2025
Spring drought is a traditional challenge for farmers in the south of Ukraine. However, this year the situation became especially critical: more than 100 days without a single productive rain. Such a prolonged absence of precipitation forced farmers to significantly change their crop rotations, growing technologies and approach to moisture conservation.
According to local farms, in the spring-summer period of this year the southern regions of Ukraine experienced more than three months of complete drought. Moisture from the upper soil layers practically disappeared, which made normal vegetation development of most crops impossible.
"Because of this, farmers were forced to review the structure of sown areas and place a bet on crops more resistant to dry conditions," the specialists add.
How the sowing structure changed
On many farms they reduced areas under corn, since this crop is especially sensitive to moisture shortage during flowering and grain filling.
Sunflower plantings were also reduced.
Instead, farmers in the south began to pay attention to alternative crops:
- flax — less demanding of moisture, has a short growing season;
- lentil — well adapted to a dry climate, enriches the soil with nitrogen and has stable demand.
Winter crops also remain relevant, which manage to use the winter-spring moisture:
- winter wheat;
- winter barley;
- winter rapeseed and overwintering peas.
But the situation began to improve at the end of September — in the third ten-day period of the month and in October. The south received from 100 to 170 mm of precipitation (depending on the region), which significantly replenished the reserves of productive moisture in the soil.
"These rains created good preconditions for successful overwintering of winter crops, and also opened up the possibility of restoring areas under corn and sunflower next season.
In view of the current moisture level and the forecasters' forecasts, farmers in the south can plan the return of part of the plantings to sunflower and corn," the experts summed up.
