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According to the October issue of the JRC MARS Bulletin - Crop monitoring in Europe, warm and dry summer weather followed by a period of abundant, but sometimes excessive rainfall since the end of September, hampered field work in large parts of Europe. These wet conditions at the end of September and October caused delays to the harvesting of summer crops as well as to sowing activities in western and southwestern France, the Benelux, southern Poland, eastern Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. For winter rapeseed, the sowing window has come to an end. For winter cereals, timely completion of the sowing campaign is still possible in the coming weeks. At EU level, the yield forecasts for all summer crops were revised downwards, mostly based on a reanalysis of data since the start of the season, JRC.D.5-Food Security

According to the November issue of the JRC MARS Bulletin - Crop monitoring in Europe – favourable weather conditions since mid-October allowed the sowing of winter cereals to catch up in most of Europe. However, sowing activities remain behind in eastern Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Favourable conditions arrived too late for rapeseed sowing in several of the main producing countries, and – at EU level - the area sown is expected to be below last year’s level and the 5-year average., JRC.D.5-Food Security

According to the December issue of the JRC MARS Bulletin - Crop monitoring in Europe – in most agricultural regions of eastern and northern Europe, autumn 2020 was the warmest on the MARS records. November was the second warmest November in most of Europe. As a consequence of the prevailing mild conditions, the build-up of frost tolerance in winter wheat started much later than usual, and remains weak in most of western, southern, central and south-eastern Europe. Areas where winter crops are underdeveloped as a consequence of delayed sowing - as is the case in large parts of eastern Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania - are particularly vulnerable. Localised and minor frost-kill events are expected to have occurred already in northern Romania, due to a cold air intrusion at the end of November and the beginning of December. More widespread minor to moderate frost-kill events are likely to have occurred in the Volga okrug of European Russia., JRC.D.5-Food Security

Yield forecasts for EU summer crops revised further downwards According to the crop monitoring Bulletin for Europe, at EU level, the yield forecasts for all summer crops were revised downwards, most markedly for Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. Overall, the EU-level yield forecast for summer crops is now close to the 5-year average. Severe drought conditions continued in eastern Romania, eastern Bulgaria, and southern Ukraine, with further negative impacts mainly on maize and sunflowers. Drought is now also observed in north-eastern Greece, the country’s main sunflower production region, and a prolonged precipitation deficit has started to impact maize in central Ukraine. In western Europe, the heatwaves reported in August were followed by a drop in temperatures, but a precipitation deficit continued in large parts of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, western Germany and the southern Netherlands, further diminishing the yield expectations for summer crops in these regions (mainly maize, sugar beet and potatoes). In Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom, frequent and abundant precipitation since mid-August negatively affected the ripening and harvesting of spring and winter cereals. Favourable conditions prevailed in central and northern Europe. A surplus of precipitation benefited summer crops in northern Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Poland and Belarus., JRC.D.5-Food Security

International audience; Understanding the effects of different combinations of sowing dates and cultivars on maize yield is essential to develop appropriate climate change adaptation strategies. Thus, modelling ability in reproducing the observed response of maize yield to sowing dates and cultivars needs to be assessed. In particular, whether crop conditions around flowering can entirely explain the variability of potential yields across sowing dates and cultivars in climatic conditions such as the Mediterranean ones (where high temperatures may occur during the grain filling period) needs to be explored. Otherwise, also assimilation during grain filling and its duration should be taken into account.