It is not yet clear what the crop will be like in spring 2025 - whether it will need to be replanted or not. So far, it is affected by autumn climatic and weather conditions, especially for wheat, which raises concerns about the harvest for the 2024/25 season. It is also unclear how to secure quick financial resources for agronomic needs - buying seeds, fertilizers, protection means, etc. The rate will change in two months. However, there is no need to worry that all farmers from the south will quit their work. Most of them will borrow money and expand their land. It is worth noting that the volatility of prices for essential production resources and changes in the agricultural industry have the strongest impact on farms. Large holdings purchase everything they need at once, while smaller enterprises are forced to postpone purchases until the last moment and buy at the current price.
There might be a tendency to save on plant protection products, for example. However, this saving will not apply to all farmers. More than half of them will definitely use the necessary amounts of these products, as complying with soil treatment rules has become the norm. It seems that even in the economically challenging year of 2025, this trend will persist.
Another question arises here - pricing. Will farmers be able to make a profit with rising costs? There are currently strict price restrictions at the state level. If the dollar rises, then the market price rises, and the duty also increases, reducing profit.
In January, the duty is approximately 4-5 rubles. In 2024, the market price of wheat was unclear. Throughout the season, it practically did not change, and now measures are being taken to increase it, but no sharp spikes are expected. Even if there is a jump in the global market, the duty will also increase, and farmers will receive the same amount of money, perhaps just slightly more. In any case, this will not allow them to "get rich".
Currently, the price of agricultural products is in a stable range, for example, for wheat - from 17 to 19 rubles. It is not expected to significantly increase in 2025, unless the duty calculation system changes.
If a critical situation with the harvest arises in 2025, problems in the competitive struggle between exporters may occur. Sometimes there are logistical problems, for example, the boat arrived, but there is no transport. Manufacturers, especially from the Krasnodar region, which are closer to ports, know how to use such a situation to their advantage.
What is a critical harvest? This happens when crop yields decrease massively in all regions of southern Russia. Such a situation was not characteristic, for example, of the year 2024. All indicators are relatively low only compared to records. Even now, we are champions compared to some previous year. For the harvest in southern Russia to become critical, something catastrophic must happen. Something like this happened 20 years ago when drought was not local but global. Then, due to the fear of not closing domestic consumption, exports were completely stopped. But it turned out that we had enough grain.