Weather conditions favor the planting of spring crops in the Northern Hemisphere and the development of crops in South America

Weather conditions are helping to accelerate planting in the Northern Hemisphere, while rains in South America are improving soybean and corn crop potential.

In the Midwest, as well as the Central and Southern Plains of the United States, warm weather with periodic rains favors the sowing of spring crops and the development of winter crops. Temperatures will drop next week and another wave of rain will delay planting but replenish soil moisture reserves, which could lead to more corn acreage.

In the center and north of Brazil there are periodic rains, favorable for the development of second-crop corn crops, but their amount will not allow to accumulate sufficient reserves of moisture before the dry season. The rains will continue next week, although less intensively, in particular in the state of Paraná. Despite recent rains, soil moisture is below normal in most fields planted with second-crop corn, but analysts are raising crop forecasts. Thus, the Safras & Mercado company increased the forecast of the corn harvest in the country to 126.1 million tons, and soybeans to 151.2 million tons due to high productivity.

In Argentina, heavy rains are delaying the harvest, but increasing the yields of late soybean and corn crops. Next week, the intensity of precipitation will decrease, and harvesting operations will resume in most regions. In the second half of May, wheat sowing will begin, the area under which can grow after the rains. The Rosario Grain Exchange (RGE) lowered the forecast for the corn harvest from 57 to 50.5 million tons due to a decrease in yield by 0.6 t/ha to 7.04 t/ha caused by the spread of pests, and reduced the estimate of the area before harvesting by 225 thousand hectares .

Southern, eastern and central Europe will experience another wave of showers this week, while drier weather will prevail in the northwest. A decrease in temperatures will help accelerate sowing and the development of crops.

In most agricultural regions of Australia in June-August, air temperatures and rainfall will be higher than normal, which will improve the yield of winter crops, in particular wheat, barley and canola, the country's Meteorological Bureau reports.

In the south-east of Ukraine, there is still a deficit of precipitation, but the abnormal heat will end this week, and against the background of a decrease in temperature, precipitation will pass throughout the country.

As of April 11, the following were planted in Ukraine:

• wheat - 173.9 thousand hectares or 70.6% of the planned 246.1 thousand hectares,
• barley - 683.4 thousand hectares or 83.5% of 818 thousand hectares,
• peas - 147.7 thousand ha or 92.4% of 159.9 thousand ha,
• oats – 117 thousand ha or 72% of 162.7 thousand ha,
• corn - 120 thousand hectares or 3% of 3.912 million hectares,
• sunflower – 470.1 thousand hectares or 9% of 5.288 million hectares,
• soybeans – 20.6 thousand hectares or 1% of 1.99 million hectares,
• sugar beets – 157.6 thousand ha or 61% of 256.5 thousand ha.