The autumn sowing of winter crops in 2022 and the current sowing of the spring wedge give rise to the first cautious forecasts for the 2023 harvest. This is stated in the notification of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, writes agronews.ua.

"The projected area of ​​grain and technical crops for the 2023 harvest in the territory controlled by Ukraine is 19.3 million hectares, which is actually comparable to the figure of the previous season — 19.8 million hectares. At the same time, the area of ​​winter crops sown for the 2023 harvest was 1 million hectares less than the previous season, while in spring it is expected to be 556,000 hectares more," the message says.

Sown areas of grain and leguminous crops are forecast at the level of 10.24 million hectares (-1.4 million hectares to the 2022 figure). Of them, winter wheat — 4.17 million ha (-834 thousand ha), spring wheat — 285 thousand ha (+67 thousand ha), winter barley — 536 thousand ha (-255 thousand ha), spring barley — 1.04 million ha (+111 thousand ha), corn — 3.6 million ha (-451 thousand ha).

In contrast to grain crops, the area sown under the main types of oilseeds is predicted to increase, as follows: sunflower — 5.64 million ha (+476 thousand ha), rapeseed — 1.37 million ha (+110 thousand ha), soybeans — 1.84 million hectares (+334 thousand hectares).

It is also expected to increase the acreage under sugar beet — 220,000 hectares against 180,000 hectares last season.

"The reduction in grain acreage, together with the projected decrease in average yield, caused by the increase in the prices of the main factors of production, will affect the volume of the harvest. Thus, the total gross harvest of grain and leguminous crops in the 2023 season may amount to 44.3 million tons against the previous figure of 53.1 million tons. In particular, the wheat harvest is expected at the level of 16.6 million tons (20.5 million tons in 2022 year), barley — 4.8 million tons (5.6 million tons), corn — 21.7 million tons (25.6 million tons),” the ministry predicts.

At the same time, the gross production of oil crops is expected to increase to 19.2 million tons compared to 18.2 million tons the previous year. The sunflower crop is forecast at 11.5 million tons (11.1 million tons), rape — 3.8 million tons (3.7 million tons), soybeans — 3.9 million tons (3.4 million tons). An increase in sugar beet production is also expected — 11.3 million tons (9.7 million tons).

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy emphasized that these forecasts regarding gross collection indicators are preliminary and will be adjusted during the year depending on circumstances, primarily weather conditions.