Ukraine may plant 4.5 million-5 million hectares of corn this year after autumn drought, winter frosts damaged crops, Agriculture Ministry says

Andrew Rogers

LOS ANGELES , March 1, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – On Feb. 29, Leonid Sukhomlyn, the head of the Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry’s grain department, said that farmers in the Ukraine may plant 4.5 million hectares (11.1 million acres) to 5 million hectares of corn following an autumn drought and winter frosts that ruined nearly half of the country’s winter grains, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 29.

Last year, Ukrainian farmers planted 3.6 million hectares with corn, Sukhomlyn added. Year-over-year, farmers are likely to double their spring barley and spring wheat plantings this year.

In comparison to the 7.1 million hectares of winter grains that had sprouted prior to the winter frosts, farmers are likely to harvest 5.5 million-6 million hectares of winter grain, Sukhomlyn said.

This season’s autumn drought, which was the worst autumn drought in at least 50 years, lasted for more than three months. It weakened crops that were then subjected to freezing temperatures over the winter.

3.5 million hectares of land that had been planted with winter grains will be reseeded with spring crops, the Agriculture Ministry predicted.

The 2012 harvest will likely yield between 800,000-1 million hectares of winter barley, and 4.5 million-5 million hectares of winter wheat, Sukhomlyn said.

The primary source of this article is Bloomberg, New York, New York, on Feb. 29, 2012.

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