Persistent wet weather in Russia contrasted with
intensifying drought in north-central Ukraine.
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, the persistent wetness raised concerns over grain
quality and made early drydown and harvesting efforts difficult.
In Ukraine,
moderate to heavy showers (10-40 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 continued to experience good to excellent 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 (90-day
rainfall locally less than 50 percent of normal).
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.