ASTARTA finished the 2020 agricultural production season  by harvesting corn (411 thousand tonnes) and sugar beets (almost 1.5 million tonnes). Considering the negative weather impact on plants throughout the entire year, namely the prolonged drought in the eastern and central regions of Ukraine and spring frosts in the West, yields are predictively lower than last year. Thus, the average gross yield of corn was 6.8 t/ha, and sugar beet — 42.9 t/ha. However, the sugar content of beets remained at a high level and averaged c. 17.0% at  ASTARTA (compared to 16.3% Ukrainian average according to «Ukrtsukor» data as of 11.12.2020).

As the level of moisture in soil remains unsatisfactory in the Eastern regions of operations, the company envisages amending cultivation technologies next year. In particular, these include lowering the seeding rate to give a larger area to plants fornutrition and additional inter-row application of liquid fertilizers. There are also plans to increase irrigation provided that the state enables an access to reclamation systems.