The aim of this study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Russian grain production, to determine country’s production potential and its possibility to remain one of the major grain producers on the world market. On the one hand was estimated the technical efficiency during the period of transition to the market economy. By applying a novel approach to the estimation of production efficiency on a regional level, we assess the grain production potential and determine factors that influence productivity beyond the control of the farmers.

This article describes the foreign and domestic approaches to the assessment of agricultural and agro-industrial innovations. The cost behavior analysis in case of agro-industrial technological innovations has been conducted and the efficiency of the growth in high tech production and manufacture has been evaluated. A paradoxical regularity has been revealed: with the relatively stable investments in agriculture there is a sharp reduction in the use of intellectual property. This tendency dictates the need to improve the management system of the intellectual property application.