Difficult start for winter crops in northern and eastern Europe

According to the latest MARS crop monitoring bulletin, published by European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on 26 October, the sowing of winter crops has generally progressed well in the EU’s largest producing countries, but was hampered in northern and eastern Europe, including in Poland, the EU’s fourth biggest wheat producer. The yield forecasts for summer crops at EU-28 level remain low, and are comparable to last month’s forecast.

 

Temperature anomalies in September and October affected the harvest of summer crops and the sowing of winter crops. September was warmer than usual in northern, eastern and south-eastern Europe and colder than usual in western Europe. October has been generally colder than usual so far, especially during the second dekad, when negative minimum temperatures occurred in many areas of central and eastern Europe. Wetter-than-usual conditions were recorded in many parts of Europe, which slowed the harvesting activities of maize and sunflowers, and hampered the sowing of winter crops, particularly in south-eastern Europe. In areas where dry conditions persisted (including Poland, Lithuania, western Ukraine and southern Russia), the winter crops sown in September germinated under unfavourable conditions which further worsened due to the low temperatures in October. However, the sowing of winter cereals has progressed with no major problems in the EU’s largest producing countries, France, Germany and the UK.