How much rapeseed has been sown in Poland in recent years?

Ile rzepaku sieje się w Polsce w ostatnich latach?

How much rapeseed have we been sowing in Poland in recent seasons?
Will the acreage remain at a similar level?

20 years ago the area was the same as the current one

If less than 0.5 million ha of rapeseed were sown in Poland now, it would mean that the structure of crops in our country has undergone drastic changes. Meanwhile, two decades ago, this crop was far from being popular on the same scale as the area that has been appearing in our country for several years. In 2001, slightly over 440 thousand ha were sown in Poland. At that time, rapeseed was grown in our country by slightly over 40 thousand farms. Interestingly, in the following two seasons, this area did not grow, and in fact was lower. It was not until 2004, i.e. at the time when Poland joined the EU, that more rapeseed was sown. In 2004, the area was around 550 thousand ha. This is still much less compared to how much of this plant is sown in Poland today.

600 thousand ha was not exceeded until 2006. And until the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the area in Poland was growing – for example, in 2009 there were about 800 thousand ha of rape in the country. A large increase was noted a year later – it was already over 900 thousand ha. The years 2009-2010 began a kind of stabilization of the area. Since then, it has only been lower than 800 thousand ha once (in 2012).

How long do seed dressings protect rapeseed?

In the third decade, one million hectares were exceeded

At the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, i.e. in 2021, slightly over 970 thousand ha of rapeseed were sown in Poland. In 2022-2023, the area sown with this plant already exceeded 1 million ha – these are the first seasons with an area higher than one million hectares. In 2023, the area approached even 1.1 million ha. In the next season, a drop of a considerable 100 thousand ha was recorded.

Over the course of 20 years, the area of rapeseed has increased by 150% (compared to the year with the highest sown area). Although the record for the area of rapeseed in the country in 2023 was not broken, it can be expected that in the coming years rapeseed will be sown on an area close to 1 million hectares.

Although the correlation of costs to the valuation of agricultural products is not attractive at the moment, it is difficult to find a crop that would easily replace rapeseed directly. The area of soybeans is also growing, and it is still gaining popularity. Last season, more peas and lupine were also sown. But these plants do not replace rapeseed. And it is the lack of direct alternatives that may contribute to the fact that rapeseed will maintain its level in terms of share in the crop structure.