Sunflower acreage in Ukraine to expand at expense of crop rotation to “keep economy afloat” — opinion

High prices and improved soil moisture reserves are encouraging Ukrainian growers to increase sunflower acreage in 2026, despite the risks to crop rotation. In the new season, farms may expand sunflower plantings by 5–20%, according to experts from agricultural consulting company ProPole, SuperAgronom.com reports.

“Unfortunately, sunflower acreage will grow at the expense of crop rotation because farms need to keep the economy afloat. This season, sunflower areas will increase by 5–20%,” the experts say.

Just a month ago, many farmers believed that growing sunflower in the southern and eastern regions would be impractical. The reasons were an extremely dry summer, which resulted in yields of only 0.5–1 t/ha, as well as critically low soil moisture reserves in autumn.

However, the situation changed after heavy snowfall in January, which covered almost the entire country following three consecutive snowless winters. This revived discussions about the feasibility of sowing sunflower in the South and East. Market participants note that seed companies are not seeing a decline in interest in the crop, so no significant reduction in sunflower acreage is expected.

“An increase in sunflower acreage is expected in the East and South due to high prices and sufficient moisture reserves after winter. In contrast, we expect a decrease in the West and North because of unfavourable weather conditions during harvesting,” said Dmytro Neroda, Marketing Director at Lidea.

According to him, adjustments to the crop structure may also take place through a reduction in the share of late-maturing hybrids.

At the same time, some agricultural holdings are revising sunflower acreage for crop rotation reasons. For example, Agrain plans to cut sunflower plantings by 38.8% compared with 2025. In Chernihiv region, acreage will be reduced almost 2.5x, and in Zhytomyr region — by more than half. The company emphasizes that this decision is driven by strict adherence to crop rotation, with sunflower sown on the same field no more than once every four years.

Meanwhile, TAS Agro, guided by the same crop rotation principles, is bringing sunflower back to fields in Chernihiv region. As a result, sunflower acreage in the region has increased by 30%.