Introducing Digital Technologies into the Regional Practice of the FoodNet Market

The article examines the features of global, national, and regional food markets in the context of the Ural Federal District of the Russian Federation in an evolutionary aspect and outlines trends in the region’s further contribution to the development of the national FoodNet market in the context of digitalization and ensuring the country’s food security. The authors analyzed the positions of foreign and domestic researchers regarding the transformation of national and regional agri-food markets, taking into account the gradual digitalization of the agricultural sector. Researchers pay special attention to the principles of sustainable development of the national FoodNet market as well as the formation of Agriculture 4.0 concepts in order to identify the relationship between them in the context of the replacement of traditional tools, principles, and technologies with digital ones at the meso level. The article uses a qualitative methodology based on a systematic review of domestic and foreign literature, which examines the terms “smart agriculture,” “digitalization,” and “FoodNet,” aimed at the sustainable development of the agricultural market of the Russian Federation. For this, three databases were used: WOS, Scopus, and RSCI. The authors of the article provide detailed information on the latest scientific articles on the digitalization of agriculture, the formation and development of the FoodNet market, and issues of its sustainable development at the regional level. The authors conducted a study of the level of digital transformation of the agro-industrial complex of the constituent entities of the Ural Federal District. Additionally, they performed a forecast assessment of the implementation of artificial intelligence technologies, digitalization, and intellectualization of agriculture in the world, taking into account digital agricultural maps (DAM) created by GSMA AgriTech, created in collaboration with IDH Farmfit. The article analyzes data provided upon request by regional authorities of the regions of the Ural Federal District and regional statistics. Recommendations have been developed to optimize the process of digitalization of traditional agriculture as a component of the regional economy and to enhance its participation in solving national food security priorities in the context of increasing turbulence in the macroenvironment.