The issue of food security is quite complex and multifaceted, it can be considered both in relation to individual state and international level, because it affects each person and the interests of the state as a whole. For the Russian economy the problem of food security remains one of the most important political and socio-economic life of the country. The purpose of this article is to identify and systematize the most important factors affecting the level of food self-sufficiency in potatoes. To achieve this goal were consistently solved several problems, such as: the conditions for maintaining the level of food security; systematic criteria of food independence.