FUNDAMENTALS OF FOREST NURSERY ECONOMICS

The relevance of the study of the economic organization of forest nurseries is explained by the need to include this type of activity in the forest economy. The underdevelopment of the economic mechanism of state forest nurseries entails ineffective and irrational spending of financial resources, imperfect economic relations between producers of forest planting material and its consumers. Domestic forest legislation does not classify forest nurseries as an independent type of forestry activity, equating them to territories on which land, forest plots intended for growing forest planting material are located. This simplified approach underestimates the role of forest nurseries in forest reproduction, slows down the development of the nursery economy and is of little use for modern forest seed centers, which are a full-fledged property complex that includes all types of property intended for its activities, including land and forest plots, buildings, structures, equipment, inventory, etc. The purpose of the study is to justify the need to apply basic economic categories in the production of forest planting material in forest nurseries, presenting the latter as an independent type of economic activity in forestry. The source materials were regional industry reporting, reflecting both quantitative and qualitative indicators of forest nursery activities, scientific research in the field of design and organization of forest planting material production. The hypothesis of the study is that all economic categories inherent in industrial production are applicable to a forest nursery, taking into account the specifics of the organization of the nursery. Forest nurseries are a miniature model of forestry, where the main means of production is land, and the difference lies only in the terms of growing the finished product. To achieve the set goal, theoretical research methods were used in the work, which at the initial stage most fully correspond to the topic of the study and the tasks set. With the help of such methods, it is possible to generalize and systematize the collected material for its further detailed study. The analysis of the obtained quantitative data on forest nurseries of the country allowed them to be classified according to various characteristics: natural, economic and legal. Using the formalization method, the economic essence of forest nurseries was substantiated, similar in content to the basic economic categories with industrial activity. Research results: the characteristics of the production activity of a forest nursery were identified, which made it possible to apply basic economic categories in relation to this type of specific activity; the production of planting material in forest nurseries was considered from an economic point of view; forest nurseries are divided by organizational and legal forms, classification features of forest nurseries of various forms of ownership are indicated; basic economic categories that form the economy of a forest nursery are identified: products, cost price, prices, profitability, etc.