PROBLEMS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMEN OF AGRO-FOOD COM-PLEX IN THE FACE OF NEW CHALLENGES

Abstract

The issues of sustainable functioning of the agro-food complex and ensuring the country's food security are especially relevant in the face of new challenges. Sanctions pressure on the Russian economy requires the development and implementation of new approaches and solutions to the state economic policy. The agro-food complex is able to become one of the main directions for restructuring and restoring the national economy in modern conditions. The origin and gradual expansion of the interpretation of the term "sustainable development" from certain aspects of the exploitation of natural resources to issues of global ecology and socio-economic balance are traced. The essence of the sustainability of agro-food systems is revealed, which consists in their ability to consistently ensure the economic and physical availability of the required volume of high-quality and healthy food against the background of various external and internal challenges. The current risks of sustainable development of agro-food systems, which include many interconnected links, are shown. Various types of negative impacts on agri-food systems are traced, differentiated by nature and intensity, including those leading to significant disruptions that disrupt the balanced functioning of value chains. Intensive farming and the introduction of new approaches to value chain management have been justified as an important area for improving the sustainability of agri-food systems.

Particular attention is paid to the problems and prospects for the functioning of small forms of business in the agro-food complex as an important factor in increasing the sustainability of agri-food systems. The significant role of small business in the agro-food complex is shown not only in the production of agricultural products and food products, but also in the implementation of environmental, social and cultural functions, as well as in the conservation of biodiversity, the natural landscape, the continuity of traditional knowledge of rural society. The importance of facilitating the access of small agribusiness to new marketing opportunities based on direct contacts between consumers and producers, the development of inclusive measures to support small businesses for their inclusion in the value chains of the agro-food complex was emphasized.