ИСТИНА

The analysis of two Russian regions is presented: Moskovskaya oblast' and Tul'skaya oblast'. On the quantitative side we use regression analysis. For dependent variable we use the Soil Institutes' questionnaire results, where experts pointed what is the share of degraded agricultural land in the district s of observable regions. For independent variables we use the economic data of Russian statistical agency for large and medium agricultural enterprises for these districts respectively. Regression results show that for Moskovskaya oblast' the statistically significant variables are: total cropland, fallow land, grain and potato yields. All with positive signs. For Tul'skaya oblast' the total cropland and fallow land variables are statistically insignificant, but particularly grain yields and grain crop area are statistically significant and positively influence the increase of degradation areas inside region's districts. We also should mention that total costs per 1 hectare of cropland are statistically insignificant for Moskovskaya oblast' and statistically significant for Tul'skaya oblast'. This is due to the fact that Tul'skaya oblast' is a more developed agricultural region with grain specialization. Moskovskaya oblast' is also has developed agricultural farms, but due to high costs of land and other inpu ts they are loosing their competitiveness to farm products from other Russian regions, thus the number of farms is decreasing. For Tul'skaya oblast' the land degradation drivers come from agricultural activities. But for Moskovskaya oblast' land degradatio n is a result of using the land for building cottage instead of agriculture. On the qualitative side we analyze literature and see that for Moskovskaya oblast' the increase of poisonous cow - parsnip areas, not typical for this region, is also a land degrada tion factor. And for Tul'skaya oblast' we learned that manufacture and chemical pollution are a danger for the lands in the region. Keywords: land degradation, economic factors, cropland, intensification, environmental pollution