The 2026 harvest campaign risks becoming an absolute nightmare for Russian farmers. Confronted with a severe diesel shortage, drastic rationing, and prices that have spiraled out of control, agricultural producers warn that a significant portion of this year’s grain crop could be compromised.
The crisis is most acutely felt precisely in Russia’s “granary” – the southern regions of Rostov, Krasnodar and Stavropol, territories that account for a fifth of the country’s total grain production. On the M4 federal highway in the Kuban region, the scenes are downright striking: people spend their nights at gas stations, waiting for fuel tankers. To manage the shortage, petrol stations have imposed strict limits, a maximum of 100-200 liters per customer. An absurd measure for the reality on the ground, given that a single combine consumes up to 300 liters of diesel per shift. Without the certainty that they will have something to fuel in the field, many farmers simply refuse to take out their machinery from the garage.
Russian refineries, brought to their knees by Ukrainian drones
The situation became critical after the successive waves of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow’s energy infrastructure. In the past two months, all of the top ten largest oil refineries in Russia have been hit, causing a nearly 40% drop in diesel production. The crude oil processing rate has regressed to historical lows, unseen since the early 2000s.
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