Mitigating spatial disproportions in agriculture through revealing competitive advantages

Spatial development of agriculture has always been among the core agendas of food security. Amid the increased volatility of food markets globally, low diversification of agricultural production depresses competitiveness and flexibility of farmers. To narrow spatial development gaps, the study presents the five-stage approach to revealing territory-specific competitive advantages in producing nine categories of agricultural products. The data is collected across all administrative territories of Russia categorized according to the cadastral value of farmland. The revealed mismatches between the parameters of food self-sufficiency, productivity of crops, and profitability of farmers show that agricultural policy should aim at stimulating production of competitive products with due account to the spatial features of agriculture to ensure the highest return per unit of inputs along with adequate accessibility of staples for consumers. Determining proportions in which agricultural facilities should be allocated across territories would allow governments to tailor the resource provision programs, including subsidies to territories, agricultural sectors, and individual producers.