Russia's agricultural sector enters the season with the worst sowing figures in 8 years – intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
Sowing rates in the Russian Federation have fallen to their lowest since 2018 due to expensive fuel. The share of loss-making agricultural enterprises in the country has risen to 31.4%.
The Russian agricultural sector enters the 2026 season with the worst sowing campaign indicators in the last eight years: sowing rates are lagging behind plans, production costs are rising, and farm profitability continues to decline. This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service, according to UNN.
As of the end of May, the Russian Federation has sown only 42.3 million hectares out of the planned 83 million, according to the country's Ministry of Agriculture. This is the slowest sowing pace since 2018. Spring wheat occupies 7–7.1 million hectares instead of the 10.5 million stipulated by the plan, which is 12% less than a year earlier. The reason is the slow pace of field work in the Volga region, Siberia, and parts of the southern regions,
Against this backdrop, the Russian government continues to talk about harvesting 146–150 million tons of grain this year, compared to 141 million tons in 2025. The figures look overly optimistic even under normal seasonal conditions, but the season so far is anything but normal.
Diesel fuel has become a separate problem. Over the last two months, its price in several regions has soared by 35%, reaching 87–90 rubles per liter, or about 1.2 dollars. The most acute situation is in the Belgorod, Bryansk, and Samara regions. Deliveries are delayed by an average of four days due to planned seasonal demand and unplanned repairs at oil refineries. Farmers can neither stop to wait nor pay a price that eats away at their already shaky margins.
Intelligence reports that margins in the Russian Federation are indeed shaky. In the first quarter of 2026, the share of profitable agricultural enterprises decreased to 68.6% compared to 77.9% a year earlier. The share of loss-making ones rose to 31.4%. Profits in crop and livestock production fell by 22.5%, while losses increased 1.6 times. In the Rostov region, the average profitability of agricultural producers has turned negative.
The reasons for this are clear. Global wheat prices have risen, but this means little for Russian farmers: the strengthening of the ruble offsets foreign exchange earnings. Fuel, fertilizers, and machinery are becoming more expensive. Under such conditions, small and medium-sized farms are either reducing crops or exiting the market,
The intelligence service noted that plans for a record harvest remain, but the opportunities to fulfill them are constantly diminishing.