Scientific Journal of KubSAU

The level of competitiveness of the agricultural sector depends on the effective implementation of the import substitution policy and food security in the region in which all categories of the population at any one time must have physical and economic opportunities needed to get enough and safe food for an active, full and healthy life. In this context, the problem of increasing the competitiveness of regional agriculture in the new economic environment is relevant. Competitiveness characterizes the concentrated expression of the totality of possibilities of managing subjects of agriculture produce and to bring the products (goods, works, services) to the consumer. Solving the problem of increasing the competitiveness of regional agriculture is closely linked to an increase in the effectiveness of the quality management of products, increasing profitability of production, improving the system of state regulation of the agrarian sector of the economy. Principles of creation of an effective mechanism of state regulation and support the competitiveness of the agro-industrial complex include: agro-industrial protectionism; program-targeted regulation and maintenance of the guaranteed state support for agribusiness; efficient use of resources. The priority areas to ensure the competitiveness of regional agriculture are: to create conditions for the development of innovation and investment environment, the improvement of financial and economic state of the industry and agribusiness organizations, improvement of state support of the agrarian sector mechanisms

There was substantiated the economic reasonability of intraeconomic combined food production effectiveness with the use of extruding method allowing to decrease specific costs and to increase the production profitability of livestock produce

Trade relations are one of the key areas of cooperation between Russia and the European Union countries. However, prospects of trade and economic cooperation development between the countries in conditions of geopolitical instability have been insufficiently studied, which explains the relevance of the research topic. In this work, there are analyzed changes in the structure of exports and imports of the Russian Federation and the EU within the period 2009-2014, revealed Russia's dependence on supplies of food and high-tech equipment, which are included in the sanctions list. There was substantiated the expediency of the accelerated modernization of domestic material base, active development of innovative environment and creation of conditions for enhancing public-private partnership in the investment sphere. Calculation of the economic and financial losses of the Russian Federation and the EU because of the sanctions regime and food embargo showed significant dependence of the economies of each other. The analysis of the development tendencies in trade relations between Russia and the EU has identified the main challenges in the development of foreign trade between countries: restriction of opportunities to attract foreign investment; curbing exports; devaluation of the national currency and increasing inflation. The main proposals that can strengthen trade relations between the EU and Russia are highlighted: the abolition of the bilateral restrictions; development of a new juridical framework; establishment within the Federal Assembly ad hoc committees on the regulation of relations with the EU in order to specify the main goals and objectives of the strategic partnership, creation of conditions for their implementation; speeding up the adjustment of the Russian legislation to international standards in the framework of Russia's membership in WTO

The article has revealed an interconnection between the volume of agricultural production and its efficiency in general, as well as between the volume and efficiency of milk production in particular. The authors have also marked reasons of agricultural integration both abroad and in Russia, highlighted the main factors that influence integration processes in diary subcomplex and criteria of their effectiveness assessment. The authors have studied the influence of specialization and concentration level of milk on the economic efficiency of production and sale of raw milk; confirmed the existence of direct dependence between the level of production concentration and the volume of material incentives for operators of machine milking; fulfilled classification of integrated structures on the main criteria; they have made an economic-mathematical model of the influence of factors on the selling price of milk, based on regression analysis; justified the assertion of the distortion of the law of supply and demand in the conditions of monopolization of raw milk market, which is manifested in direct relationship between sales volumes and selling prices; found a statistically significant effect of milk quality on the price, the level of concentration of its production, dairy livestock industry specialization and volume of served livestock

The study does a comprehensive analysis of the milk market in Russia and Krasnodar territory under conditions of a food embargo; defines the influence of the food embargo on the possibility of import substitution of milk and dairy products , and does an assessment of factors affecting the increase in the efficiency and competitiveness of the dairy sector, including the quality characteristics of the products, the possibilities of using natural milk substitutes, the environmental safety of raw milk. The study gives the estimation of milk self-sufficiency in Russia and identifies the opportunities to compensate for the missing volume. There has been done a comparative analysis of the subjects of the Russian Federation in terms of development indexes in the industry of dairy cattle breeding in the agricultural organizations, which found competitive advantages of Leningrad Region in milk yield per cow and Vologda region in feed conversion. The study reveals poorly equipped genetic testing laboratories and animal breeding quality control of milk in most regions of the Russian Federation . It states that the economic crisis in Russia has caused acceleration of inflation and a rise in prices for milk and dairy products in the consumer market; the purchasing power of incomes of the population (commercial equivalent - drinking milk) has declined. In order to develop the milk market and the implementation of policies of import substitution it is necessary to improve the system of state regulation of the agrarian sector, including the creation of favorable conditions for the development of public-private partnership, ensuring the availability of credit resources, the adaptation of the regulatory framework governing the market relations in the agrarian sector, support for high-performance production sites, as well as the implementation of the policy of agricultural protectionism.