The climate of Ukraine is roughly similar to that of Kansas:  slightly drier and cooler during the summer and colder and wetter during the winter, but close enough for comparison.  The weather is suitable for both winter and spring crops.  Average annual precipitation in Ukraine is approximately 600 millimeters (24 inches), including roughly 350 millimeters during the growing season (April through October).  Amounts are typically higher in western and central Ukraine and lower in the south and east. 

Sunflowerseed is Ukraine's chief oilseed crop.  Production is concentrated in the southern and eastern  oblasts.  Sunflowers are typically planted in April and harvested from mid-September to mid-October.  Because of a combination of high price, relatively low cost of production, and traditionally high demand, sunflowerseed has become one of the most consistently profitable crops.   Its high profitability fueled a significant expansion in planted area beginning in the late 1990's. 

Many farmers in Ukraine abandoned the traditional crop-rotation practices recommended by agricultural officials which called for planting sunflowers no more than once every seven years in the same field.  The aim of the 1-in-7 rotation is to prevent soil-borne fungal diseases and reduce the depletion of soil moisture and fertility.  (Because of their deep rooting system, sunflowers reportedly extract higher amounts of water and nutrients from the soil than do other crops in the rotation.)  

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Restructuring 

The production of grain and oilseed crops is dominated by large agricultural enterprises that were established when Ukraine’s agricultural sector was restructured in April, 2000.  (In contrast, nearly 90 percent of the country's vegetables and virtually all of the potatoes are grown on private household plots.)  State and collective farms were dismantled and farm property was divided among the farm workers in the form of  land shares.  Most new shareholders leased their land back to newly-formed private agricultural associations, under the leadership of a director who was frequently, but not always, the manager of the former State farm.  Consolidation of small farms into larger and more viable enterprises has been the prevailing trend, similar to what took place in Russia several years earlier.  (For a brief discussion of Ukraine’s agricultural restructuring, see June 2001 report.) 

The conversion to a more market-oriented environment has progressed relatively well according to most observers.  Many farms are succeeding, under shrewd leadership, in spite of fluctuating grain prices and constraints on the availability of credit. The transition of Ukraine's agricultural sector from a command economy to a more market-oriented system has introduced the element of fiscal responsibility, and farm managers are striving to make their enterprises as efficient as possible. 

Decisions on crop selection, fertilizer application, harvest method, grain storage, and all other aspects of farm management are made with an eye toward boosting farm profit.  Ukraine agriculture is going through a winnowing process whereby unprofitable, usually smaller farms will either collapse or join more successful farms.