Digitalization of the Russian Agro-Industrial Complex: Modern Trends and Development Problems

Abstract

The study’s relevance is determined by the fact that digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex will help to cope with the global and national challenges facing agro-industrial production in Russia. This paper will explore the factors influencing the digitalization of the agro-industrial complex. The study hypothesizes that the existing institutional environment and unavoidable risks of the digital gap present the main obstacles to the digital transformation of the Russian agro-industrial complex. The study employs the following research methods in the framework of the evolutionary approach: structural and functional, temporal and spatial, comparative and documentary analysis, along with statistical and graphical techniques. Special attention in the research methods was paid to drawing a comparison between the digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex in Russia and on a global scale. By using the proposed methods, analyzing trends and institutional backing for digital transformation in the agro-industrial complex is possible. Consequently, the factors and conditions that cause and lessen the digital divide in Russia’s agricultural sector were determined. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the identification and analysis of digital gaps (industrial, intra-industrial, time-related, human resource, social, market, and transformational ones) that inhibit the digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex. In this research, the authors prove that bridging these digital gaps will expedite the agro-industrial complex’s shift to Agriculture 4.0 in Russia.