Ukraine Spring Grain Sowing 91 Percent Complete

(Agriculture.com) – Ukrainian farmers had sown 6.7
million hectares of spring grains, equating to 91 percent of the
total area, by Thursday, the country’s Agriculture Ministry
said.

Farmers have sown about 1.5 million hectares of spring
barley, 414,000 hectares of peas, 186,000 hectares of oats,
165,000 hectares of spring wheat and 4.3 million hectares of
maize, the ministry said in a statement.

Farmers plan to sow 7.4 million hectares of spring grains
this year, including about 4.6 million hectares of maize.

Ukraine, the world’s third-largest grain exporter, said the
area covered by spring and winter grains would exceed 14 million
hectares this year.

The ministry also said that farmers had sown 5.3 million
hectares of sunflower, 96 percent of the expected area of 5.56
million hectares.

They sowed 280,000 hectares of sugar beet, 94 percent of the
expected 299,000 hectares.

About 7.3 million hectares of spring grains were sown last
year and the country’s 2017 grains harvest totalled 61.3 million
tonnes.