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.