Agroholding “Continental Farmers Group” began sowing winter crops for the harvest of 2024, for which it plans to allocate 97.8 thousand hectares, reported the press service of the agricultural holding.
According to the report, Continental is traditionally the first to sow winter rape, for which 34.8 thousand hectares will be allocated. Weather conditions favor sowing work: thanks to precipitation in the soil is enough moisture.
“We apply different production technologies according to the type of seeders we have. These include direct seeding immediately after harvesting wheat and barley with Horsch Focus seeders, and traditional continuous seeding. We also plan to use precision seeders with a row spacing of 35 cm,” said Konstantin Shityuk, Operations Director of Continental Farmers Group.
According to him, sowing of winter rape began in accordance with the planned dates. The company is fully provided with seeds, mineral fertilizers, protection products and fuel and lubricants.
Agroholding intends to complete sowing of rape by August 20, after which it will start sowing of winter wheat and barley, for which 49.7 thousand hectares and 13.1 thousand hectares will be allocated respectively.
The pace of sowing winter wheat and barley will depend on the speed of harvesting the precursor crops. In the regions where Continental operates, the vegetation of spring crops (soybeans, sunflowers, corn) will be prolonged due to delays in development. The reason for this is weather conditions and rather late sowing dates, explained the agroholding.
In addition, the early grain harvest continues on Continental’s fields, which has been harvested from 65% of the planned areas.
“Winter barley threshing is fully completed, with a net yield of 6.39 tons per hectare, which is higher than planned. Winter rape harvest is nearing completion. The net yield of the crop is also higher than planned and is 3.74 tons per hectare”, – stated in the agroholding.
Mriya Agroholding and CFG, united under the name Continental Farmers Group, have been operating as a single business since November 2018, when Mriya made a deal with international investor Salic UK on the sale of assets.
Salic was founded in 2012. Its sole shareholder is the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which invests in agricultural and livestock products.
As of December 2022, up to 65% of winter crops are in good to excellent condition, while the condition of the remaining 30-35% will depend on weather conditions during the winter.
According to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy on Friday, citing data from the Ukrhydrometcenter, the weather factor has not affected the condition of the crops this season.
“According to a visual assessment, on 65% (in 2021 – 56%) of the examined fields the plants entered the winter in good and excellent condition, on 28% (35%) of the areas the condition of plants was assessed as satisfactory. In 7% (9%) of the areas the plants were underdeveloped (did not reach the phase of development safe for overwintering). The majority of such crops (from 7% to 28%) are in Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Odesa and Lviv regions”, – Ministry reports.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ukrhydrometeocenter conducted a study of productive moisture reserves of arable soil layer under winter crops on October 28-30. At the majority of sown areas reserves of moisture were optimal (21-40 mm), in some areas of eastern, western and northern regions, the soil layer was overwatered (more than 40 mm of productive moisture). At the same time in southern and in some areas of central regions moistening of arable layer of soil was insufficient for the end of autumn (in some places less than 10 mm of productive moisture), the most such areas were in Odessa region.
Also according to agrometeorological surveys of winter crops, in the second half of November, 30-40% of areas plants reached mass tillering, which is favorable for overwintering. On the remaining areas formation of the 3rd leaf and foliage was noted. Plant height varied from 10 to 24 cm with an average of 250-510 plants per m2 and 600-670 plants on the best plots. Bushiness was formed in the range of 1.6-2.8 stems per plant.
As reported, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine said that Ukraine will try to compensate for the smaller areas under winter crops this season by increasing the area under spring crops next year.
“This year winter grain crops were sown on 4.8 million hectares in the controlled territories. This is about 40% less than last year. We expect to sow more spring spring crops to compensate. But it is clear that the large mine contamination of fields, the factor of uncertainty and constant attacks of the enemy will have an impact on the quantitative indicators of our harvest next year. This is a problem that will have to be solved,” the prime minister said.
He stressed that the country’s government is working to attract international support, which should have a positive impact on next year’s gross harvest. Thus, the UN agricultural organization (FAO) has already agreed to provide the country with seed, which will increase the total area of spring crops sown in 2023 by 30%. For comparison, Ukraine during the sowing season 2022 planted 14.16 million hectares of main crops, or 83.7% of the 2021 indicators of 16.92 million hectares.
As of September 20, Ukrainian agricultural producers sowed the main winter crops on an area of 411 thousand hectares (9% of the forecast of 4.56 million hectares), 0.25 million hectares were sown over the past week, according to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Tuesday.
In particular, wheat was sown on 9% of the planned area, or 364 thousand hectares (+207 thousand hectares for the week of September 13-20), barley – 32 thousand hectares (+25 thousand hectares, 5% of the area), rye – 15.3 thousand hectares (+10 thousand hectares, 18% of the area).
According to the ministry, the most intensive sowing of winter grains is carried out in the Ternopil region, where 29.2 thousand hectares have already been sown, or 20% of the forecast.
In addition, agrarians from 13 regions of Ukraine have fully completed the sowing of winter rapeseed, by September 20 it was sown on 98% of the planned areas – 948 thousand hectares (+107 thousand hectares per week).
As reported, in 2021, Ukraine allocated 8.87 million hectares for winter crops, including 6.66 million hectares for wheat, 1.02 million hectares for barley, 160.6 thousand hectares for rye, and 1.03 for rapeseed. million ha.
Ukrainian agricultural producers as of December 7 had sowed main winter crops on an area of 8.06 million hectares (98% of the forecast of 8.2 million hectares), while 79,300 hectares were sown in a week.
According to a report on the website of the Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, in particular the area under wheat was 6.1 million hectares (100% of the forecast), barley – 954,700 hectares (101%), rye – 125,200 hectares (94%), and rapeseeds – 881,100 hectares (87%).
According to the State Statistics Service, the area sown with winter crops for the harvest in 2020 amounted to 8.9 million hectares, which is 0.2% more than the area for the harvest in 2019.
Winter wheat was sown on 6.4 million hectares (0.6% less than for the 2019 harvest), winter barley – one million hectares (3.9% more), rye – 135,000 hectares (16.7% more) and rapeseeds – 1.3 million hectares (0.3% more).
As of November 2, Ukrainian agricultural producers sowed the main winter crops on an area of 7.5 million hectares (91% of the forecast of 8.2 million hectares), 371,000 hectares were sown in a week.
According to a report on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture on Tuesday, the following crops were sown: wheat – 5.65 million hectares (92% of the forecast), barley – 867,000 hectares (92%), rye – 118,800 hectares (89%), rapeseed – 862,600 hectares (85%).
According to the State Statistics Service, the sown area of winter crops for the harvest in 2020 amounted to 8.9 million hectares, which is 0.2% more than the area for the harvest in 2019.
Winter wheat was sown on 6.4 million hectares (0.6% less than in 2019), winter barley – 1 million hectares (+ 3.9%), rye – 135,000 hectares (+ 16.7%) and rapeseed – 1.3 million hectares (+ 0.3%).
