Tubers by interest: farmers increase potato yield
The potato harvest this year may grow by 250 thousand tons compared to 2024. For these purposes, farmers have already increased the acreage by 10 thousand hectares, but according to the results of the sowing campaign, they may expand to 20 thousand hectares. The Potato Union told Izvestia about this. They said they were making every effort to ensure that Russians had their own products. At the same time, businesses are calling for the abandonment of imports so that the domestic harvest is in demand.
Why did farmers decide to increase potato crops
Russian farmers intend to increase the potato harvest this year. Alexey Krasilnikov, Executive Director of the Potato and Vegetable Market Participants Union (Potato Union), told Izvestia about this.
— The preliminary forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture for an increase in potato areas was 6.5 thousand hectares. It was planned that a total of 286 thousand hectares would be planted. However, now it has been increased by 10 thousand hectares. Translated into tons with a yield of 25 tons per hectare, at least 250 thousand tons of harvest should be expected this year," the business representative explained.
He recalled that under the harvest of 2023-2024, the area decreased by 30 thousand hectares, they were at the level of 316 thousand hectares. According to him, planting has been completed on 80% of the territory today and sowing is still underway.
— Therefore, I do not exclude that the volume of acreage will be even higher, a number of potato growers decided to return to this sector after the increase in vegetable prices. This year we may approach 300 thousand hectares," said Alexey Krasilnikov.
The union reported that harvesting of early potatoes has already begun in a number of regions. We are talking about Kabardino-Balkaria, Stavropol, Krasnodar Territory, Rostov and Astrakhan regions.
— So far, the price of vegetables on the shelf is from 70 rubles and above. But we see that it is rapidly declining. The higher the proportion of harvested potatoes in Russia, the less they will cost. So far, if we talk about imports, Egypt is in the first place, and China, which is today the world leader in potato cultivation, is in the second place, the organization explained.
Tatiana Gubina, Chief of Staff of the Potato Union, noted that farmers are now doing everything possible to obtain a high-quality harvest.
— Somewhere we are struggling with recurrent frosts, somewhere there is already waterlogging of the soil, for example, in Chuvashia, and somewhere with drought in order to withstand conditions comfortable for potatoes. The industry is doing everything to ensure that there are enough Russian potatoes on the shelves," the business representative emphasized.
At the same time, she noted that Russian farmers are concerned about the large number of vegetable imports, which almost all major retail chains have switched to. Such products strongly influence the demand for domestic new potatoes, explained Tatiana Gubina. The union calls on retail chains to ensure access of Russian potatoes to the "shelf". Now those retailers who have concluded long-term agricultural contracts are offering both old-crop potatoes and are ready to contract a new crop.
To increase domestic production this year, it is planned to increase the area under potatoes by more than 10 thousand hectares, to 290 thousand hectares, the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture told Izvestia.
— In most regions of Russia, the planting of crops is ahead of last year's pace. As of June 2, potatoes were planted on an area of 237.2 thousand hectares (82% of the forecast), which is 19 thousand hectares more than the level of 2024 on the same date. In general, under favorable weather conditions, a decent potato harvest is expected in 2025 — at the level of 7.5 million tons (in 2024, this figure was 7.3 million tons), the ministry said.
They also noted that farmers will massively start harvesting early potatoes from mid-June. Lower prices on the market can be expected in July.
Potato prices have been rising in Russia since mid—October 2024, virtually simultaneously with the completion of its harvest. In one week of the month, the price of vegetables increased by more than 5% in a number of regions. The largest increase was recorded in the Volgograd region — by 5.9%. The reasons were vegetable crop failure. In just 2024, the cost of a vegetable jumped by 92%. To influence the situation, the government adopted a resolution that allowed 300,000 tons of imported potatoes to be imported duty-free into the Russian Federation from January 1 to July 31. However, since the beginning of 2025, the weekly increase in the cost of vegetables has continued. According to Rosstat data on May 20, prices increased by almost 60%.
When potatoes can become cheaper
The situation with the cost of potatoes, which happened in 2025, served as a lesson for the industry — due to a decrease in supply, prices for vegetables rose, Oleg Sirota, chairman of the People's Farmer Association, explained to Izvestia.
— Last year's decrease in yields was caused, among other things, by the weather factor — we all remember the recurrent frosts of May last year, which influenced, among other things, the development of potato plantings. As the growers say, the potatoes were "stressed out," which led to a decrease in yields, the business representative explained.
At the same time, according to him, producers saw this as an opportunity for development, and now the total area for potatoes has been increased by about 10 thousand hectares. In addition, this year's frosts did not harm the vegetables that were planted after them. As a result, supply and demand will return to balance, including due to an increase in planting area, and the price will stabilize, Oleg Sirota noted.
— It is important that about 80% of potato production is small—scale farming, so government support measures should be aimed primarily at them, — the farmer explained.
According to Olga Bashmachnikova, vice-president of the Association of Peasant (Farmer) Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives of Russia, the problem is not only to grow potatoes and other vegetables, but also to build a chain of their sale.
— Potatoes and borscht in general are grown mainly by small businesses, and today there is no marketing infrastructure for them. There is no necessary number of storage facilities, small agricultural centers, where the products of small producers would be combined into larger batches. These centers should be at the district level and created either on a cooperative basis or on the basis of a larger farmer, and from there products should be delivered in regular batches to retail chains or wholesale distribution centers. It is precisely because of the lack of such an infrastructure that allows combining products and storing, farmers, having grown a large potato crop in 2022, could not sell it," the expert explained.
According to her, unfortunately, it is more profitable for retail chains to buy a large volume of imported vegetables.
"If farmers see that they have been able to save their crops this year and sell them at a price that ensures adequate profitability, they will sow even more next year,— Olga Bashmachnikova said.
The acreage may increase, but the main thing is to have a yield, and this depends on many factors, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Leonid Kholod told Izvestia.
— This is influenced by both the quality of the seed and the time of the end of the sowing season. As of May 27, only 69% of the plan was sown — 197.8 thousand hectares, last year on this date it was 182.6 thousand hectares. In addition, weather conditions will also have an impact. If the summer is dry, it will not be very good for potatoes," the expert noted.
If all the factors work out for the better this year, then, of course, the harvest will be better than last year, Leonid Kholod believes.
— Since April, the growth rate of potato prices has already slowed down. Today, the champions of rising prices are beetroot and cabbage. This happened after new potatoes began to appear on the market, the share of which will grow," Leonid Kholod explained.
Russians will feel the biggest decrease in the cost of vegetables after the harvest of the base crop begins in Central Russia, and prices for the new year will be formed after the harvest is completed in the fall, the expert emphasized.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
