The farms of the KSG Agro agricultural holding have begun harvesting sunflowers, which cover more than 5,800 hectares this year; work has already been completed on approximately 29% of the planted area, the agricultural holding’s press service reported.
“Our main task now is to make the most efficient use of every weather window for harvesting. Precipitation has somewhat slowed down the pace of work, so we are closely monitoring the condition of the crops and the readiness of each field for threshing,” said Vitaliy Nekhay, head of the crop production division.
According to him, the sunflower ripening period was accompanied by rainfall, with a total accumulation of 5–7 mm in some fields. As a result, the natural drying of the plants is proceeding more slowly, which affects the ability to deploy machinery to the fields promptly.
To accelerate and standardize sunflower ripening across an area of approximately 400 hectares on KSG Agro’s farms, pre-harvest desiccation was carried out—a measure that speeds up and standardizes the drying of plants before harvest.
According to preliminary estimates by agronomists, the oil content of sunflower seeds is currently slightly lower than expected, at 44–48%. Final harvest quality indicators will be determined after harvesting is complete and laboratory analyses have been conducted.
The harvested sunflowers are sent to elevators, a processing plant, and the agricultural holding’s storage facilities.
AGRICULTURAL HOLDING, HARVEST, harvest season, KSG AGRO, SUNFLOWER
