Subject. Functional and structural changes in the management system of economic processes are required to improve the efficiency of economic entities, to balance supply and demand, to promote sustainable development of the entire agri-food complex, and to ensure socio-economic balance of regional changes in the design and implementation of the development strategy. These changes are based on up-to-date management technologies and development tools. Objectives. To develop theoretical, methodological, and conceptual aspects of sustainable growth management and balanced development of the agro-industrial complex and rural area ecosystem under the conditions of social and economic transformation, as well as to develop a mechanism for a unified platform of ecosystem elements in order to achieve its efficiency and financial sustainability. The mechanism is based on the methods of analysis, evaluation, and modelling. Methodology. While preparing this article and conducting the study, the authors used the following general scientific methods and their corresponding techniques: abstraction, generalisation, analogy, dialectical method, and etc. The system approach was used to formulate conclusions and generalise the results of the study. The research methods are based on the theoretical provisions of regional and spatial economics, as well as strategic management. The key feature of the research methodology is the approach that determines the formation and implementation of the strategy of socio-economic development of the agro-industrial complex and rural areas in stages. It is a step-by-step process, which allows for timely adjustment of strategic actions. The methodological framework is formed on the principles of complex development analysis using a set of theories, standard techniques and methods (dialectical, causal, and statistical data processing), calculation of integral indicators, and expert assessments, etc. Conclusions. Sustainable development of agro-economic systems and rural areas is largely determined by the need to substantiate absolutely new organisational-and-management and organisational-and-economic solutions for the localisation of factors of food security and food independence, climatic and social changes, state agrarian policy, forms of support for the agrarian industry, and international status. The authors contributed to the theoretical and methodological approach to the ecosystem development by considering these systems in the context of the evolutionary development of technological paradigms of forms of economic activity as models of the highest production efficiency of the synergy of object, structural, process, and innovation components.