Crop monitoring in Europe - MARS Bulletin Vol. 23 No 10 (2015) - Difficult start for winter crops in Eastern and Northern Europe

Abstract

Yield forecasts for summer crops at EU-28 level remain low and are comparable to last month’s forecast. September was warmer than usual in northern, eastern and south-eastern Europe and colder than usual in western Europe. October has generally been colder than usual so far, especially during the second dekad, when negative minimum temperatures occurred in many areas of central and eastern Europe. Wetterthan- usual conditions were recorded in south-eastern Europe, south-eastern France, central and southern Italy, northern Germany and several parts of northern Europe. Large areas in south-eastern Europe faced a period of abundant rains slowing down the harvesting activities of maize and sunflower and hampering the sowing of winter crops. Dry conditions have persisted in Poland, Lithuania, western Ukraine and southern Russia. In these regions, the winter crops sown in September germinated under unfavourable conditions which further worsened due to the low temperatures that occurred in October. The sowing of winter cereals has progressed without major problems in the EU’s largest producing states, France, Germany and the UK.