Increasing Areas of Winter Rapeseed: Risks for Crop Rotation in Southern Ukraine

In the southern regions of Ukraine, farmers are increasingly turning to the cultivation of winter rapeseed, expanding the sown areas of this crop due to frequent spring-summer droughts. However, the last two years have shown that such a decision can be extremely risky, as an excessive reliance on a single crop does not guarantee stable incomes.

This is reported by AgroReview

Impact of Weather Conditions on Rapeseed Yields

According to Andriy Chycheta, owner of the seed farm “VVI Agro”, late spring frosts pose a key threat to winter rapeseed. As recent years have shown, these frosts often coincide with the period of mass flowering of rapeseed, leading to significant yield losses for farmers.

“It would be good if I could harvest 2.7 tons per hectare, as in previous years. Then I would break even. But what if I can’t?” Andriy Chycheta poses a rhetorical question.

Frequent autumn rains encourage farmers to expand areas under rapeseed, considering it a fail-safe crop. However, the risk of spring frosts always remains, and an unsuccessful season can lead to complete crop loss. Last year, many farmers were forced to replant rapeseed with sunflowers, which, in turn, due to abnormal heat, resulted in even greater financial losses.

Farmers Weigh Risks of Expanding Sown Areas

According to Andriy Chycheta, in the autumn of 2024, he hesitated whether to increase the sown area of winter rapeseed from 200 to 500 hectares. A similar temptation arose this year — the attractive price of the crop and favorable rainfall prompted an expansion of areas. However, the farmer decided not to take the risk, considering the bitter experience of previous years. He noted that hopes for spring rains in Mykolaiv region are becoming increasingly scarce each year, while the risks of crop loss due to weather calamities remain high.