GEOGRAPHY OF CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ACTIVITIES IN THE AGRO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX OF RUSSIA

The study is devoted to identifying the general and geographical features of the formation and functioning of exhibitions in the agro-industrial complex of Russia. The main scientific methods used in the work are: statistical, scientific description, content analysis, figurative-sign modeling, comparative-geographical. They made it possible not only to compile a database of the studied exhibitions, but also, on the basis of its statistical, graphical and cartographic processing, to determine their sectoral structure of activity (in the areas of agriculture, food industry, horticulture and landscape design) and the geographical features of functioning at the level of subjects and federal districts of the Russian Federation. Within each of the identified three categories of exhibitions, the largest exhibitions, the degree of exhibition activity, the level of its territorial concentration, and location factors were identified. The leadership of the Central, Southern, North-Western federal districts in the exhibition activities in the agro-industrial complex of Russia and the outsider status of the Far Eastern and North Caucasian federal districts are noted. In conclusion, the factors influencing the location of exhibitions in the field of the agro-industrial complex of Russia were identified, divided into general (the presence of a well-developed business, exhibition and tourist infrastructure, the presence of a capacious market, good transport accessibility) and special (agrarian specialization of the territory, the presence of large open areas).