The need for the transition of the Russian agro-industrial complex to a qualitatively new level of technological development, which fully meets the current challenges and contradictions, has become more apparent. The research presents a review of the most promising innovative technologies of agro-industrial production, the introduction of which in the Russian AIC will increase the competitiveness of Russian food on the foreign market, positively affect the efficiency of environmental management, and reduce anthropogenic risks. The consideration of the advanced foreign experience in improving the sustainability of national food systems through the use of innovations in the resource provision of food production, expanding the use of remote channels of sale of food products, digitalization of customs procedures, and monitoring the safety and quality of goods in the implementation of export-import operations allowed the author to identify the most pressing areas of the Russian economy and propose a set of measures that can be used during the creation of a national food ecosystem.
TopIntroduction
The global transformations caused by the permanent instability of the epidemiological situation in various regions of the world and, consequently, the disruption of world economic relations have brought humanity to the threshold of a new technological mode of international economic relations. In particular, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to modernize national agricultural and food production and distribution systems.
It is widely known that the development of the global food industry is characterized by heterogeneity and is correlated from country to country depending on the level of economic development. Having come a long way in its evolution, from traditional farming to the “biotechnological revolution” and “high-precision agriculture,” agricultural production has now entered a new stage of scientific and technological development, which involves a large-scale digitalization of the value-added process and cross-border trade mechanisms (Funabashi, 2018).
The requirement implemented by several major players in the world food market for complete traceability of production chains and logistics of imported products, accompanied by increasingly clear prospects for the introduction of total electronic document management, stimulates the process of exporting food far beyond the traditional models of foreign economic activity and e-commerce to a qualitatively new technological format, the general principles of which are currently being formulated (European Commission, n.d.; General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China [GACC], 2021).
Humankind has accumulated a vast body of scientific research on the digitalization of virtually every aspect of food production (Gindele & Doluschitz, 2018; Lovchikova & Alpatov, 2020). However, it should be noted that the subject matter of the vast majority of works in this area mainly refers to the area of innovative technological support of the highest possible level of production of these products with minimal resource costs to reduce the anthropogenic impact on the ecosystem and refers to the segment of the national economy.
Simultaneously, the current realities of cross-border trade imply an increasing degree of “transparency” of the production cycles of goods at all stages of value-added formation and the entire range of logistics processes up to the arrival to the final consumer (European Commission, n.d.). This fact, together with the increasing practice of restricting imports of goods that do not meet the host country’s geographical indications, quality and type of used raw materials, safety, and other criteria (GACC, 2021), encourages countries to modernize domestic policies to support exports of national agro-industrial enterprises in the international market and involves strengthening the cooperation of the business community with government agencies.
When considering possible ways to improve the competitiveness of Russian food products, the author proposes to identify two complementary blocks, which involve the digitalization, on the one hand, of production processes, and, on the other hand, the activities associated with the cross-border promotion of national products.
Given the above, the research aims to identify the most promising areas for innovation for the Russian economy through studying the best international practices in the digitalization of national food systems, the implementation of which will increase the sustainability of the food system of Russia and contribute to the competitiveness of Russian-made food in foreign markets.
To achieve this goal, the author set and consistently solved the following problems:
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To analyze the best practices of advanced economies in the digitalization of the national food system;
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To identify the most promising innovative technologies for the production of agricultural raw materials and food products;
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Based on the study of Russian and foreign academic literature, to identify factors that impede the effectiveness of national agricultural production through the introduction of innovative technologies and management methods;
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To define a set of measures necessary for the successful digitalization of Russian agriculture;
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To propose a version of the concept of digitalization of the Russian agro-industrial complex.