Crop Production Potentials In Russia And Ukraine – Intensification Versus Cropland Expansion

Russia and Ukraine are countries with large untapped agricultural potentials, both in terms of abandoned agricultural land and low yields. In this study, we apply a global economic agricultural sector model to provide a comprehensive analysis of different scenarios, simulating the utilization of different crop production potentials in Russia and Ukraine and their impacts on a regional and global scale. Our results show that substantial potentials in crop production do exist and that large parts of the additional production would be exported to world markets. Production potentials due to intensification are higher than potentials due to re-cultivation of abandoned land.