INDICATIVE APPROACH TO THE INTEGRAL ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL DIGITALIZATION

In the context of the accelerating digital transformation of the global economy, agriculture faces the urgent need to transition toward new technological and institutional models of development. The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical and methodological justification for the concept of digital agriculture and to develop a methodological toolkit for the quantitative assessment of the digitalization level in the agricultural sector. The study includes a conceptual analysis of key categories such as “digital agriculture,” “digitalization,” “digital transformation,” and “digital technologies,” and proposes a three-level model for interpreting digital processes in the agri-food sector (technological, procedural, and strategic levels). Based on the principles of normalization, weighted aggregation, and the use of open data, an integral indicator - the AgriDigit Index - was developed to quantitatively assess the digital maturity of the agricultural sector. The empirical basis includes data on the adoption of ten key digital technologies in Russian agriculture from 2020 to 2023. The results made it possible to determine the level of digital maturity in the sector, identify its dynamics, and outline the key constraints to development. The proposed methodology is highly reproducible, adaptable to national and regional conditions, and can serve as a tool for shaping digital strategies in the agri-food sector. The findings may be applied in strategic planning for agricultural digital development, as well as in analytical and expert activities related to monitoring the digital transformation of agriculture. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the systematic integration of conceptual and indicator-based logic for diagnosing digital transformation, combined with a reproducible method for quantifying digital maturity.