Features of food chain transformations during the COVID-19 pandemic

The relevance of the topic under study is due to the importance of overcoming the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and restoring economic and physical accessibility of food. The scientific novelty of the work consists in identifying development trends and assessing the most important parameters of the agro-food complex in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the research is a comprehensive analysis of the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the agro-food sector, changes in the parameters of food supply and demand, as well as finding ways out of the crisis situation. We carry out the implementation of this goal by solving the following tasks: conducting content analysis of studies devoted to the problem of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic consequences; substantiating priority directions for the development of the agro-food complex; studying the modification of the structure of food consumption in urban and rural areas; analyzing the financial indicators of agricultural organizations. The scientific significance of the research is due to the insufficient elaboration of the problem of overcoming the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of its impact on the agro-food complex, especially on the physical and economic availability of food, changes in the work of supply and logistics chains. The article presents the results of studying the consequences of the transformation of food chains in 2020-2021. We have carried out the analysis of the modification of the structure of food consumption in households in urban and rural areas. We have found that the compression of consumer demand for basic types offood among urban population was higher than in rural areas. The main factor determining these differences was the disruption of logistics chains. Institutional regulation of adaptation process of economic entities and anti-crisis measures, implemented by the state, have shown the greatest effectiveness in supporting the primary link in the food chain. We have concluded that in order to reduce the consequences of the destabilizing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contours of systemic transformations should be focused on social protection mechanisms, including the provision of subsidies, tax benefits and cash transfers to vulnerable categories of citizens.