The article deals with the analysis of the status and trends of the development of the dairy business in Russia, particularly through the example of the Stavropol Territory. The analysis is indicative of the relocation of milk production in the sector of small and medium agribusiness due to the cow population decline: on the one hand, in the sector of large agricultural enterprises, and on the other handin the sector of household plots. A dependence of economic efficiency of the dairy business on the increase in the size of cow population has been found, but the scale effect is underused because of inadequate investment attractiveness of this type of business. Quality management should be used for increasing it. The article presents the evaluation of possible changes of status of dairy breeding based on the forecast of the key performance indicators of the industry broken down by categories of households in the region through analytical graduation and trend extrapolation. The scenario forecasting of the development of the industry in the agricultural enterprises of the Stavropol Territory served as a basis for the identification of the focus areas of the state support of the of the dairy business development on the basis of quality management. Recommendations for increasing the efficiency of dairy business (with the help of increasing the productiveness of milk cows by means of increasing the breed structure of cattle, improvement of farms, implementation of the innovational technologies of cattle-breeding management, and improvement of feeding) and for increasing the quality and milk and milk products through refusal from using mixtures and through production of "eco-milk", its branding and certification are offered. Guaranteeing high quality of "eco-milk" (high nutrition, high fat level, and rich vitamin structure) will allow reducing elasticity of demand for it and will stimulate successful development of entrepreneurship.

The features of the development of foreign trade bilateral relations in the agri-food markets between the Stavropol Territory and Azerbaijan have been established. The tendencies in the export of agri-food products in the Stavropol Territory, taking into account the cereals export specialization of the region, as well as representation of new directions of the agro-industrial complex at the international, regional levels, have been settled. It is concluded that in the future, the wheat and meslin exports of the region to Azerbaijan is expected to increase. This output based on the extrapolation methods, compiled by the authors, and the SWOT-analysis of the agricultural raw materials exports of the Stavropol Territory. In combination with the identified opportunities and threats for agro-oriented enterprises, the potential market niches for the region have been identified.

The North Caucasian Federal District lags behind other administrative-territorial units of the country in the development of small businesses (low population density, the smallest territory, lack of access to the world ocean), as evidenced by the studied indicators, but it has regions with attractive market segments based on resources and specifics of local markets. In particular, in the Stavropol Territory, the top three industries include the manufacturing industry with a high share of trade turnover (2018% in 48,1). In this regard, this paper proposes three scenarios for the development of small business in the manufacturing industry: inertial, moderately optimistic and accelerated.

The article presents the results of a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of the use of traditional and organic technologies for growing vegetable and fruit growing products on the example of the Stavropol Territory.