With 96% of the country’s grain crop now harvested, Ukraine’s farmers have already broken the country’s record total, surpassing the 66 million tons posted in 2016. According to Agrarian Ministry figures, as of 19 November farmers had gathered 66.4 million tons of grain crops so far this year, establishing a new maximum for the country traditionally known as the breadbasket of Europe.
Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Maksym Martyniuk said the bumper crop was due to a number of factors including favorable weather conditions for late spring crops. The new record was also thanks to an all-time high corn crop, which is set to total 34.8 million tons this year.