According to the spring accounting, the total sown area of agricultural crops in all categories of farms decreased to 81.203 million hectares. Last year, this figure reached 81.986 million hectares, and according to the final information from Rosstat, it amounted to 82.312 million hectares.
In 2023, the total area under grains and legumes increased to 48.035 million hectares, mainly due to spring wheat and peas (14.1 and 1.9 million hectares against 12.7 and 1.6 million hectares according to the spring census of 2022). However, the area under winter grains has significantly decreased: from 18.3 to 17.2 million hectares. In general, the farms sowed 29.7 million hectares of wheat (spring and winter), 7.9 million hectares of barley, 2.6 million hectares of corn for grain, 1.2 million hectares of buckwheat, 1.9 million hectares of oats, 190 thousand hectares rice.
Also this spring, oilseed crops in Russia decreased from 18.6 million hectares to 17.6 million hectares. This happened due to a reduction in sunflower crops from more than 10 million hectares to 9.8 million hectares, curly flax (a drop from 2 million to 1.4 million hectares), rapeseed (2.1 million hectares in 2023 against 2.3 million in 2022). At the same time, soybean crops expanded, exceeding 3.6 million hectares (in 2022, it occupied 3.4 million hectares according to spring accounting).
In addition, agricultural enterprises began to sow more sugar beets (1.064 million hectares), the sowing of fodder crops decreased slightly - to 12.7 million hectares, as well as potatoes - from 1.096 to 1.069 million hectares).
At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture predicted that the sown area in farms of all categories in 2023 would expand and reach 82.106 million hectares, and under grain crops it would be at the level of 47.741 million hectares. The agency also expected a reduction in sunflower crops, an increase in areas under soybeans and rapeseed.