During this monitoring period, winter wheat went from the spring green-up to the stem elongation phase in Poland.  Due to warmer weather (TEMP: +2.0°C) and abundant sunshine (RADPAR: +11%), the potential biomass level was 10% higher despite below average precipitation (RAIN: -11%). Except for a few areas in the south and central part of the country, the VCIx was above 0.80 for most of the cultivated land.  Overall, winter crop growth appears to be average, but precipitation will be needed to supply crop growth in the coming weeks.

As can be seen from the crop growth graph, NDVI levels were above average throughout the country till April due to the warm climate and heavy precipitation in January and February. Subsequently NDVI dropped to below average in April due to the low precipitation starting March. The NDVI cluster map shows that only 15.1% of the cultivated land NDVI was consistently below average, mainly sporadically distributed in the southern, northern and western regions, but with the drought since March, 72.5% of the  NDVI pixels  were below average in late April.

Regional analysis

Poland is divided into four subregions based on agro-ecological characteristics, namely: (a) Northern oats and potatoes area (including the Western Pomeranian, Eastern Pomeranian and Wamenia-Masuria regions), (b) Northern-central wheat and sugar-beet area (including the Cuyavia-Pomeranian to Baltic Sea region), (c) Central rye and potatoes area (including the Lubus to South Podlaski and North Lublin regions) and (d) Southern wheat and sugar-beet area (including the southern Lower Silesia to South Lublin and the Carpathian along the Czech and Slovak border).

In terms of agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, the four subregions  (Northern oats and potatoes area, Northern-central wheat and sugar-beet area, Central rye and potatoes area and Southern wheat and sugar-beet area) showed almost identical characteristics, with low precipitation (mainly in March and April, RAIN: -10%, -11%, -9% and -14%, respectively), high average temperature and sunshine (TEMP: +2.3°C, +2.3°C, +2.1°C and +1.7°C, respectively; RADPAR: +7%, +7%, +11% and +14%, respectively) and high potential biomass (+11%, +10%, +12% and +8%, respectively). The cultivated land with low VCIx is mainly located in the central and southern wheat producing regions. Its VCIx was lower  than in the other three subregions, but still relatively high at 0.84.

Figure 3.25a. Poland phenology of major crops

Figure 3.25b. Poland national level crop condition development graph based on NDVI, RAIN, TEMP, comparing the January to April 2020 period to the previous season and the five-year/fifteen-year average (5YA) and maximum

Figure 3.25c. Poland maximum VCI for January to April 2020 by pixel

Figure 3.25d. Poland spatial NDVI patterns up to April 2020 according to local cropping patterns and compared to the 5YA (left) and (e) associated NDVI profiles (right).

Figure 3.25f. Northern oats and potatoes area (Poland) crop condition development graph based on NDVI, RAIN, TEMP

Figure 3.25g. Northern-central wheat and sugar beet area (Poland) crop condition development graph based on NDVI, RAIN, TEMP

Figure 3.25h. Central rye and potatoes area (Poland) crop condition development graph based on NDVI, RAIN, TEMP

Figure 3.25i. Southern wheat and sugar beet area (Poland) crop condition development graph based on NDVI, RAIN, TEMP

Table 3.61. Poland agroclimatic indicators by agro-ecological region, current season's values and departure from 15YA, January - April 2020

Table 3.62. Poland agronomic indicators by agro-ecological region, current season's values and departure from 5YA, January - April 2020