Assessment of the impact of government support measures to scale small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of agriculture

Aspects of the effectiveness of state support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of agriculture are an urgent scientific problem. The purpose of the study is to identify the degree of connectivity between government support factors and the resulting indicators of SMEs in the Russian Federation engaged in activities related to Section A "Agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing and fish farming" according to the All-Russian Classifier of Economic Activities. The hypothesis of the study is the idea of the possible interconnectedness of government support measures for SMEs in the field of agriculture and the scaling potential of their activities, manifested in a positive transformation of not only revenue (turnover) and the average number of employees of enterprises, but a whole range of indicators, collectively reflecting the positive or negative value of indicator of the scaling potential of SMEs. The research methods were the application of a program-based approach to the selection of government support factors and correlation analysis to assess the impact of these factors on 9 indicators of SMEs in agriculture. The results of the study revealed the multidirectional impact of government support measures. It has been established that the growth in the volume of guarantees provided for loans and bank guarantees for SMEs and microloans in 2019-2023 has varying degrees of influence on the indicator of the scaling potential of SMEs. A correlation coefficient of over 0,9 was found when government support factors were associated with revenue (turnover), profitability, assets, capital, and reserves. The practical significance of the article lies in the formation of scientific and methodological ideas about the need to strengthen the gradation between the resulting indicators of SME in agriculture, which will allow identifying the development of these enterprises and comprehensively assessing their scaling potential.