The Use of Factor Analysis of the Cost When Justifying the Directions of Innovative Development of Crop Production (on the Example of the Grain Complex of the Pskov Region)

Situations of risk and uncertainty create conditions for the development of the modern economy. This increases interest in the method of factor analysis, which allows to clarify the trends of the analyzed indicator, to determine the influence of factors on its decline or increase, as well as to establish reserves for growth or reduction. Interest in the product competitiveness, caused by the level of production expenses, reduces the object of factor analysis to the cost. The results of factor analysis, obtained by a unified methodology, allow us to compare the influence of production expenses on the cost of production both in the scale of an enterprise and in the scale of the region and the sector. Crop production, as the most important sector of agriculture, is no exception in this regard. The presented results of the factor analysis of the production cost of the main crop of the Pskov region show the multifaceted influence of the volume of production and expenses on the cost of grain growing. The results of the assessment of the influence of changes in expenses and production volume on the change in the cost of grain crops cultivation, combined with the indicators of the relative change in the contingent cost of 1 ton of grain crops, allow us to divide the municipal districts of the Pskov region into four typological groups: extensive growth, recession, stagnation and intensive growth. The influence of changes in wages, expenses for seeds, fertilizers, maintenance of fixed assets and other expenses on the cost of grain crops cultivation in each of the four typological groups is illustrated. Since the expenses in crop production are the points of application of innovations, the identified reserves of cost reduction allow us to formulate the main directions of innovative development of regional crop production.