Criminal law protection of soil and the means of production in agriculture

The subject of the study are the norms of criminal and administrative law, providing for the liability for damage to land (soils). The purpose of the research is to formulate conclusions and proposals on improving legal regulation in this area based on the analysis of federal legislation. The relevance of the research topic is evidenced by the fact that, on the one hand, agriculture is of great importance for ensuring food security in Russia, and on the other hand, this type of anthropogenic activity is one of the significant pollutants of the environment, while such an important component of the natural environment as soil (land) is experiencing a huge burden from agriculture. Thus, the protection of the natural environment as a whole and its individual components in agriculture is an important task. Accordingly, the improvement of legal regulation in this area will contribute not only to improving the level of nature protection, but also to ensuring the country's food security. The paper draws a number of conclusions and proposals aimed at improving the effectiveness of criminal liability. Thus, in order to significantly expand the scope of Article 254 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as well as increase its environmental potential, it is proposed to use the following wording of Part 1 of the article 254: "Soil pollution or damage as a result of economic or other activities that have caused harm to human health or the environment." The use of the term "pollution" will make it possible to include in criminal acts not only pollution with dangerous substances, but also other types of it, for example, energy pollution, the term "spoilage", in turn, will imply some other negative impact on the soil, for example, the destruction of its fertile layer.

agriculture, pesticides, agrochemicals, soil, soil pollution, legal liability, criminal liability, administrative liability, environment, environmental offenses