Digital platform as a liaison mechanism and a business model in agribusiness

Digital transformation forms the necessary prerequisites for the transition of agriculture to more modern technologies and forms of organizing agribusiness. The purpose of the study is to identify the potential benefits and difficulties of creating digital platforms in the agricultural sector. The goal was achieved on the basis of an analysis of the reports of consulting firms, government programs, publications of foreign and Russian scientists, as well as observations and generalization of the experience of Russian digital companies. As a result, it was established that the digital platform can be considered, on the one hand, as a digital model of agribusiness. The platform business model differs from the traditional one in the way of monetizing the market supply, digitalization of business processes increases its flexibility and helps to reduce transaction costs. On the other hand, a digital platform is an ecosystem, whose participants reap economic benefits through synergy and networking. At the present stage, the formation of digital platforms and services in the agro-industrial complex is constrained by the low level of maturity of end-to-end technologies for the agricultural industries and the digitalization of agribusiness. The conducted research reveals the potential benefits of the digital platform for agribusiness entities.