Why Poland
Every year Polish farmers declare the crop on each parcel for subsidy payments: 10.6 million parcels covering 13.9 million hectares, 44% of the country. The average parcel is just 1.3 ha. Small fields and many crops make it a hard test for any satellite map, and the declarations make it possible to check the answer field by field.
The result
We took a random sample of 52,161 fields with 15 crops and compared the crop on our map with the farmer’s declaration.
| Measure | Match |
|---|---|
| Fields | 74% |
| Area | 76% |
| Main crops: grass, maize, rapeseed, wheat, sugar beet (63% of fields) | 87% |
| By voivodeship | 66–80% |
The hardest pairs are triticale and rye, which look almost the same from orbit, as well as peas and soybean. No farm surveys were used: the check relies only on the declarations.
What Poland grows
According to the 2026 declarations:
| Crop | Area |
|---|---|
| Grass and pasture | 2.80 M ha |
| Rye, triticale and mixed cereals | 2.29 M ha |
| Winter wheat | 2.16 M ha |
| Maize | 2.01 M ha |
| Winter rapeseed | 1.00 M ha |
| Barley | 0.75 M ha |
| Other crops | 2.86 M ha |
| Total | 13.9 M ha |
Maize is catching up with winter wheat
Maize covers 2.01 million hectares, only 7% less than winter wheat (2.16 million). Compared with 2025:
| Crop | 2025, M ha | 2026, M ha | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maize | 1.99 | 2.01 | +1% |
| Winter wheat | 2.33 | 2.16 | −7% |
| Winter rapeseed | 1.10 | 1.00 | −9% |
| Barley | 0.62 | 0.75 | +20% |
| Sugar beet | 0.26 | 0.24 | −9% |
Where the maize is
| Voivodeship | Maize |
|---|---|
| Wielkopolskie | 343 k ha |
| Mazowieckie | 279 k ha |
| Kujawsko-Pomorskie | 205 k ha |
| Podlaskie | 185 k ha |
| Dolnośląskie | 151 k ha |
| Łódzkie | 144 k ha |
| Opolskie | 121 k ha |
| Warmińsko-Mazurskie | 112 k ha |
| Other 8 voivodeships | 466 k ha |
Who uses this
- Seed and crop-protection suppliers: where each crop grows and how it shifts from year to year.
- Traders and processors: supply by region early in the season.
- Lenders and insurers: check what is actually growing on a declared field.
- Data teams: a crop map with a known, published accuracy.
Want to check a crop map against your own data?
Tell us the country and the crops. We'll send a free sample.