Intensive development of the transport network and protection of the agricultural land

Productive land, which primarily includes agricultural land, in any country in the globe, always had special status since they are the basis of the country's food security. The tasks of identifying, recording and preserving land from misuse, depletion, and degradation are in priority when pursuing a state land policy. Recently, these issues have become particularly important due to the high rates of land depletion and degradation, urbanization, industrial and mining development. The most fertile land in Russia classified as the most valuable agricultural land. After analyzing the situation with the definition, recording, and protection of such land in the Russian Federation, the authors concluded that the country does not have clear, objective criteria and methodological approaches for identifying the most valuable land, as well as mechanisms for their protection. This paper provides the basic principles, methodological approaches and the results of the work on the identification and allocation of the most valuable land in agriculture and transport sector of Siberia. Land of 1-5 classes one way or another should be protected from unreasonable withdrawal from agricultural use, land of 6-8 classes may be provided for the development of transport. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.