Russian sown area drops as oilseeds expand in 2026

Russian sown area contracted by 3.4 percent in 2026 compared with the previous year, according to spring accounting data released by Rosstat. Total plantings fell to 76.8 million hectares from 79.5 million hectares in 2025.

The steepest decline occurred in grains and leguminous crops, where area dropped 6.6 percent to 40.8 million hectares from 43.7 million hectares. Spring crops accounted for the bulk of the reduction, falling to 23.6 million hectares from 26.7 million hectares. Spring wheat alone retreated to 9.49 million hectares from 11.1 million hectares. Winter grains bucked the trend, edging up to 17.2 million hectares from 17.0 million hectares, but total wheat of all types still slipped to 25.5 million hectares from 26.9 million hectares. Rye fell to 377 thousand hectares, corn for grain to 2.5 million hectares, and rice to 146 thousand hectares. Barley was the only major grain to expand, rising to 6.89 million hectares from 6.65 million hectares.

Oilseeds gain ground

Against the overall decline, oilseed area grew to 22.1 million hectares from 21.1 million hectares. Sunflower plantings rose to 11.96 million hectares from 11.08 million hectares, and rapeseed jumped to 3.8 million hectares from 2.97 million hectares. Soybeans moved in the opposite direction, contracting to 4.1 million hectares from 4.831 million hectares.

Other categories showed mixed movement. Leguminous crops, including peas, fell sharply to 2.9 million hectares from 4.1 million hectares. Sugar beet declined to 1.15 million hectares from 1.2 million hectares. Potatoes dipped to 982 thousand hectares from 993 thousand hectares. Open-ground vegetables shrank to 439 thousand hectares from 461 thousand hectares. Melon and gourd crops increased modestly to 94 thousand hectares from 90 thousand hectares.

The spring accounting figures represent early-season planting intentions and may be adjusted as the growing season progresses. Rosstat does not publish a confidence interval for the spring survey, and final harvested area can diverge from planted area because of weather, reseeding decisions, or abandonment.

Source: This article was adapted from an original Russian-language publication by Pravda.Ru.