Many areas of the world are have been experiencing record temperatures, and the same goes for Ukraine.
Latifundist Media has partnered with us to provide boots-on-the-ground coverage.
The summer of 2024 in Ukraine had a record number of days with maximum temperatures of 95°F and above. The total rainfall deficit across the country ranged from 40-65% of the normal level. The drought will naturally result in a decrease in gross grain production.
This year, unfortunately, many regions of Ukraine are suffering from drought. This adversely affects the production volumes. This particularly applies to the South-Eastern and partially Central parts of Ukraine. Thus, we have reduced our gross production forecast by 10-15%. Note that last year Ukraine had a record harvest for the country, so the basis for comparison is quite high.
In our recent CropTour, we collected data on crop losses. Rostyslav Nechytalyuk, deputy director of the Garant Firm in Vinnytsia region, says that last year the average corn yield was 191-207 bushels per acre. This year’s yield will be half that.
You see the effects of the drought. Near the forest belt, the corn has hardly developed and is burnt. There are no cobs, just cracks in the ground. Recently, it rained and smoothed the situation a little, so if you go deeper into the field, you can see that the cobs are formed, but not properly.
The sunflower plants in the farm’s fields were doing very well until mid-July. They even expected a yield of more than 169 bushels per acre, but then the dry spell hit and the plants started to shed their leaves. The farmer expects a shortfall of at least 39 bushels per acre.
The heat waves came at the time of filling and pollination of the corn, stressing it. We estimate the losses to be around 10%. And this is even though we followed all the right technological steps - we planted early, applied fertilisers, and left enough in-row space.
Another farmer, Valeriy Laskov, mentioned that almost all farms in Central Ukraine are dealing with the worst condition of soybean crops. The heat forced the crop to abort the lower beans. This means, firstly, that there will be no target yield. And secondly, the thousand grain weight will decrease.
That report was powered by Latifundist Media, with USAID support provided through Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) Activity implemented in Ukraine by Chemonics International. For more information, visit their website or follow them on social media.
