the USA. American agricultural festivals are organized both in big cities and in provincial places. The Cranberry Festival in Warrens (September, Wisconsin), the Avocado Festival in Carpinteria (October, California), and the Giant Pumpkin Festival in Tualatin (October, Oregon) are famous for their unusual features. ^[20]. In the United States of America, the organization of an agricultural festival attracts attention, such as a large-scale fruit harvest on farms on their own. Florida is famous for the U-PICK festival, when huge masses of people come and independently pick fruits and berries on farms: the year begins with strawberries, then blueberries, peaches, oranges, etc. Florida is an orange state. And the huge Showcase of Citrus farm is a powerful tourist attraction with attractive entertainment for tourists. In Latin America, the southern part of the continent, agricultural festivals are closely intertwined with the food industry. Since 2008, in September, the capital of Peru, Lima, hosts the gastronomic festival Mistura, an important event for lovers of delicious food. The Mistura Festival gathers an incredible number of people-not thousands or hundreds of thousands, but millions! Mistura attracts people from all over Peru and the surrounding countries. There is a large food market on the territory of the festival, where products from various parts of Peru are presented. In parallel, various entertainment events and concerts by representatives of various regions of Peru are also held. The festival lasts for 10 days, but they have been preparing for it for a whole year, starting from the end of the previous Mistura. Peruvian agriculture and the food industry are turning into the "skeleton" of the entire country. Let's take another example of an agricultural festival that covers an entire country in South America. Brazil's Festa Junina festival starts in June and lasts until September. Festa Junina is a grain harvest festival, but it covers the whole country and attracts the main agricultural crops to the celebration. Brazil accounts for half of South America's economic output. The Agricultural Technology Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is one of the largest in the world. Once again, agricultural developments are merging with the food industry, especially in South America. FIPAN (Sao Paulo, Brazil)— the annual main exhibition of the bakery and confectionery industry and catering enterprises such as restaurants, pizzerias, buffets, etc. ^[20].

Increasing agricultural productivity through the modernization of fair, festival and exhibition agricultural activities.

The descriptive material developed for the article made it possible to identify the distinctive features of agricultural events—fairs, festivals, exhibitions —in Russia and abroad. In history and modern times, the Russian context is more religious than in foreign countries. The only foreign example with deep religious roots in agricultural events is Brazil. The Russian Orthodox Church actively conducts its own fair activities, and agricultural products produced on the monastery grounds make up a significant part of it. The Orthodox honey fairs in Russia are uniquely famous. For 100 years, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church has been holding a festival-fair in the second week after Easter in Rogozhskaya Sloboda. The fair and festival activity of the Russian Orthodox Church and its constituent dioceses throughout Russia is a distinctive feature of Russia. Secular Russian agricultural events are not subject to the dates of the church calendar, in the provincial hinterland there are fairs in honor of the local patron saint. Agricultural events abroad have a greater international visitor potential. Russian agricultural festivals and exhibitions have international status at the level of organization and representation, but visitors are residents of Russia. Visitors from abroad are attracted to fairs and festivals in different countries through tourism. Therefore, agricultural tourism is flourishing in Europe and in both parts of America, and its development is on the rise. Russia does not prioritize the development of agricultural tourism, as they do abroad. Using the example of the International "Green Week" in Berlin, the world's largest exhibition of food, agriculture and horticulture, which has been held since 1926, it is interesting to show the international format of attracting the food industry: the "World Gastronomic Tour", as a thematic area of the agricultural festival, presents exhibitors from 130 countries, which are demonstrated as culinary delicacies — exotic vegetables and fruits, meat and fish dishes according to original recipes, a variety of dairy products, alcoholic beverages with exquisite taste qualities and many other delicious food. Large-scale agricultural gardening festivals are organized abroad: Horti—Contact, the largest Dutch gardening fair; The Flower Hall at the Berlin International Green Week, where flowers and plants are presented to decorate the urban landscape; De Groene Sector Vakbeurs Hardenberg(The Netherlands), an exhibition on gardening, landscape design and public space. Such agricultural festivals pose environmental problems.^[20]. When studying the descriptions of the Agrarmesse Alpen-Adria agricultural exhibition in Austria, for which Austria is teaming up with Slovenia, Italy and Germany, it was interesting to notice a line of attention to agricultural education: students and teachers of agricultural colleges, employees of agricultural research institutes participated in the event. The presentation of the educational and scientific environment is an important socio—cultural factor in demonstrating the level of agricultural development. If we compare the folklore program of agricultural festivals in Russia and abroad, folklore at foreign events retains its traditional historical artistic originality, while folklore in Russia has been modernized or in a modern format. ^[19]. The entertainment complex at foreign events is larger than in Russia, especially typical for agricultural festivals and fairs in the United States. A distinctive feature of the enormity of the entertainment complex in agriculture The United States is aiming for major records in agricultural activity, so there is no emasculation of agricultural labor. The difference between the Russian methodology of conducting agricultural events and the foreign one is also in the choice of location. Especially in Europe, large-scale agricultural festivals like to be held in historical places, on the territory of which an ancient castle is located. It is not typical for Russia to choose a museum venue for an agricultural festival. But in Russia they are trying to "build the scale of an agricultural event from the hinterland"^[21]. This trait is obviously prompted by the vast expanses of Russia. Environmental protests are taking place at foreign agricultural events. In Belgium, at the famous agricultural festival in 2023, the organizers raised the question: "Agriculture, a story without hunger. Let's raise, let's grow, let's pass on our experience." Tensions between farmers and politicians are growing, with farmers regularly staging strikes across the country. The industry is increasingly forced to put environmental issues above production. The number of farms is decreasing.^[22].

