Abstract: This article examines the role and functional importance of the private subsidiary farming in the life of Russian rural residents. Collectivization of agriculture conducted in 1930’s had significant in its scale consequences; first and foremost – the alienation of peasant population from land. Just a small private farmstead simply helped to survive and provide basic needs. The social and structural reforms of 1990’s in agricultural sector actualized private farming as the means of survival. The article leans on the analysis of sociological surveys carried out in the Republic of Buryatia, using the method of questionnaire. The results confirmed the theses of multiple Russian researchers on the occupation of rural population in private farming as a distinct adaptive strategy in the conditions of economic crisis and escalating unemployment. The article also verifies the conclusions on law marketability of such farmsteads due to the lack of necessary financial and material resources of their owners for achieving the new production capacities. The important sociocultural role of private farming aimed at support of agricultural communities and development of rural territories in modern Russia is underlined.