The article dealt comprehensively with the production and consumption of dairy products in one of the rapidly progressing regions of the Russian Federation in terms of the rate of development of dairy cattle breeding over the past five years; The priority nature of the social purpose of milk products in solving the interrelated problems of development of milk-and-food sub-complex is justified; Reveals the social dimension of dairy production and consumption; The high degree of correlation between the level of nutrition and demographic indicators of reproduction of the population of the Kaluga region is reflected; The causal relationships of cyclical development of dairy cattle breeding of Kaluga region over the last fifty years have been analyzed; The differentiation of households of the Kaluga region by the level of consumption of dairy products for 1996-2018 was investigated; The results of sociological surveys of the population for preferences in the purchase of dairy products are given; The contradictory influence of the Moscow metropolis on the level of production and consumption of dairy products in neighbouring regions has been revealed; Issues of export-import policy of Kaluga region in the field of food are touched upon; The necessity and possibility of using social and economic instruments to regulate the milk market is argued; The capacity of the Kaluga region to increase milk in the nearest area has been justified; Preliminary calculations of step-by-step achievement of raw milk production volumes of 1 million tons by the Kaluga region are given.
The development potential of cattle breeding is considered as the sector’s ability to organize the reproduction process, ensuring the maintenance of optimal structural proportions and adjusting the functioning in accordance with the changes in the operational environment. The features of its formation and use are determined by the specifics of the organization of reproduction of the herd and the forage base of the sector; differences in the structure of investments in projects for the development of dairy and beef cattle breeding; significant differences in the efficiency of livestock production; differentiation of territories according to the sector development conditions; heterogeneity of development potentials among business entities of various categories. The development potential of cattle breeding is largely determined by the development level of the market for milk and meat of cattle and their processed products. The degree of this influence is affected by: relatively high localization of livestock product markets, differences in territories in terms of the self-sufficiency level of livestock products and the structure of the agricultural sector, the decrease in demand for it, underutilization of milk and meat processing capacities associated with high level of saturation of dairy and meat products markets, which remains import dependence of domestic cattle milk and meat markets, maintaining high proportion of milk and meat consumed omitting the exchange stage, insufficient competitiveness of the domestic cattle products. To ground the forecast parameters of the sector development, the method of exponential smoothing with a damped trend is used. The performed calculations indicate the tension, but the realism of the indicators for the development of dairy cattle, set by the Strategy for the region development, while the possibility of reaching the specified parameters for increasing the livestock of specialized meat breeds is considered unrealizable.
It is wrong to narrow the digitalization of agriculture to the development of agricultural robots and the use of artificial intelligence. Digital agriculture should be based on the intention to increase productivity/ profitability in agricultural production through the use of agricultural data. The starting point for presenting this approach to understanding digital agriculture was the concept of agricultural technology and the use of systems and historical methods. The article gives definitions of digital agricultural technology and digital agriculture, provides the structure of the latter. Further, the development of agriculture is analyzed from the point of view of changing the concept of a manufactured product and expanding the boundaries of economic sectors in the era of the enormous influence of digital technologies: product – smart product – smart connected product – product system/ cyber-physical system – system of systems/ system of cyber-physical systems. The dynamics of the development of agricultural technologies are also considered in the framework of such concepts as the technological paradigm of the industry, radical and revolutionary innovations. So, at present, digital agriculture has the potential to revolutionize the technological paradigm of agriculture, however, in order to put it into practice, certain challenges must be overcome.
The growth of the potential of agriculture and rural agriculture and their development is one of the most important ways to ensure the economic security of the State. In the regions of agrarian specialization, rural territories perform productive, demographic, labour and spatial communication functions, stimulate the growth of the competitiveness of the economy and ensure food security. In modern conditions, strategic planning is the most important instrument for the formation of topical goals and tasks of socio-economic development of rural areas, both at the level of the country as a whole and of individual agrarian-oriented regions. In the process of planning it is necessary to form parameters of probable scenarios of development of rural economy, which should become a driver of growth for many sectors and sectors of the domestic economic system. Agricultural industry organizations, now key economic actors with the bulk of the able-bodied rural population, have to deal in the short term with such problems as the development of new markets for products and agricultural raw materials; Building sustainable links on mutually beneficial terms with food industry; Limited resources of small and medium-sized agricultural producers for the development of promising developments and technologies; Lack of interaction with educational institutions and the scientific community. There is therefore a need in modern realities to establish a mechanism for the integrated development of rural areas, which gives an active role to State authorities, based on an integrated inter-agency approach in achieving the planned values of targets and implementing programme activities.
In order to stimulate agri-food exports, Russia is forming an appropriate set of measures of a financial and non-financial nature. These measures are program-targeted and infrastructural in nature, designed to provide exporters with resources to support the competitiveness of their products. The article describes the mechanisms of state export support of the Russian Federation, their goals and directions of activity. Recommendations are offered on improving the effectiveness of state measures to stimulate agricultural exports of the Russian Federation in modern conditions. The article also analyzes measures to support the agri-food export of foreign countries (USA, EU and Canada). The problems and obstacles in the development of domestic agricultural exports are identified. It has been established that the most effective development of national agricultural exports is carried out with a combination of program and institutional methods for its management. The paper gives examples of providing state support to national exporters of agricultural products: credit insurance, opening a credit line, reimbursement of costs for transportation of products, the introduction of uniform certification rules. The conclusion is made about the unstable development of national exports of agricultural products due to the lack of a significant increase in export volumes and the invariance of its geographical structure. During the study, the following methods were used: comparative, tabular interpretation of data, logical, historical, deduction and induction, analysis and synthesis.
