The reporting period includes the harvest of winter wheat, which started in July, and the growth of spring wheat and maize, sown in April. Overall, crop condition in Romania was fair. The maximum VCI was 0.98 and the current cropped arable land fraction was 100%. Rainfall was 8% higher than average; TEMP was lower than average by 0.5°C , radiation was around average and BIOMASS increased by 3%. Crop condition development graphs based on NDVI shows that condition was better than average in May to June, but below average in April and July. The temperature profile indicates that during the reporting period, temperature fluctuated about the average. According to the rainfall time series profile, rainfall was close to average during April to June, which belongs to the growing season of winter wheat. We note a sharp decrease of rainfall in July which was the last month of reporting period. Additional attention is needed in next bulletin concerning the influence of the July rainfall decrease.

Regional analysis

More spatial detail is provided below for three main agro‐ecological zones in the country: the Central mixed farming and pasture Carpathian hills; the Eastern and southern maize, wheat and sugar beet plains and the Western and central maize, wheat and sugar beet plateau.

The CALF index of three sub-regions was close to 100% during the reporting period and the maximum VCIx was also close to 1.0, indicating that the crop condition was satisfactory in all three regions.

For the Central mixed farming and pasture Carpathian hills, rainfall increased 12% compared with average while temperature and radiation were around average (TEMP -0.4℃ , RADPAR +0) and BIOMSS increased 3%. According to the crop condition graph, crop condition in this sub-region was close to average from May to July. The maximum VCI map showed that most area of this sub-region was close to 1.0. The NDVI spatial distribution shows that NDVI was good throughout the reporting period.

For the  Southern maize, wheat and sugar beet plains, rain increased 7%, temperature decreased 0.6℃, radiation decreased 1% and biomass increased 1%. The NDVI development graph shows that crop condition was higher than average during May to July, but lower. VCI values of this region were higher than 1.0 in most of the central and southern region and lower than 0.8 only in the southeast area of this sub-region (counties of Tulcea and Constanta), representing about 14.3% of national cropland.

For the Western and central maize, wheat and sugar beet plateau, rainfall was higher than average by 5%, temperature and radiation were close to average and biomass increased 5%. Spatial NDVI profiles show that crop condition was close to average during the report period. Maximum VCI of this region was between 0.8 and 1.0 and NDVI development normally from May to July

Overall, crop condition was satisfactory in Romania, with the exception of the extreme south-east. Additional monitoring is needed to assess the effect of the rainfall decrease during July.

Figure 3.38. Romania’s crop condition, April ‐July 2019

(a). Phenology of major crops

(b) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI  (c) Maximum VCI

(d) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA      (e) NDVI profiles

(f) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Central mixed farming and pasture Carpathian hills (left) and Eastern and southern maize, wheat and sugarbeet plains (right))

(g) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Western and central maize, wheat and sugarbeet plateau)

(h) Time series rainfall pofile                              (i) Time series temperature pofile

Table 3.94. Romania’s agroclimatic indicators by sub‐national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA, April ‐July 2019

Table 3.95. Romania’s agronomic indicators by sub‐national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA or 5YA, April ‐July 2019