Avgust made a forecast for the agricultural season 2023
Experts from the Avgust company, a leading domestic manufacturer of plant protection products, believe that favorable weather conditions in the first weeks of spring open the door for another record harvest in Russia. However, this may be hindered by economic factors and the June drought. Specialists are wary of several identified plant diseases and potential outbreaks of pests. The main circumstance, which in the future should somewhat limit the development of the Russian agro-industrial complex, will be the impossibility of updating the agricultural machinery fleet at the same pace.
“In general, the spring of 2023 can be called normal for farmers. In particular, conditions are very favorable for the Southern Federal District,” notes Dmitry Belov, head of the product development department of Avgust. “In April, warm sunny weather with wind often reigns in this region, contributing to the drying of the upper layers of the soil. And in 2023, it has been raining since the beginning of this month, sometimes with sleet. The top fertile soil layer is saturated with moisture and the plants receive additional nutrition. The sowing campaign started on time, and peas were sown, and by the second decade of April farmers started sowing sugar beet and sunflower, so there were enough opportunities for a good harvest in the key agricultural regions of Russia. However, the situation is not so favorable everywhere: for example, in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan we observe a lack of moisture.”
According to Avgust experts, precipitation will not only lead to an increase in crop yields but also to the spread of weeds that compete with them for resources. Nevertheless, more friendly seedlings of weeds, due to moisture, will also contribute to greater effectiveness of preventive planned herbicide treatments of fields.
In addition, rainy weather contributes to the spread of downy mildew on rapeseed, septoria is fixed on well-developed winter cereals since autumn, and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) revealed gibellinosis in several districts of the Stavropol region at once, a dangerous fungal disease that can deprive farmers of up to 50% of the crop wheat due to the defeat and death of the stems, as well as a decrease in the mass of grain. The situation with Fusarium of cereal crops will depend on the weather during their flowering period: if conditions are dry at this time, the risk of developing this disease will be low, and vice versa – if precipitation at this time is intense. As for pests, in Avgust, based on weather conditions, the accumulation of the meadow moth population is expected in a number of areas, in addition, during the season there may be outbreaks of pests such as cotton bollworm and cabbage moth, for which farmers should prepare.
