KYIV (Reuters) – Prolonged heat across many Ukrainian regions has dried the upper soil level, creating unfavourable conditions for the forthcoming winter grain sowing, analysts APK-Inform quoted state weather forecasters as saying on Thursday.
Ukraine traditionally plants winter wheat which accounted for around 95% of all winter output, along with winter rapeseed and winter barley.
“High air temperatures and the lack of precipitation in almost half of the territory led to a decrease in productive moisture reserves,” forecasters said in a report.
“The top 0-10 cm of soil was almost dry in most areas. These conditions made it difficult to prepare the soil for winter crops and start sowing winter rapeseed.”
Ukraine has already started the winter sowing for the 2024 harvest, seeding winter rapeseed.
The farm ministry has asked producers this month to report their sowing plans for 2024 to form preliminary estimates for the 2024/25 season.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Jason Neely)