It is shown that the main obstacle to the wide spread of innovations is the imperfection of the institutional environment: the lack of necessary rules and regulations of innovation in agriculture; the fragmentation of the activities of scientific, training and other organizations; inefficient work of consulting organizations available only in a few regions; weak influence of the authorities on this. It is shown that the problem lies in the slightly changed perceptions of people who make and implement decisions on the development of innovative activities, on the need for radical changes in the organization of innovative activities. The importance of the legal support of such activities in the new competitive environment is shown, since it is under the influence of laws that most people start master and implement the new behaviour necessary for a new stage in the development of social relations in general and rural whom the economy in particular. Accordingly, the work substantiates the need for decentralization of the state organizational and economic impact on the innovative development of agriculture in Russia. It is shown that for this it is necessary to increase the significance of the subjects of the Russian Federation. It is advisable to create regional funds for agricultural development in them. It is necessary to develop agricultural consulting in the part of ensuring the adaptation of innovations to the conditions of activity of agricultural businesses and bringing to all these businesses technological instructions for implementing innovations and more. The necessity of legislative zing the activities of these funds and other key participants in the innovative development of agriculture, material support for this activity, changing legal relations between participants in the creation, testing and large-scale dissemination of innovations in agriculture, training them in these innovations is substantiated.
The investigation is aimed at determining the most effective lines and mechanisms of stimulating the investment activity in agriculture with an account of the regional context. The changes made in the mechanisms and instruments of the state support of Agro industrial Complex within the departmental project of “The Stimulation of Investment Activity in Agro industrial Complex” had a positive impact on attraction of private investments in agriculture. The index of actual volume of investments in fixed capital totalled 121.5‰ from the level of 2015. However, the budget funds allocated on the support of investments are still not linked to the production indicators of the regions, they do not contribute to reducing the differentiation of economic entities and certain territories in investment of agricultural production. In 2018 the share of the Siberian Federal District (SFD) in soft investment loans constituted as little as 3.4‰ of the total loan amount, in subsidies on the reimbursement of the part of direct incurred expenses on construction and modernization of the dairy complexes (farms) – 14.4‰, on the greenhouse complexes – 4.9‰, respectively, that is well below the contribution of the District in the production of agricultural produce. The mechanism of state support of technical re-equipment of agro industrial production has been considered. The necessity of stimulating the private investments by elaborating the complex investment projects (programs) of development of agribusiness with the participation of not only large but also medium and small-sized enterprises has been substantiated. Their implementation should be carried out on the basis of project management and the financing of the projects – on the principles of the public-private partnership.
On the basis of a synthesis of domestic and foreign experience in the development of reindeer husbandry, indicators for assessing the effectiveness of reindeer husbandry were systematized and factors affecting efficiency were analysed. The effect on efficiency of breeding type, size and structure of herd, diversification of production, fodder base, selection work, channels of sale of products, etc., is shown. According to 18 farms of the Altay Territory, the impact of reindeer husbandry on the profitability of organizations is shown. In order to increase the efficiency of reindeer husbandry, comprehensive development of production, processing and marketing of products is necessary. In order to control the increase in the number of deer and to preserve pasture from overgrazing, subsidies must be allocated for the actual number of deer within the permissible number.
Increased food consumption increases the need for feed and the need to increase the economic efficiency of food production. Of particular importance is the increase in the production of dairy, meat and other livestock products, the basis of which is effective fodder production. Fodder production provided fodder for livestock production and, in addition, increased crop productivity in crop production through the use of crop companies, as well as the preservation of land and soil fertility. The article analyzes the volume of production, cost and financial results from the sale of feed crops in collective farms of the Irkutsk region on average for 2015-2017. The study focused on the nutritional value of fodders and the analysis of their cost when converting fodders to the same value in terms of protein. In addition, the impact of feed crop yields on cost was analyzed. Based on the study, it was concluded that it is necessary to develop, strengthen and improve fodder production by increasing the volume of production and improving the quality of produced fodders. Investments in feed processing and infrastructure facilities are urgently needed for this industry. The development of fodder production is possible only if technical modernization is provided at all stages of fodder production.
For modern domestic agricultural production, the development of service infrastructure and new organizational forms of service for agricultural producers becomes essential. Specifics of infrastructure of maintenance of agricultural machinery, cars and the equipment in Altai Krai are shown, the main problems of its development connected with seasonality of agricultural work in crop production, the level of financial stability of business and conditions of interaction of producers and recipients of services are revealed. One of the main reasons for this situation is the low purchasing power of the agricultural business. Technical service services include information about equipment, operations for its sale, repair, installation and adjustment, maintenance, storage of machines, provision of spare parts, materials, disposal, etc. They are provided by institutions and organizations of infrastructure, including manufacturers, intermediaries, including dealers of these plants, repair plants, maintenance stations, information search systems, reference, advertising and information and consulting services and others. This system is based on manufacturers. In the Altay region, the only region of Siberia, the tractor production of the full cycle, including harvesting, metallurgical, assembly segments and engine production, was formed, a cluster of agricultural mechanical engineering was created, which included research institutions. The main directions of solving the identified problems are defined, which are based on legal and organizational aspects of their interaction and taking into account the specialization of infrastructure facilities and their dependence, including on the location of production of certain cultures.