Trends in the development of the Russian livestock sector in the context of food security

Relevance . Food security has traditionally been one of the key components of national security and, along with the problem of ensuring sustainable growth in domestic production of the necessary volumes of the main types of food products, is an important guideline for the formation and implementation of relevant areas of state policy. These issues have acquired particular importance in the current realities, characterized by a consistent increase in international tension and the introduction by a number of interstate associations of unprecedented sanctions measures against the economy of the Russian Federation. The state of the livestock complex, whose products account for almost half of the total agricultural production at the national level, as well as the effectiveness of measures taken within the framework of the state policy of import substitution in agriculture, largely determine Russia’s food security. This circumstance also determines the high relevance of studying the trends observed in the development of the livestock complex, identifying and evaluating the factors that cause such trends. Methods . The theoretical basis of this study is compiled by the works of domestic and foreign scientists devoted to the development of the livestock complex and the problems of ensuring food security. In the process of its implementation, general scientific methods of cognition were used. Results . An assessment of the data presented in the article allows us to conclude that there are a number of imbalances and negative trends in the development of the livestock complex of the Russian Federation, which, if current trends persist, can create a situation threatening the country’s food security in the medium term. These imbalances primarily relate to the meat and dairy sub-sector of animal husbandry, which, due to the features noted in the article, has been stagnating for a long time.