According to the European Commission, the structure of sown areas in the European Union will change. EU Farmers will sow more soybeans and legumes, reducing the area under cereals, rapeseed and sunflower, according to the European Commission’s EU Agricultural Outlook for 2023-35.
The document noted that in the structure of arable crops, a relative shift in land use from cereals to soybeans and pulses is projected. This is due to some EU policy measures aimed at developing the production of vegetable proteins, supporting protein crops, and also due to the increase in income from growing protein crops.
Therefore, the area under cereals is projected to decline to 51 million hectares in 2035 (compared to 51.1 million hectares in 2023), with;
- a decrease in barley (by 0.6 million hectares from 2023 to 2035)
- balanced by an increase in wheat (+0.2 million hectares)
- corn (+0.3 million hectares).
Barley and corn acreage is expected to shift from southern to northern EU countries to adapt to climate change.
The area under pulses is expected to increase to 2.7 million hectares in 2035 (compared to 2.1 million hectares in 2023), while soybeans are projected to increase to 1.3 million hectares in 2035 (compared to 1 million hectares in 2023).
The area under rapeseed is projected to decrease to 5.7 million hectares in 2035 (from 6.2 million hectares in 2023), mainly due to a decrease in the use of biofuels, while the area under sunflower is expected to decrease to 4.6 million hectares in 2035 (from 4.8 million hectares in 2023).