Not far from Moscow: Phenomenology of suburban farming

The article presents an example of case study of practices of agricultural producers working not in the rural hinterland with the statistical majority of such producers but near Moscow. The authors conducted fi studies with the method of participant observation, which allowed them to see and record the overall picture of economic practices of farmers working near the megalopolis. The study showed that, as a rule, such practices are based on the specifi motivation and activity of suburban farmers, who strive to create a special ‘architecture’ from their self-organization initiatives. Based on the traditions of phenomenological sociology, the authors show the reader “phenomenology of suburban farming”. The suggested analytical perspective is somewhat diff from those popular in today’s research projects focusing on farming and social-economic trends and analyzing primarily organization-economic parameters of farms, the impact of state support and investment policy on increasing their competitiveness and ensuring opportunities for further development. In the fi study, the authors focused on both economic and social-cultural practices of farmers working in the immediate vicinity of Moscow. This approach and step-by-step tracking of productive eff of such farmers revealed the construction of rural-urban worlds on the example of the Moscow Region, in which suburban farmers produce not only various environmentally friendly agricultural products in demand by metropolitan residents but also a variety of recreational services. The originality of the study is determined by the fact that such cases are quite few in contemporary sociological research. In the fi study of the activities of suburban farmers, the authors observed a daily regime of real involvement in economic practices, which contributed to establishing trusting contacts with respondents.