Kazakh farmers are increasingly turning away from soft wheat: competition from cheaper Russian grain has made the traditional crop unprofitable, and drought is making matters worse. Farms are reducing wheat's share of their acreage or dropping soft varieties altogether, infohub.kz reports.

The natural decline in soft wheat area in Kazakhstan is driven by economics. Russia, a major grain producer with low costs, is capturing the market ever more aggressively. In response, Kazakh farmers are introducing alternative niche crops that are in demand in European markets.

Kairat Bisetayev, head of the agricultural enterprise Eurasia Farm Innovations (EFI), said the company sowed soft wheat only once — in 2024 — and was unhappy with the result. Of its entire crop mix, only soft wheat showed negative profitability. So in 2025 the enterprise abandoned it entirely, keeping only durum wheat plantings.

"I think there will be no problems selling durum wheat this season. Yes, last year there was a good harvest and high supply from Canada and Turkey. Europe itself had a decent harvest," he said.

At the same time, Bisetayev notes that drought has severely hit harvests in Europe and Turkey. This opens promising markets for Kazakh farmers.

"When it comes to exports, we farmers need to look very closely at Europe. Because our technologies, our climate, our experience allow us to grow products with minimal chemical input. That is exactly what is valued in Europe, and the EU market is the most profitable and the most prepared for such products," Bisetayev added.

A further blow for domestic farmers was the poor wheat harvest caused by drought. A favorable start to summer gave way to heat in mid-July, which halted crop development at key growth stages. According to elDala.kz, bad weather cost even farms using new agricultural technologies volume and quality.

Damir Kalbybayev, director of the agricultural company Biotix Engineering, revealed the profit farmers expect from wheat sales this year.

"Of course, we won't get the 1 to 13.5 tenge profit from seed treatment we had last year, but 1 to 3 or 1 to 4 is certain," he said.

Kalbybayev concluded that neither the soil nor the plants themselves could withstand the extreme heat of +35 degrees and the lack of precipitation. Because of the heat, even beneficial bacteria in the soil died.

Earlier, Kursiv wrote about where the largest part of Kazakhstan's wheat crop burned up due to heat.