Informational support as an element of state control of agriculture

This article substantiates the importance of informational support in the agricultural sector for controlling authorities and for agro-industrial organisations in enhancing their monitoring and competitive strategies. It identifies specific features of the agricultural sector that determine its needs for information, namely its dependence on climatic conditions and the state of natural resources available to economic entities, a large territorial expanse, the location of major production facilities in rural areas, the development of interregional and international contacts, and an active growth of agricultural exports. By studying the current regulatory and legal database of the Russian Federation, the authors established the regulatory framework of a state information system and identified its key data groups. Finally, the paper looks at those information resources which were created by the federal authorities and regional bodies in the Northwestern and Siberian Federal Districts, reflecting the tasks of state informational support in agriculture.