Ministry of Agriculture: grain harvest this year will exceed 125 million tons

This year, the grain harvest in Russia should be 125.3 million tons. This forecast was voiced by the director of the department of crop production, mechanization, chemicalization and plant protection Roman Nekrasov during the All-Russian agronomic and agroengineering meeting. The sown area under grain crops will amount to 47.4 million hectares - almost 630 thousand hectares more than last year's crop, the planned average yield - 26.5 c / ha, follows from the presentation of Nekrasov. In 2019, the gross grain harvest amounted to 120.7 million tons against 113.5 million tons in 2018.

Including crops of spring grain and leguminous agricultural crops should amount to 29.17 million hectares, which is 182 thousand hectares less than in 2019. The reduction will occur mainly due to wheat and barley, while the area under corn is expected to increase by 147 thousand ha to 2.7 million ha. Nekrasov also noted that it is necessary to expand the crops of rye by almost 200 thousand hectares and buckwheat by 52 thousand hectares, which will eliminate the imbalance that has arisen on the market due to a decrease in their production and ensure comfortable prices for producers.

According to the presentation of the Ministry of Agriculture, winter crops for the 2020 crop were sown on 18.28 million hectares - 865.7 thousand hectares more than a year earlier. Including wheat, it occupied 16.5 million hectares, rye - 1.1 million hectares, barley - 0.6 million hectares. It is important to pay special attention to winter crops, as winter crops provide 2/3 of the crop, although they account for only a third of the total grain wedge, Nekrasov noted.

“The task of the regions is to constantly monitor the situation with winter crops and begin to prepare in advance agrotechnical measures to improve their condition,” he said.

Now, according to the agro-agency, 5.7% of winter crops are in poor and thinned condition - this is below the long-term average. At the same time, the most difficult winter situation is in the North Caucasus Federal District, where the share of poor crops exceeds 14%. In the regions of the Central Federal District, the share of winter crops in poor condition is estimated at 1.3%, in the South - 7.8%, in the Volga Region - 2.7%.

Also in his report, Nekrasov announced the forecast for the gross harvest of oilseeds at 22.4 million tons with a planned sowing area of 14.3 million hectares. The Ministry of Agriculture predicts a decrease in sunflower crops by almost 400 thousand ha to 8.1 million ha and spring rape by 79.5 thousand ha to 1.29 million ha. It is planned to occupy 3.17 million hectares of soybeans - almost 133 thousand hectares more than last year.