Over western and southern Russia’s primary growing areas, another week with widespread moderate to heavy showers (5-50 mm, locally more) maintained adequate to abundant soil moisture for reproductive (north) to filling (south) winter wheat as well as vegetative small grains, corn, and sunflowers.
However, producers would likely welcome drier weather over the upcoming weeks for crop maturation and drydown in key southern wheat areas.
In Ukraine, showers and thunderstorms (5-30 mm) were reported in all but drought-afflicted north-central growing areas.
As a result, crop areas bordering Russia, Belarus, and the immediate Black Sea Coast were experiencing good growing conditions for vegetative corn and soybeans (north and west) as well as sunflowers (east).
However, dryness and drought continued to adversely impact filling winter wheat and vegetative summer crops from west-central Ukraine into primary corn and soybean areas in north-central portions of the country (centred on the Poltava Oblast).
Latest satellite-derived vegetation health data depicted a sharp gradient between severe crop stress in north central Ukraine and good to excellent vegetation health from the Black Sea Coast into eastern Ukraine.