	soviet s seen entering spring on shaky note soviet winter s could be off to a faulty start this spring after enduring an usually dry fall and cold winter weather and crop analysts said prospects for another near record  harvest in the soviet union appear dim at this point but it is premature to forecast any major crop problems analysts said but the situation bears careful watching over the next six weeks and will ultimately impact the soviet  supply and future buying plans analysts of the soviet union said from a weather standpoint you can say with certainty that the soviets are not getting off to a good start and will have a lower crop than last year gail martell chief meteorologist for e f hutton said the next six weeks in the ussr s  growing areas will be the crucial period that will determine the final outcome of the winter crops martell and other analysts said where the crop is really made or broken is still ahead of us an agriculture department authority on the ussr said the soviet union recently reported that nine mln hectares of winter  will have to be reseeded due to winterkill this would be equal to about pct of the total winter crop and would be the second highest winterkill in ten years the usda analyst said with a timely spring soviet farmers would probably be able to reseed the damaged acreage with spring crops but analysts noted that spring crops normally yield lower than winter crops sometimes as much as pct lower normally winterkill is caused by inadequate snowcover combined with cold temperatures this winter however snowcover in soviet  areas has generally been excellent so the bulk of winterkill analysts speculate likely has been due to a very dry fall and subsequent poor crop germination fall dryness may be a problem there s a good correlation between mediocre crops and fall dryness martell said precipitation last fall was as little as pct of normal in southern and northern ukraine and below normal over the entire winter crop area she said recent cold temperatures in  areas in which the snowcover has been gradually melting could also have caused problems of ice crusting and winterkill jim candor senior forecaster for accu weather said livestock feed needs have probably increased because of the fall and winter analysts said the dry fall damaged pastures the cold winter raised feed demands and a late spring would require longer off pasture feeding they said the soviets are not in a desperate situation they don t have to buy s now a usda official said but if the soviets are worried about their winter crops and if they feel that last year s huge crop of mln tonnes was a one time fluke brought on by perfect conditions more soviet buying might occur to insure crop supplies he said bad weather during the next six weeks could push the soviets back into the market weather analysts said a lot of winterkill could occur during the next month and a half martell said reuter 
