Farmers in several Russian regions, including Vladimir, Novgorod, Vologda, Bryansk, and Tula, are experiencing a severe sales crisis due to a sharp drop in potato purchases by retail networks. While thousands of tons of last year’s harvest remain stored in warehouses, supermarkets are prioritizing imported produce from Egypt, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. Konstantin Mazurenko, head of the Association of Peasant Farms in the Vladimir region, reported that procurement volumes have nearly tripled down, with purchase prices falling from 26–28 rubles per kilogram in February to just 16–18 rubles by mid-March—below production costs. In extreme cases, potatoes were sold for as little as 4 rubles per kilogram, forcing some farms to discard spoiled goods or offer “winter stock” to the public with discounts of up to 40%.
The situation threatens long-term damage to the industry, as farmers warn of multimillion-ruble losses and potential reductions in planting areas for the next season. Despite government subsidies, regional authorities admit that maintaining current acreage is becoming increasingly difficult. While retail representatives claim that imported potatoes account for only 10–15% of shelves and argue they sometimes sell below cost to support affordability, farmers counter that advance contracts for Egyptian and Turkish imports, locked in months earlier, directly displace high-quality domestic produce. With a record 931,000 tons of imported potatoes entering the market last year and many growers considering cutting back on plantings, the crisis risks shrinking domestic production volumes and deepening the sector’s reliance on foreign supplies.