The exchange of experience between Russian and foreign agricultural structures will provide productive novelty.

An analytical comparison of agricultural fairs, festivals, and exhibitions has helped identify attractive and productive features for these events. The article is written in the language of a descriptive-comparative scientific style using in the text the presentation of various positions of scientists on the problem under study, characterizing the subject of research, however indirectly, i.e. the views of scientists are shown in the practical implementation and description of the results obtained. The author adheres to the basic point of view: "Practice is the criterion of truth." The second reason for this approach to agricultural science is the small number of monographs with theoretical scientific generalization of the problems posed in the article, there are practically none. However, this conclusion should not be understood as a rebuke to agricultural science. Priority of practice is a feature of the development of scientific agricultural research. Because the origin of agricultural science lies in nature, not in dissertation councils. Moreover, the author of the article does not adhere to the views of other published materials, in which the further development of agricultural activities in Russia should follow foreign experience. The Russian methodology of organizing agricultural fairs, festivals, and exhibitions has useful features for borrowing and needs to be expanded internationally. Examples of useful Russian experience were mentioned in the methodological part of the article, and it should be especially emphasized that Russian events do not drown out agricultural events with an extensive entertainment complex, although it is sufficiently present. In agricultural events in foreign countries, you may notice an overload of the entertainment complex. Then the agricultural festival is already turning into an entertainment festival. The agricultural products and technologies presented for presentation appear more vividly against the background of sites that are structurally designed in proximity to nature. Sophisticated entertainment technologies drown out the natural component of agricultural presentations. In the Russian experience, there is a feature of modernization of traditional historical national features of fair and festival activities, which gives a national touch to agricultural events not in the archaic way, but in a style consistent with modern standards of life and agricultural development. The tradition of fairs, festivals and exhibitions is manifested in the organization of collective trade in a competitive style, and modernity is expressed in filling the content of traditional forms with innovations in the development of agriculture. However, there are attractive features in foreign experience that it is desirable to develop in the Russian organizational methodology: approximation to the tourism sector ^[23], to introduce the opportunity to perform agricultural work in harvesting and sowing, planting, to bring these activities closer to agricultural education, to expand the international format of agricultural enterprises, first with the CIS countries ^[24], and then and further, to introduce more demonstrations of the processing of agricultural products in the food industry, and to show the processing process and results, to develop a culinary line in order to emphasize healthy eating; to expand gardening design activities and not be limited to gardening and the concept of a botanical garden.^[25].

Conclusions of the conducted research.

The relevance of the article is beyond doubt, since fairs, exhibitions, festivals are the most important forms of presentation of agricultural products, establishing important contacts with partners, and a unique place for interaction and communication. Fairs, exhibitions and festivals related to agriculture are unique socio-cultural phenomena that have their roots deep in history both in Russia and abroad. These agricultural activities have historically developed a traditional character. Therefore, they carry a rich research potential and a fertile field for study. In this context, the study of promising vectors of agricultural development at fairs, festivals and exhibitions in Russia and abroad is of scientific interest to the scientific community. The scientific novelty of the research is due to the author's methodology of promising vectors of agricultural development in fairs, festivals and exhibitions in Russia and abroad, which was used in the analysis and description of the results obtained. Fair, festival and exhibition agricultural activities are an important lever in the development of agriculture. Agriculture is rooted in the natural space of civilization, providing the physiological well-being of people with nutrition, showing the best environmental working conditions, expanding the fertility of nature itself. Agricultural activity comprehensively fits into the socio-economic and socio-cultural spheres, and the number of vectors of its integration into various spheres of life is increasing. The food industry and ecology are close to agriculture. Success in agriculture is the main criterion for the correctness of environmental policy. The research conducted in the presented initiatives focuses on the idea: "We live in the same natural world of the planet. And the more successful our wise and kind experience of using this vast natural space is, the closer the idea of well-being and effective cooperation with nature will become to us." To the conclusions from the studied material for this article, we will add the source material. There are few books, monographs, and articles in the literature on agricultural topics on the methodology of agricultural events, especially such as fairs, festivals, and exhibitions. There is literature with purely private issues, local topics. And in conclusion, we note that for the development of agriculture, one cannot limit oneself to events timed to the appointed time. Any seemingly successful event should be based on the entire life context, the structure of which corresponded to the general principles of organizing agricultural activities: planning, complexity, optimality, balance, integration and rhythm. Such a structure of the life context can be created by the annual agricultural calendar, developed in connection with the territorial location of agricultural complexes and the climatic diversity of our vast country. There are, of course, examples. Watermelon Day is celebrated annually on August 3. The festival is held vividly in Astrakhan, the "watermelon capital of Russia", in Sol-Iletsk, Orenburg region. In November 2024, the Russian Wine Forum was held in Moscow. However, such events did not become a rhythmic tradition and did not gain a foothold. The materials of this study are intended for a wide range of readership, they can be interesting and used by scientists for scientific purposes, teachers in the educational process, management, employees of ministries, departments, enterprises and organizations responsible for agriculture, organizers of exhibitions, fairs, festivals, consultants in various fields related to agriculture. agriculture, sociologists involved in the analysis of agricultural production and food processing, analysts and experts in relevant socio-economic fields.