Agricultural potential of new Russian regions

The expansion of the borders of the Russian Federation in 2022 by means of joining four new subjects, i.e. Donetsk Republic, Zaporozhye region, Luhansk Republic and Kherson region is one of the most important stages in the history of the country. The new subjects have significant human, industrial and agricultural potential, which will strengthen the economic position of the country in the world in the future. The newly joined areas are located in favorable climatic conditions of the Northern Black Sea coast, therefore, first of all, they have recreational and agricultural advantages. Since Russia as a whole has completed the process of foodstuff import substitution and is gaining an increasing weight in international food trade, the expansion of the agricultural and food production base in the short term should generally affect agro-industrial complex production and the export potential of the country positively. Of course, the advantages of the new regions will require significant investment and efforts to restore the economy and ensure security. Nevertheless, there is every reason to believe the expansion of the state territory has not only political but also positive economic consequences in the form of growth, above all, of the agro-industrial complex. In this regard, assessment of agricultural potential and opportunities for processing in new regions of the country is an urgent task. The purpose of this paper is to assess the dynamics of the agro-industrial sector of the new Russian regions on the basis of statistical data on their economic development in recent years. It is estimated as the volume of agriculture over the past decade, its structure and the value of output in horticulture and the livestock industry. To accomplish the task, such methods of general scientific knowledge as analysis, synthesis, as well as the tabular method of information processing were used. In the course of the study, information on the development of agriculture in four new regions, both in absolute terms and relative to the total output of both Ukrainian and Russian agricultural production, was obtained.