It was good to see Ukraine in the news for all the right reasons this week as they hosted England for the world cup qualifier in Kiev.

I was lucky enough to acquire some tickets and enjoyed a fantastic game that was only marred by some mediocre football.

The season has changed with the end of the long hot summer marked by cooler “coat and jumper” autumn temperatures.  Time to dig out the fleece.

Wheat harvest is complete with official figures for Ukraine of 3.08mt/ha, up about 0.5mt/ha on the previous year and Russia at a slightly lower 2.79mt/ha.

Oilseed rape planting is all but finished with official figures yet to be released but early indications suggest we are looking at a similar area to last year.

Wheat planting is underway in to generally dry seedbeds but with rains forecast.  This will hamper planting but is sorely needed to stimulate germination so the plants can become physiologically mature enough to survive the winter.

Harvest of sunflowers and soya is just starting and some early maize has also been cut although the main harvest will not get underway for a few more weeks.

The main talking point at the moment is prices or the lack thereof with all crops seeing significant downward adjustments in recent months.

As someone who has been in the industry all of my life I take a Zen like approach to prices unlike many of the financial guys who have only been farming a couple of years.  They simply cannot comprehend why commodity prices have dropped below the cost of production.

“But, but, that’s less than it cost to grow the crop…” they stutter.

Welcome to farming chaps.