The latest European crop report from MARS (Monitoring Agricultural Resources) shows that this season has been considerably milder than normal resulting in high accumulativive growth degrees from October to February.

Cumulative active temperatures (Tbase=0°C) since 1 January have been close to the long-term average in most areas of eastern and central Europe, but significantly below average in Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland and North Africa. Significantly above-average values (>50 GDD) only occurred in some smaller regions of the eastern Mediterranean and along the eastern shore of the Black Sea.

This picture changes drastically when taking a longer time scale, since mid-October (typical start of the growing period of winter wheat in many regions), for which well-above average temperature sums (>100 GDD) extend over a large area from England and southern Sweden to Turkey and western Spain. The winter crops are in good shape and well developed in the EU due to the mild winter conditions. The lower temperatures of the past month partially eased the pest pressure on winter crops in Germany and France.

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Model simulations indicate continued lower-than-usual hardening in western and central Europe, but this situation
improved slightly as of mid-January. Hardening is a biophysiological process of winter cereals that occurs when, in
response to cold conditions, the crops transform cellular starch to sugar thus gaining low-temperature tolerance
which helps them to survive the harsh winter conditions. A moderate increase in frost tolerance is indicated in the region between eastern France and the western border of Russia.

Nevertheless, winter crops are only slightly or partially hardened in north-eastern France, northern Germany, Denmark, western Poland, Hungary and northern Bulgaria. Advanced hardening has been simulated in southern
Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and most of Romania; whereas full or almost full hardening was reached in eastern Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, Sweden, Finland,and most of Russia (aside from the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea).

By contrast, the winter crops in the UK, most of the Iberian Peninsula, France, and the Mediterranean region have developed practically no low temperature tolerance.

Winter kill hits Russian crops

For the EU, our frost-kill model to date suggests only local and limited frost-kill crop damages in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland. However, the north-eastern regions of Ukraine, and especially southern Russia, appear to be considerably affected by frost kill. These regions were affected by severe frosts until mid-January, when the snow cover was inadequate to protect the crops, which were vulnerable due to their weak establishment as a consequence of insufficient rains and dry soil conditions during the start of the winter cropping season.

Click here to view the full MARS report