Authors:

S.V. Begicheva1, D.M. Nazarov1, N.V. Dryagunova2

1 Ural State University of Economics, Ekaterinburg, Russia

2 OOO Bank Tochka, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Abstract:

The expansion of processing infrastructure requires territorial priorities to be well-grounded and carefully selected; however, evaluating the accessibility of such infrastructure solely on the basis of processing enterprises located within administrative boundaries overlooks the potential to utilize neighbouring territories’ facilities and can overstate the scale of spatial deficits. Our study aims to devise and test a method of territory-based spatial analysis to preliminarily justify the priorities for developing agro-industrial processing infrastructure. The foundation of research resides in location theory, the concept of agri-food value chains, and approaches to assessing spatial accessibility. The research methods include a modified gravity model, territorial classification based on the combination of local processing and potential spatial accessibility, the global Moran’s I, and local indicators of spatial association (LISA). The empirical base consists of 2024 data from the Russian Financial Statements Database for agricultural producers and food industry enterprises in Sverdlovsk oblast. We find that the lack of local processing facilities does not necessarily indicate an uncompensated spatial deficit: in certain territories, the absence of indigenous processing is offset by potential spatial access to processing centres in neighbouring areas. Spatial analysis reveals that territories with uncompensated deficits are concentrated in isolated zones differing in the nature of their spatial constraints, which necessitates a differentiated approach to subsequent sectoral and investment analysis. The findings confirm that the proposed method can be used as a territorial screening tool to preliminarily substantiate managerial priorities for developing processing infrastructure.

Keywords: spatial accessibility; processing infrastructure; agro-food value chains; uncompensated spatial deficit; gravity model; spatial autocorrelation; managerial decisions.

For citation: Begicheva S.V., Nazarov D.M., Dryagunova N.V. (2026). Substantiating priorities for the regional development of agro-industrial processing infrastructure. Upravlenets / The Manager, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 40–54. DOI: 10.29141/2218-5003-2026-17- 4-3. EDN: PVTQOK.

Article info: received March 2, 2026; received in revised form May 18, 2026; accepted June 16, 2026