[orthoxerox]

Yes, and no one sane invests into agriculture around Moscow when there's much more warmer and fertile land down south. Factory farms and greenhouses? Yes, certainly, but this is driven by the food demands of a massive metropolis next door: move east or west far enough to offset this benefit and you will see scenes of rural decay.

[decimalenough]

That's because small-scale farming is not sufficient profitable, not because it's not possible. You can find scenes of rural decay in most any industrialized country.

[cyberax]

Plenty of people invest in agriculture around Moscow. That's why Russia is one of the leaders in food exports.

To be fair, the bulk of the most productive Russian agricultural lands actually ends around Moscow's latitude.