• Energy Research

Abstract Ukraine was the seventh-biggest worldwide producer of wheat in 2021 before the Russian invasion. The war caused a disruption of the global wheat market but the impact on the different levels of the production chain remains unclear. Here we leverage high resolution satellite imagery and crop modeling to analyze specifically the impact of the war on the evolution of the dry aboveground biomass in wheat fields. We compare the Kherson region, a battlefield occupied by the Russian army in 2022 with the Poltava region which was not invaded. We also compare the wheat biomass in both regions in 2022 with the two previous years before the war. We find that the wheat biomass sharply declined in the Kherson region in 2022 only. We interpret this result as a consequence of the abandonment of invaded land by farmers. The lack of agricultural management, in particular the lack of fertilization and irrigation could explain the reduced crop growth in summer, thereby contributing to shortages in the wheat production chain.

Wheat Biomass for Kherson and Poltava regions in Ukraine The dataset contains Dry Above Ground Biomass (DAM) estimates over the Kherson and Poltava regions in Ukraine for years 2020,2021 and 2022. - Processing:The processing is done using the AgriCarbon-EOv1.5 processing chain, using the TREX processing centre at CNES France.The input remote sensing data are L2A Sentinel-2 surface reflectances provided by the MAJA processing chain based on the Copernicus Sentinel-2 L1C data.The Landcover maps are provided using ML Deep learning based on the Copernicus L2A data.The daily weather data is extracted from ERA5Land products (C3S). -Geophysical variable:Dry Above ground biomass of winter wheat in g/m2. - Extents: * DAM estimates over the Copernicus Sentinel-2 tile 36TWT cover the Kherson region.* DAM estimates over the Copernicus Sentinel-2 tile 36UVA cover the Poltava region. - Spatial resolution:10m resolution estimlates over wheat plots identified in the landcover map. - Temporal coverage:Estimates are provided at the end of the wheat cycle for cycles:* The year 2020 correspond to cycle: 2019-2020* The year 2021 corresponds to cycle : 2020-2021* The year 2022 corresponds to cycle : 2021-2022 - Projection: EPSG:32636 - File content: Each Raster file has 2 bands containing respectively: * band1: mean value of DAM in g/m2. * band2: standard deviation of DAM in g/m2. - List of maps:* Dry_aboveground_biomass_2020_T36TWT_Kherson_Ukraine.tif* Dry_aboveground_biomass_2020_T36UVA_Poltava_Ukraine.tif* Dry_aboveground_biomass_2021_T36TWT_Kherson_Ukraine.tif* Dry_aboveground_biomass_2021_T36UVA_Poltava_Ukraine.tif* Dry_aboveground_biomass_2022_T36TWT_Kherson_Ukraine.tif* Dry_aboveground_biomass_2022_T36UVA_Poltava_Ukraine.tif