The government has updated the strategy for digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex until 2030

The government has updated the strategy for the digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex until 2030 – against the backdrop of exceeding the requirements of the food safety doctrine, the agricultural authorities can engage in systemic development of the industry. Plans, in particular, include the introduction of high-tech developments into the agro-industrial complex, the potential for use of which in the agricultural sector is high, but is complicated by a lack of qualified personnel and dependence on imported software. In order to link the modernization of the sector with economic development, in 2024 the Ministry of Agriculture will create a unified digital platform that will connect the department’s information systems with the digital circuit of the government. The information infrastructure of agricultural regulators is one of the most developed, but it was created back in the 2010s and for tasks not related to the digitalization of public administration as a whole.

By order No. 3309-r of November 23, 2023, the government updated the Strategy for the development of the agro-industrial and fishery complexes of the Russian Federation until 2030, head of government Mikhail Mishustin announced yesterday at a meeting with deputy prime ministers. The document clarifies the prospects for the use of new technologies in the sector: we are talking, for example, about the development of automatic irrigation and watering systems, affordable unmanned vehicles for cultivating fields, as well as the collection of satellite data on soils and aquatic biological resources in order to ensure sustainable development of the sector and maintain the current level self-sufficiency of the Russian Federation with food (the indicators of the food security doctrine have been achieved, and the goals in some areas have even been exceeded; see Kommersant on July 4).

The penetration of “digital” into the production sector of the agro-industrial complex will significantly increase its productivity, freeing up some personnel; experts previously noted that the agricultural sector, due to these processes, will experience the smallest personnel shortage and can become a reserve for other industries with a shortage of workers (see “Kommersant” from December 4th). However, the strategy also describes in detail the limitations for the digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex – these are, in particular, “a critical shortage of qualified personnel” and “dependence on imported software and technologies.”

Already in 2024–2025, the Ministry of Agriculture must create and launch a digital platform for the industry to integrate all digital systems of the department and Rosrybolovstvo “with the information systems of other ministries and departments.” De facto, we are talking about a “docking” module that will connect the IT systems of the ministry and the government and will allow more efficient and faster analysis of what is happening in the agricultural sector and more accurately predict the results. The Ministry of Agriculture explained to Kommersant that the unified system is planned to be used, among other things, to automate the calculation of parameters for subsidies and insurance; for this, we note, its systems will need a connection with the GIS “Electronic Budget” and the GAS “Management”.

Let us recall that the Ministry of Agriculture and its subordinate services began large-scale work on informatization of industry management much earlier than other ministries and departments. The tasks then lay in the field of control and supervisory activities, and the creation of information systems at first was not even financed by the federal budget – for example, back in 2010, Rosselkhoznadzor prepared for launch the Argus system for issuing permits for the import of agricultural products (it was created in the logic of isolating officials accepting decisions from market participants; see “Kommersant” dated October 26, 2010). As a result, the management of the agro-industrial complex turned out to be “digitized” before other sectors, but this wave did not imply connections with the general digital contours of the White House, and now a very extensive cluster of “agricultural” GIS needs to be linked with government information systems “to ensure end-to-end flows of unified and verified data,” The ministry explained yesterday.

Kristina Borovikova, Oleg Sapozhkov