According to information from the Interfax news department, the farms of the Krasnodar Krai plan to start the harvesting campaign earlier than the established deadline. During a meeting at the agricultural exhibition "Golden Spike", Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mikhail Timofeev announced that the harvest will begin in the first decade of June, which is two weeks earlier than usual. This is due to the rapid development of winter crops.
The total area of crops of cereals and leguminous crops is almost 2.5 million hectares, of which 1.6 million hectares is occupied by winter wheat. More than 40 thousand units of agricultural machinery will be involved in the harvesting process, including 7.5 thousand combines.
It is expected that the total harvest of cereals and leguminous crops will amount to about 14 million tons, despite unfavorable weather conditions in spring. However, due to the loss of crops, the area of rapeseed crops will be reduced to 61 thousand hectares. The condition of spring, oil-bearing and row crops is assessed as excellent.
In early May, slight frosts damaged sugar beets on an area of 0.9 thousand hectares, corn on an area of 4.9 thousand hectares, soybeans on an area of 0.2 thousand hectares, as well as sunflower on an area of 1 thousand hectares. In 2023, the total harvest of cereals and leguminous crops amounted to 14.4 million tons.