As a rule, agricultural production in Russia is distributed quite unevenly. Thus, in order to
substantiate regional differentiated state support and the agrarian policy of the country as
a whole, we consider it appropriate to use typological groupings of regions (municipal districts)
in terms of the level of development of agricultural production with a full and accurate
description of the characteristics of each of the selected groups. It should be noted that this is
especially important for the subjects with a large territory that possess signifi cant differences
in natural and climatic conditions. These regions include the Vologda Oblast, which has a large
territory, long snow cover, the prevalence of forests and swamps (75 and 12% of the territory
of the region); sod-podzol and marsh soils, considerable amount of precipitation, fairly low
temperatures and other adverse factors and conditions for agricultural production. Despite
this, agricultural production is carried out in almost all municipal districts of the region, and
there are a number of positive trends in its development. Our paper studies and clarifi es the
theoretical and methodological aspects of assessing territorial differentiation of agricultural
production, identifi es the factors that form the territorial heterogeneity and specialization of
agricultural production. We use the materials of the Vologda Oblast to study the regional differentiation
of agricultural production and determine the points of growth with the help of defi
ning typological groups (cluster analysis by the method of “average” in the software package
“STATISTICA 10”) on the basis of a set of 33 economic indicators characterizing the availability
of resources and the results of production activities. As a result, four groups of districts were
identifi ed. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study included fundamental works of
domestic scientists and economists; we used general scientifi c research methods (abstract-logical,
economic-statistical, sociological, etc.), statistical (grouping, sampling, comparison, etc.),
graphical and tabular methods of data visualization. The results of the study can be used by
the authorities in the development of measures and directions for sustainable development of
agriculture in the region, smoothing the territorial differentiation of agricultural production,
and improving regional agri-food policy
Keywords
region, agriculture, agricultural production, differentiation, territory, typology