Despite the fact that the harvesting started two or three weeks earlier, agrarians failed to complete mass harvesting in July. The weather hampered it. It has been raining for almost three weeks in most regions of Ukraine.  During this period, according to local weather stations, there was from 120 to 210 mm of rainfall (sometimes it was stormy in its nature); it is almost third part of annual precipitation rate. This has resulted in a delay in harvesting and a significant deterioration in crop quality.
“As of August 1, more than 1.5 million ha of wheat isn’t harvested; it is about 6.5 million tons of grain in the fields. These volumes are most likely to be harvested as “off-grade wheat”. “A green wave” of weeds that covers crops after heavy rainfall will create significant difficulties during harvesting by grain combines and will increase the level of contamination of grain batches. In addition, serious problems are expected in seeds of grain: sprouted grains are no longer suitable for sowing. This can result in more expenses for agrarians in order to buy seeds or even a decrease in winter grain crop area in 2019 in Ukraine”, said Deputy General Director of Agricultural Production Kostiantyn Khmelnytskyi.