Land management as a science is an integrated synthesis of various scientific fields — economic, social, engineering, process, environmental, etc. Today, land management science has begun to play an increasingly active integrating role in conducting applied and fundamental research first of all on land and natural resources.
For the transition to a digital agricultural economy, the scientific community in Russia and other CIS countries is developing practical solutions related to such elements as Smart Field, Smart Farm, Smart Garden, Smart Greenhouse, etc. Land management scholars of our university offer scientific solutions of a more complex order. It is about a transition to the qualitatively new model "Digital organization of the territory of an agro-industrial enterprise" [1].
The ever-growing role of land management science is determined by the global challenges in the development of the agro-industrial complex and the economy as a whole, as well as real and possible medium-term and long-term risks, which generally determines our research agenda. It is scientifically validated spatial development of the agro-industrial complex, comprehensive (systemic) design of rural areas and communities, land management tools for adaptive landscape system of agriculture, participation in the development of platform technologies of inter-sectoral purpose, and modern information and communication technologies.
According to the UN, FAO, and other international organizations, the world population growth rate is reaching 1.13, and the average per capita food consumption is also increasing, so there is a long-term risk that the demand growth rate will exceed that of the supply. The most acute problem will arise for such regions of the world like Africa and Asia that are forecast to see their populations reach about 4-5 billion people by 2100 (Fig. 1).
The next major challenge is the reduction of crop yield limits due to the depletion of the most fertile soils. Increasing yield and productivity in agriculture is a problem that has always been the focus of science, but as recent research shows, the world has reached its limits today, that is why we need fundamentally new scientific and technological solutions despite the fact that previously developed measures are not always used effectively in practice. For example, on the African continent, over a period of almost 60 years, grain yields have remained at approximately the same low level (Fig. 2).