Opportunities to involve unused agricultural land in the turnover in the regions of the Northwestern Federal District

. In the regions of the Northwestern Federal District, as well as in the whole country, almost every year there is a reduction in the area of agricultural land and arable land. An important problem remains the non-use of agricultural land for their intended purpose. Identification and return to circulation of unused agricultural land, primarily arable land, is an important socio-economic task in almost all regions of the Northwestern Federal District. The mechanism of regulating land relations should be aimed not only at solving the problems of effective use of land resources to achieve the projected growth rates of agricultural production, but also at solving social problems of the territory, improving the quality of life of the rural population. Rational use of agricultural land implies that land use should not only be economically efficient for the agricultural producer, but also from the point of view of the neo-endogenous approach to promote the development of rural areas. The purpose of this study is taking into account the diversification of the rural economy, to explore the possibilities of involving unused agricultural land in the NWFD regions. Methods. The paper uses the following research methods: monographic, abstract-logical, economic-statistical. The reports of Rosstat, Rosreestr, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and information of regional level management bodies became the information and empirical base. The scientific novelty lies in the formulation and solution of the question of the need and possibility of involving unused agricultural land in the regions of the Northwestern Federal District in the turnover. Results. As a result of the study, the long-term negative consequences of the reduction of agricultural land, the problems of putting unused land into circulation were identified, measures were proposed to eliminate them in order to effectively use the land resources of rural territories and redistribution in the interests of efficient economic entities.