Activity of Ukrainian farmers are heavily affected by weather

The 2022 corn harvest rates are surprisingly slow. The main reason for the delay is excessive topsoil moisture, which prevented heavy farm vehicles from going into the fields. According to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center, September’s precipitation across Ukraine averaged 96 mm, or 181% above its normal rate.

Ukrainian farmers are not so much in a hurry to harvest the new corn crop, as they have not yet sold out their stocks of the 2021 crop. Another discouraging factor at the moment is high prices of natural gas. Not every farmer can afford drying his corn now. The corn harvest is expected to accelerate in October because the wintering of unharvested corn in the fields usually entails a significant quality deterioration. This reduces the probability of high corn sales to the EU (the main corn importer).

The weather conditions slow the harvesting rates of sunflower as well. The soil moisture surplus affects the SFS quality: part of sunflower fields in the western and central regions are hit by head rotting, the yield and oil content forecasts are decreasing.

Farmers will face a choice of how to share the costs of corn and SFS harvesting and drying.

According to meteorological forecasts, dry weather is expected in Ukraine at least until mid-October, which will speed up the harvesting.