The question
Traders, processors and input suppliers need to know how much of each crop is in the ground while the season is still running. Official figures for Belarus come as sowing plans and region-level estimates, and field-level data is not public.
We mapped every field in the country from satellite imagery in the middle of the season and compared the result with the official figures.
What we mapped
249,343 fields with a crop and 5.3 million hectares — 26% of the country, as much as the Grodno and Mogilev regions together. The largest groups:
| Crop | Area |
|---|---|
| Meadow grasses and hay | 1.37 M ha |
| Maize | 1.27 M ha |
| Winter wheat | 0.90 M ha |
| Other crops | 1.78 M ha |
| Total | 5.3 M ha |
How it compares with official figures
| Crop | CropMap | Official | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maize | 1.27 M ha | 1.28 M ha | −1% |
| Rapeseed | 465 k ha | 486 k ha | −4% |
| Winter cereals | 1.01 M ha | ≈1.5 M ha | −33% |
Official: Ministry of Agriculture and Food — maize sowing plan, rapeseed area remaining for harvest, winter cereals in total (wheat, rye, triticale). Official figures are a reference point, not ground truth.
Maize and rapeseed land within a few percent of the official numbers. Maize by region lines up too:
| Region | CropMap | Official |
|---|---|---|
| Minsk | 317 k ha | over 300 k ha |
| Brest | 251 k ha | 257 k ha |
| Gomel | 217 k ha | about 300 k ha |
| Grodno | 199 k ha | — |
| Mogilev | 160 k ha | — |
| Vitebsk | 127 k ha | — |
For Grodno, Mogilev and Vitebsk regions the official figure exists only for the three together: ≈420–430 k ha; CropMap shows 486 k ha. Minsk city is counted in Minsk region.
Winter cereals: we see 1.01 million hectares against about 1.5 million in official figures. Part of the winter crops is still classified as spring crops. We show this gap openly instead of fitting the map to the statistics.
Who uses this
- Traders and processors: supply estimates by region before the harvest.
- Seed and crop-protection suppliers: where maize and rapeseed are concentrated, down to the field.
- Lenders and insurers: check what is actually growing on a declared field.
- Analysts: an independent mid-season check of official plans.
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