OREANDA-NEWS. Kernel reports completion of its spring planting campaign, sowing 302 thousand hectares with spring crops in favorable weather conditions. Combined with 82 thousand hectares under winter wheat and rapeseed, the total planted acreage for the FY2016 harvest stands at 384 thousand hectares, up 3% yoy. Corn remained the key crop with 41% of total acreage (vs. 48% last year), while soybean accounted for 17% (17% last year), sunflower seed for 16% (18% last year), winter wheat for 19% (8% last year) and winter rapeseed for 2% (nil last year).

Ievgen Osypov, head of the farming division, highlighted: “Unlike the previous season, all acreage was properly prepared and fertilized in autumn, which enabled our team to focus only on the planting process this spring. Weather conditions were favorable and there was sufficient rainfall for the development of both winter and spring crops. We increased fertilizer application for the FY2016 harvest by 8-43% yoy, and we continue to improve our seed quality following the launch of our own seed plant a year ago. Additionally, during this spring planting campaign, for the first time we conducted our sowing and spraying operations with the largest available 24-row planters and sprayers, which were equipped with high performance parallel driving systems to add efficiency of our field procedures.”