Russia set to sow less wheat after losses in 2024

Russian farmers are going to sow less wheat after losses in 2024, choosing more profitable peas, lentils or sunflowers, Reuters reports. As the agency notes, such a decision is a challenge to the plans of the russian authorities to expand exports and strengthen russia’s position as an agricultural superpower.

The decrease in wheat supplies abroad is expected against the backdrop of a shrinking harvest, Reuters reports. According to the agency, this year farmers will harvest 83 million tons of wheat against 92.8 million tons in 2023 and a record 104.2 million tons in 2022. Forecasts for next year are unfavorable, Reuters writes.

The poor harvest is due to unfavorable weather, the publication says. In particular, in the Omsk region, the harvest was negatively affected by rainy weather, Maxim Levshunov, chairman of the association “People’s Farmer of the Omsk region”, told Reuters Maxim Levshunov. He said most of his farm’s harvest is only good for animal fodder. In southern regions, farmers are thinking of cutting back on wheat cultivation because of increasingly frequent droughts, the publication said. “It is gradually getting warmer in the south, and we need to think about changing the structure of sown areas for the future,” Yevgeny Gromyko, head of the N.I. Tkachev Agrocomplex and former deputy agriculture minister, told Reuters.

Tags: crop forecast, Russia, wheat