In 2024, the acreage for growing agricultural crops in Sumy Oblast decreased by 4% compared to the previous year. This information was provided by Oleksandr Maslak, director of the agro-industrial complex department, noting that the total sown area is 1.032 million hectares. This is reported on the website of Sumy OVA with reference to information from "Ukrinform" and "ProAgro Group".

Oleksandr Maslak explained that the main factors that caused the decrease in cultivated areas are the lack of the possibility of safely carrying out agricultural work in the entire territory of the region. At the same time, he emphasized that in Sumy Oblast there remains a consistently high interest in the cultivation of such crops as wheat, corn for grain, sunflower, soybeans and rapeseed.

According to Maslak, the area sown under wheat increased by 2% and is 167.5 thousand hectares. At the same time, the area under grain and leguminous crops decreased to 478,000 hectares, which is 8% less than in the previous year.

Oil crops, in particular sunflower, soybean and rapeseed, also occupy a significant part of the cultivated areas in Sumy Oblast. For example, the area under sunflower decreased to 169.2 thousand hectares, while the area under soybean increased to 220.2 thousand hectares, and rapeseed - to 66.5 thousand hectares.

According to the expert, the formation of the structure of sown areas is significantly influenced by the conjuncture of the world and domestic markets of agricultural products. In 2024, Sumy farmers actively exported their products to various countries of the world, including Turkmenistan, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Lithuania.

Continuation of monitoring and analysis of market trends remains a key task for maintaining the stability of the agro-industrial complex of Sumy Oblast, contributing to the development of effective cultivation strategies and increasing the competitiveness of agricultural products on international markets.