Agrotrade Group has launched its 2026 spring sowing campaign in four regions of Ukraine, namely Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, Ivan Kriuchkov, director of the group’s agro-industrial department, said on the agricultural holding’s Facebook page.
According to the statement, the agricultural holding revised its crop rotation structure for the 2026 season: the areas under sunflower and corn were increased at the expense of soybean plantings. About 16.5 thousand hectares were allocated for corn (24.9% of the total structure), 16 thousand hectares for sunflower (28.6%), while soybeans will occupy 3 thousand hectares.
“We have good expectations for this season. Timely implementation of agricultural operations and proper crop care are important conditions for success. The team is focused on delivering everything planned,” Kriuchkov said.
As of April 21, the agricultural holding had completed sowing on about 12% of the planned production area, using 18 seeders. The campaign is expected to be completed within three weeks. In 2026, Agrotrade plans to improve efficiency through the introduction of Strip-Till and no-till technologies.
As reported, corn became the most productive crop for Agrotrade in 2025 and showed an average yield of 9.89 tonnes per hectare, which was 17% above plan. In particular, the borderland clusters in Sumy and Chernihiv regions recorded yields of 10.3-10.4 tonnes per hectare.
Agrotrade Group is a vertically integrated holding cultivating more than 70 thousand hectares of land. It owns a network of elevators with a total capacity of 570 thousand tonnes and a seed plant based at the Kolos farm in Kharkiv region. Its founder and CEO is Vsevolod Kozhemiako.
As of April 20, farmers had sown 1,251.9 thousand hectares with spring grain and leguminous crops, which amounts to 21% of the forecast for 2026, the press service of the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture reported on Tuesday.
According to оперативе statistics, over the past week farmers sowed 254.9 thousand hectares compared with 168.7 thousand hectares the previous week. The pace of field work increased by 1.5 times, but the overall figures are 15.3% behind last year’s pace, when as of April 25, 2025, 1,478.7 thousand hectares had been sown.
The Ministry of Economy clarified that so far 623.8 thousand hectares of barley have been sown (83% of the plan), peas – 238.3 thousand hectares (87%), wheat – 158.8 thousand hectares (85%) and oats – 117.5 thousand hectares (85%). Corn sowing has intensified and reached 75.7 thousand hectares (2% of the forecast), the area under millet amounts to 1.2 thousand hectares (3%), and buckwheat sowing has started (0.01 thousand hectares). Other spring grain and leguminous crops have been sown on 36.5 thousand hectares (27% of the forecast).
The highest sowing rates for grain and leguminous crops have currently been recorded in Odesa region (168.2 thousand hectares), Ternopil region (96.3 thousand hectares), Mykolaiv region (89.4 thousand hectares) and Poltava region (86.5 thousand hectares).
At the same time, sowing of industrial crops is continuing, with 440.8 thousand hectares already sown. In particular, 293.6 thousand hectares have been allocated for sunflower (6% of the forecast), and 21.8 thousand hectares for soybeans (1%). Sugar beet has been sown on 125.4 thousand hectares, which is 64% of the planned area.
As reported, as of April 25, 2025, 2,000 thousand hectares in Ukraine had been sown with spring grain and leguminous crops. In particular, corn accounted for 705 thousand hectares, barley – 702.1 thousand hectares, wheat – 199.8 thousand hectares, peas – 201.8 thousand hectares, and oats – 154.2 thousand hectares. On the same date last year, 1,236.8 thousand hectares had been sown with sunflower, 187.6 thousand hectares with soybeans, and 228.5 thousand hectares with sugar beet.
According to the forecast of the Ministry of Economy, the total area of spring grain and leguminous crops in 2026 will amount to 6.002 mln hectares, of which corn will account for 4.418 mln hectares. Among industrial crops, 5 mln hectares are planned for sunflower, 2.04 mln hectares for soybeans, and 197.2 thousand hectares for sugar beet.
AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, GRAINS, SOWING CAMPAIGN, SPRING SOWING
As of May 16, Ukraine had sown 4.95 million hectares with spring grains and legumes, which is 87% of the plan, but slightly behind last year’s figure of 5.1 million hectares, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported on Friday.
According to its data, 631,500 hectares were sown during the week. At the same time, buckwheat is being sown in 11 regions and soybeans in 20.
As noted by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, 3.5 million hectares have already been sown with corn (2.9 million hectares a week earlier), 743,100 hectares with barley (733,400 hectares), 215,200 hectares with spring wheat (212,600 hectares), 208,900 hectares with peas (205,700 hectares), and 157,000 hectares with oats (157,000 hectares). ha (212.6 thousand ha), peas – 208.9 thousand ha (205.7 thousand ha), oats – 157 thousand ha (157 thousand ha), buckwheat – 16.3 thousand ha (7 thousand ha), millet – 25.2 thousand ha (15.7 thousand ha).
According to the plan, corn sowing reached 87%, barley – 96%, spring wheat – 95%, peas – 97%, oats – 98%, buckwheat – 24%, millet – 33%.
Last year, as of May 16, corn was sown on 3.56 million hectares, wheat – 249 thousand hectares, barley – 781.6 thousand hectares, peas – 162.1 thousand hectares, oats – 166.7 thousand hectares, buckwheat – 48.1 thousand hectares, millet – 43.1 thousand hectares.
