![]() Ukrainian agriculture’s impact on the world Farmers are struggling to determine where to put this year’s crop, if they can harvest it. Ukrainian farmers told NPR that grain silos at ports are still full of last year’s crop because the Russian blockage is preventing the grain from exportation. ![]() A new Maxar satellite image (below) from June 12, 2022, shows a different ship being loaded with grain in Sevastopol. ![]() This does not appear to be an isolated incident. Days later, Maxar satellites collected images of the same ships docked in Syria, with their hatches open and semi-trucks lined up ready to haul the grain away (below right). The Maxar News Bureau has previously released high-resolution satellite imagery showing two Russian-flagged bulk carrier ships docked in the Russian-controlled Crimean port of Sevastopol and being loaded with grain (below left). WeatherDesk predicts production of 19.3 million metric tons (MMT) of corn and 10.6 MMT of sunflowers this growing season, which would represent a decline of 54% for corn and 40% for sunflowers versus the 2021 growing season. The above Maxar WorldView-2 image shows fields northwest of Slovyansk, Ukraine, peppered with artillery craters on June 6, 2022. It is still early in the growing season, however, factors such as weather, ongoing fighting and the availability of fertilizer and other inputs may cause changes in the coming weeks. This data tells Maxar analysts that though planting has been significantly affected, crops planted in 2022 are growing at a typical rate. Across Ukraine, NDVI values are the same or slightly better in 2022 than in 2021. WeatherDesk also assessed the crop health across Ukraine using NDVI, which is a scientific process for looking at remote sensing data to determine how much green vegetation is present at a particular location. The greatest deficit in planting is represented by dark red, while greater planting than usual is represented by teal. ![]() The map above shows how each Ukrainian oblast’s spring planting compares to 2021’s growing season. Most of these oblasts are in northern Ukraine along the Russian and Belarus borders, where Russian forces started their invasion. The oblasts, or regions, with the biggest difference in acreage planted between 20 are: Kyle Tapley, Maxar meteorologistĬompared to 2021, farmers planted 30% less acreage in 2022, a difference of more than 5,800,000 hectares (14.3 million acres). With the Russian invasion affecting spring crop planting in Ukraine, Maxar’s WeatherDesk used proprietary processing to project that farmers might harvest up to 50% fewer crops this fall compared to 2021. There are many factors that disrupted this year’s planting season, including farmers who left the fields to defend their country, farmers who couldn’t plant due to fighting in the area, and the availability of seeds. Ukraine usually plants corn and sunflowers in April and May for harvesting in September and October.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |