The issue of the need to develop agriculture and import substitution has become particularly relevant after the beginning of mass imposing economic sanctions by the West against Russia, as well as a result of oil prices downturn and shortfall of budget revenues from the sale of energy sources. The policy of import substitution affects the areas of the agro-industrial complex to varying degrees. First of all, these measures affect all areas of agricultural production - crop production, animal husbandry and fisheries. In addition, they apply to the final products of the agro-industrial complex, that is, they regulate the food industry, thus affecting the issue of the country’s food security. The purpose of the study is to identify problems in the development of the country’s agriculture based on the study of Russian and international experience, to consider them in a complex, as well as to assess the impact of the import substitution policy on the development of the industry, to propose measures for the further development of the agro-industrial sector aimed at strengthening the country’s food security.