The article analyzes the dependence of the agricultural production reduction at the present stage in connection with the aggravation of environmental problems caused by the influence of active and often irrational activities in the agricultural sector. In Russia the main negative processes leading to land degradation, soil and vegetation cover are: water and wind erosion, overwatering and water-logging, saturation, salinization and alkalinization. Many of these trends are observable in the Tambov region. The emerging economic mechanism is characterized by a lack of commercial interest in the rational use of land resources and, accordingly, of the funds earmarked for environmental measures. The development of agriculture in present- day conditions has to involve a range of varied activities to ensure lands protection from erosion and at the same time their high productivity. For integrated assessment of agrotechnical erosion-preventive measures the author’s interpretation of the environmental and economic efficiency definition has been offered. In the first stage the economic effectiveness of the implemented measures is determined from economic position that is characterized by additional net income. The second stage is determined by environmental benefits as the savings to restore lost soil fertility. In the third phase ecological-economic effectiveness of the complex of measures implemented as the sum of economic and environmental effects is determined. In order to avoid soil depletion and to improve its fertility persistently, to make the harvest sustainable, the nutrient balance should be only positive. This should form the basis for effective cultivation of agricultural crops and rational use of land by erosion preventing.