In 2011, 94.2 million tonnes of grain (weight after processing) was harvested in Russia, of which 56.2 million tonnes was wheat, which is almost 14.7 million tonnes more than in 2010. The total yield of the major commercial crops increased significantly: sunflower seeds by 81.4% (9.7 million tonnes), and sugar beet by 110% (47.6 million tonnes).

In 2012, 16.1 million hectares of winter crops were sown. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the area for winter crops after hibernation could reach 15.1 million hectares (in spring 2011 the area set aside for winter crops was 14.06 million hectares).

In 2012 the area under crops is expected to increase to 78.3 million hectares, up 1.8 million on 2011. Spring sowing is expected to take up 50.8 million hectares (0.3 million more than in 2011), which includes spring sowing of 30.3 million hectares of grain and pulse crops (an increase of 0.2 million hectares), 6.5 million hectares of sunflower grain (a decrease of 1.1 million hectares), 1.4 million hectares of soybean (a 0.2 million hectare increase), 0.77 million hectares of spring rape (an increase of 0.03 million hectares), 1.19 million hectares of sugar beet (processed) (a decrease of 0.1 million hectares), 2.2 million hectares of potatoes (the same as in 2011), and 0.7 million hectares of vegetables (the same as in 2011).

Thanks to the industrial programme The Development of Seed Growing in Russia 2011-2013 (as part of the state programme for the development of agriculture and the regulation of the agricultural produce, raw materials and food markets in 2008-2012) the production of seeds and planting stock had been restored to the required volumes by 2012.

This year the agriculture sector is planning to use 3 million tonnes of nutrient fertilizer, at a cost of approximately 83 billion roubles. In 2012 there will be 5 billion roubles of state support set aside to compensate agricultural producers for a portion of their costs for purchasing chemicals. There will be subsidies for fertilizers used on wheat, barley, grain maize, rice, soybean, sugar beet, vegetable and fodder crops, as well as pesticides for treating sugar beet seeds.

Federal government support for agricultural producers included a decision to introduce a 30% discount on regional wholesale fuel prices (applicable 31 December 2011) for fuel purchases related to the carrying out of spring field work. The volume of the discounted fuel used for spring field work in 2012 was 15% higher than in the same period in 2011. Between March and June 2012 the figure was 1.4 million tonnes, which included 50,600 tonnes of gasoline and over 1.3 million tonnes of diesel fuel.

The amount of financial resources needed by the agro-industrial complex to carry out spring field work is estimated at around 224 billion roubles, 141.6 billion roubles of which is in the form of credit facilities.