Climate change has made southern Ukraine resemble Arizona – cotton is now being sown, and sugar cane is being considered. In central regions, two potato harvests are no longer surprising. In the north, drainage is no longer needed, and sunflower cultivation is increasing. What should we prepare for, as global warming is not just Greta Thunberg's fantasy but a fact?

According to the Hydrometeorological Center, Ukraine's climate is warming faster than Europe’s – the average annual temperature in Kyiv is now +10.7°C, slightly higher than in seaside Odesa in the 1980s.

Now it's almost like in Tashkent

Only two weeks have passed since May 14, 2024, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the Law "On the Spread of Cotton Varieties in Ukraine", and the crop has been sown in Odesa Oblast. The reason for this rush is that cotton needs a certain amount of heat to ripen. Only mature cotton is suitable for making explosives for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which are in great short supply.

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agriculturewarmingcropyieldclimate change