Agricultural sector of the North and the Arctic: historical aspect, directions of development

The article considers the possibilities and limitations of the development of agriculture in regions with extreme natural conditions, which determine a special approach to the formation of a sectoral structure and the development of agrarian policy. The author analyses the development of the industry in the planned and post-Soviet periods. He outlines the positive impact of modernization processes in the period before the liberal market reforms on the development of the agricultural sector and food self-sufficiency. The study assesses the current state of the agrarian sector, and determines the reasons for the degradation of the material and technical base, the reduction of the agricultural potential, and the decrease in the coefficient of self-sufficiency in food products. Based on the socio-economic importance of agriculture in the zone of the North and the Arctic, the author justifies differentiated directions for strengthening the local food base and increasing the current level of food self-sufficiency. The priority measures include the acceleration of innovative modernization, the formation of a diversified economy, and the improvement of economic relations. The author advises to use the study results in programming the development of the agrarian economy of the Arctic zone of Russia and its northern regions.