According to information from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, Poltava region leads in terms of sowing rates with 533,400 hectares, followed by Chernihiv region with 435,000 hectares, Vinnytsia region with 368,200 hectares, Kirovohrad region with 362,600 hectares, and Kyiv region with 359,200 hectares.
Technical crops were sown on an area of 3.9 million hectares, compared with 3.432 million hectares a week earlier. In particular, sunflower crops reached 3.9 million hectares (3.5 million hectares a week ago and 4.6 million hectares last year), soybeans – 1.73 million hectares (1.3 million hectares and 1.64 million hectares) and sugar beets – 0.22 million hectares (0.22 million hectares and 0.25 million hectares).
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy notes that sunflower crops currently account for 77% of the plan, soybeans – 72%, and sugar beets – 99%.
Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has completed the autumn sowing campaign for the 2025 harvest, for which it has allocated 65 thousand hectares, the company’s press service reports on Facebook.
“According to operational data, the structure of winter crops is as follows: winter wheat – more than 46 thou hectares, winter rapeseed – more than 17 thou hectares, winter peas – 2 thou hectares,” the agroholding said.
At the same time, Astarta’s structural units continue the sugar beet harvesting campaign, the total area under which is 38 thousand hectares.
As reported earlier, the sugar production season in the agricultural holding started on August 24 at the plant in Vinnytsia region. At the end of August, two plants were launched in Poltava region, and in September – two more.
In 2023, the agricultural holding grew 39 thousand tons of sugar beet, up 20% from a year earlier, thanks to a record yield of 58 tons/ha, compared to 56 tons/ha in 2022, the company’s annual report said Wednesday evening.
According to the agricultural holding, the record high sugar beet harvest extended the processing period until the end of January 2024. In total, the sugar production campaign in 2023 lasted 130 days, compared to 111 days a year earlier.
“In the 2023-2024 marketing year, Astarta increased sugar production by 34% year-on-year to 377 thousand tons. At the same time, the volume of sugar beet processing in 2023 increased by 37% compared to the same period last year and reached 2.7 million tons. The market share remained unchanged at 21% in 2023.
In 2023, Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
State-controlled PrivatBank (Kyiv) issued UAH 6 billion in loans to 2,300 agricultural producers for the sowing campaign, the bank’s press service reported on Saturday.
“Ukrainian agricultural enterprises and farmers have already received UAH 6 billion of preferential loans for sowing from PrivatBank. Funding for spring work has been provided to 2,300 farms under the state program of preferential lending to agricultural producers,” the report says.
As reported, PrivatBank began issuing agricultural loans under the state support program on March 24. The program provides loans in the amount of up to UAH 5 million without collateral and insurance, as well as interest rate compensation, due to which customers pay 0% per annum with a one-time commission payment of up to 1% of the loan amount.
In order to receive a loan in the amount of more than UAH 5 million, the agricultural producer must additionally pledge agricultural machinery, which will provide at least 20% of the loan amount.
According to the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022, PrivatBank ranked first in terms of total assets (UAH 582.85 billion) among 71 banks operating in the country.
For the period from mid-March to April 13, Ukrainian banking institutions provided loans to farmers under the state program to support the sowing campaign-2022 for a total of UAH 5.43 billion, including loans and portfolio guarantees for the week of March 6-13. UAH 3.64 billion
The relevant data on the financing of the sowing campaign in the context of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine was published on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on Thursday.
“In fact, over a week, loans were issued for more than UAH 3.6 billion for more than a thousand farmers. Banks took a rather fast pace to cover the needs of our agricultural producers, who are now undergoing a sowing campaign. Today, agricultural loans can be issued by 22 Bank, and the goal of the state is to increase lending to the agricultural sector up to UAH 40 billion, that is, almost eight times more,” the department quotes its head, Mykola Solsky.
It is specified that 80% (UAH 4.41 billion) of the provided borrowed funds were portfolio guarantees, while 2.08 thousand agricultural producers received access to financing in total (1.18 thousand in the last week).
Most of the loans for the sowing campaign were attracted by the agrarians of Kirovohrad region – UAH 1.81 billion (+UAH 1.4 billion for the week), Vinnitsa region – UAH 944 million (+UAH 579 million), Dnepropetrovsk region – UAH 738 million (+UAH 471 million), Odesa – UAH 549 million (+UAH 388 million) and Lviv – UAH 348 million (+UAH 189 million) regions.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, loans up to UAH 60 million under this program are issued at 0% per annum (under the state financial support program “Affordable loans 5-7-9%”). The term of such lending is up to six months, and after its completion, the interest rate for borrowers will be 5% per annum. Agrarians falling under the definition of an agricultural producer can use the loan.
“Ukraine understands its defining role as a guarantor of the food security of the world, so we must harvest to feed ourselves, and also prevent food shortages and hunger in the world,” Solsky summed up in the message of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
The agency recalled that the government program to support the sowing campaign is being implemented by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, the National Bank and the banking sector.
As reported, at the end of March, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine expanded the procedure for issuing guarantees for agricultural producers on loans on a portfolio basis for the purchase of the resources they need for the sowing campaign in 2022, since due to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, part of the farmers lost working capital for carrying out spring work.
Thus, within the framework of portfolio lending to agricultural producers, they will be able to obtain loans for the purchase of fertilizers, plant protection products, pesticides and agrochemicals, fuel, spare parts for agricultural equipment, as well as for replenishment of fixed assets and intangible assets, wages, rent of real estate and movable property, works and services for its operations.
The total budget of this program to support the 2022 sowing season is UAH 50 billion.
