The planting of winter grains occurs from August until December, and last year’s planting outpaced the usual sowing rate. Winter crops will emerge from dormancy in the spring and will be harvested in July through August. Winter wheat accounts for about 85 percent of the total winter grains crop in Russia and the remainder is divided between barley, rye, and triticale. Winter wheat is mainly grown in European Russia, scattered between the Southern (43 percent of production), the Central (27 percent), the North Caucasus (18 percent), and the Volga (12 percent) districts.

According to the data from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, the area dedicated to winter grains in 2019/20 totaled 17.16 million hectares (mha) compared to 16.68 mha for 2018/19. The current area is the highest planted area since 2009 (the 2010/11 marketing year) and is up year-to-year by three percent. The largest increase in area by district came from the Volga district, which is up 0.30 mha, or seven percent year-to-year. The area is also up by 0.12 mha, or three percent in the Central district and is essentially unchanged in the Southern district. The area decreased slightly in the North Caucasus by 0.04 mha. The Central and Southern districts are the highest yielding areas for winter wheat and winter barley.

Fall conditions were favorable for planting Russia’s winter grains, with favorable soil moisture in the main winter wheat growing areas. Dry conditions with scattered showers allowed farmers to get into the field to rapidly sow the winter grain crops. Later in the fall, the soil moisture conditions continued to be favorable for growth. Satellite-derived vegetation indices indicate that winter-crop conditions were favorable in most of European Russia in November prior to winter crops entering dormancy. Furthermore, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture reported that winter crops were in good or satisfactory condition on 91.5 percent of the planted area as of February 12.