This year, the harvesting in the region is taking place under extremely difficult conditions.
According to the forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kursk region, the gross harvest of grain crops at the end of the 2024 agricultural season is expected to be around 4 million tons after processing, which is 27.3% less than the previous year (5.5 million tons). This is partly due to the advancement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, currently attacking the region. The information was provided to the RBC Chernozemye agency by the relevant department.
Due to the current situation, the sugar beet production in the region is expected to be approximately 4 million tons, which is 23% or 1.2 million tons less than last year. The collection of oil crops is expected to be 1.2 million tons, which is 14.3% or 0.2 million tons less than the previous year.
"This year, the harvesting campaign in the region is being carried out under extremely difficult conditions due to the occurrence of an extraordinary situation of federal scale and the introduction of a counter-terrorist operation. In such conditions, economic entities are taking necessary actions to maximize the removal of the harvested crop. However, some crop rotations are located in border territories, and their harvest is not feasible," - noted the Ministry of Agriculture of the region.
The available early grains have already been harvested where possible. Thus, 3.2 million tons of grain have been collected from cereal and leguminous crops (over 3 million tons after processing), with an average yield of 46.5 centners per hectare.
Since the beginning of September, the region's farmers have started harvesting corn. This year, the sown area of this crop is 153 thousand hectares. As of today, more than 93 thousand hectares have been processed, which is 61% of the total area. Around 720 thousand tons of corn grains have been obtained. It is forecasted that the harvest will be around 950 thousand tons of corn grains.
The harvesting of winter and spring rapeseed crops, planted on an area of 610 thousand hectares, is also completed. The total gathering of rapeseed oilseeds is 195 thousand tons with an average yield of 30 centners per hectare. Currently, 82% of soybeans and 83% of sunflowers have been processed, resulting in around 1.2 million tons of oil crops.
Farmers in the Kursk region continue to harvest sugar beets. According to current data, around 50 thousand hectares of plantations have been harvested, representing 47% of the total plan. Over 2 million tons of sweet roots have been collected with an average yield of 434 centners per hectare.