Agro-industrial holding Astarta, Ukraine's largest sugar producer, has begun the 2026 spring sowing campaign, starting with sugar beet planting in Poltava region, the company announced on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

According to the report, 32,000 hectares are allocated to sugar beets this year, a 5.9% decrease compared to last year's 34,000 hectares. At the same time, the area under sunflowers will decrease by 21% to 23,000 hectares, and winter wheat by 15% to 39,000 hectares. The largest increase is planned for grain corn, up 43% to 20,000 hectares, and winter rapeseed, up 36% to 15,000 hectares. Soybean crops remained unchanged at 56,000 hectares, and the area under organic farming remained unchanged at 2,000 hectares.

"The current sowing season is taking place in challenging conditions: increased humidity caused by abnormally cold and frozen soils requires special attention from agronomists. They are adapting cultivation technologies and carefully monitoring fieldwork to improve production efficiency. Operational control is provided by innovative AgriChain Machinery, AgriChain Scout, and AgriChain Barn solutions. Combined with an updated fleet, this allows us to quickly respond to weather and technological challenges, ensuring the stability and quality of the sowing campaign," Astarta's Chief Operating Officer, Vasyl Khmeliuk, was quoted as saying in the message.

The holding noted that the final cropping pattern will be determined based on the campaign's results. The use of digital ecosystems and an updated fleet of equipment allows the company to maintain a high work pace despite challenging weather conditions.

Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar plants, farming operations with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, and dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobyne (Poltava region), seven grain elevators, and a biogas complex.

Astarta's total revenue from sales of key product categories in 2025 decreased by 15.6% compared to 2024, to UAH 21.05 billion, while physical sales volumes of its core products fell by 23.5%, to 1.21 million tonnes.