The driest May in 30 years will hit grain crops hardest in southern and eastern Ukraine

May 2024 in Ukraine was one of the driest in the last 30 years, and, for example, in Cherkasy region – in 100 years of meteorological observations. This was reported by experts from the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center.

Due to a large deficit of precipitation almost throughout the country, agrometeorological conditions in the third decade continued to deteriorate or worsen for all types of crops.

“However, due to the fact that there were no very high air temperatures, the deterioration of conditions did not become critical, and the agrometeorological conditions of the last spring ten-day period were still satisfactory for the vegetation of most crops,” agrometeorologists emphasized.

The lack of precipitation led to drying and compaction of the upper soil layers, creating unfavorable conditions for the initial development of late-sown industrial and horticultural crops. The precipitation deficit led to the development and spread of drought phenomena under early spiked crops in the southern and eastern regions.

“As of May 31, air-soil drought of varying intensity (with a decrease in productive moisture to less than 50 mm and in some places to complete drying of the meter-thick soil) was observed in most areas of Kharkiv region, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, southern and central regions of Dnipropetrovska, and western regions of Poltava,” the report says.

Tags: Ukraine, crop condition