According to Ukrinform, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.

“As of the last day of autumn, Ukrainian farmers have harvested almost 77 million tons of new crops: 56.3 million tons of grain and 20.7 million tons of oilseeds. Five regions of Ukraine have already completed the harvest. These are the farmers of Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, and Mykolaiv regions,” the statement said.

Grains and legumes were harvested on 10.4 million hectares with a yield of 54.3 centners per hectare (c/ha). The largest amount of corn (26.8 million tons) was threshed from 3.4 million hectares at a yield of 75.8 c/ha.

Wheat was harvested in the amount of 22.5 million tons from 4.7 million hectares with a yield of 47.9 c/ha.

5.9 million tons of barley were harvested from 1.5 million hectares at a yield of 39.3 c/ha.

399,500 tons of peas were harvested from 154,400 hectares with a yield of 25.9 c/ha. Buckwheat was harvested in the amount of 207,400 tons from 139,700 hectares with a yield of 14.8 c/ha. 180,000 tons of millet were harvested from 79,500 hectares with a yield of 22.6 c/ha.

Other grains and pulses were harvested on 340,100 hectares, yielding 1 million tons.

Vinnytsia region is a leader in grain harvesting, with over 5 million tons of grain harvested. In Poltava and Cherkasy regions, farmers harvested 4 million tons of grain each.

Oilseeds were harvested on 8.2 million hectares. Sunflower seeds were harvested in the amount of 11.9 million tons from 5 million hectares with a yield of 23.8 c/ha. Soybeans were harvested at 4.8 million tons from 1.8 million hectares with a yield of 26.5 c/ha. Rapeseed was harvested in the amount of 4 million tons from 1.4 million hectares with a yield of 28.7 c/ha. The harvest is complete.

11.3 million tons of sugar beet was dug on 242,100 hectares with a yield of 468.1 c/ha.

As reported, almost 5 million hectares of winter crops were sown in Ukraine as of the end of November. Of these, 4.8 million hectares of winter grains, including wheat, 4.3 million hectares, barley, 559,000 hectares, and rye, 77,200 hectares. The amount of winter crops planted is close to last year’s figures. Winter rapeseed sowing has been completed, with 1.2 million hectares sown.

Source : Ukrinform

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This has been a regular feature of life in Ukraine’s agriculture industry since the war with Russia began in Feb. 2022.

This has led to Ukraine’s 2023 to 2024 crop production being forecast to be the smallest in more than a decade, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, meaning the consequences of the war in Ukraine have been felt at every step of the agricultural process, all the way from farm to table.

In the fields

As soon as Russian troops were beaten back from the lands surrounding Kyiv in March 2022, the region’s farmers came rushing back to try to salvage their crops. But even now — more than a year and a half later — farmers are still feeling the consequences of the brief but violent occupation.

Dmytro Skornyakov is the CEO of the Ukrainian agriculture company HarvEast. When he and his employees returned to their fields, they found bombed-out silos, ruined equipment and thousands of acres of explosive mines left behind on their lands.

Removing the mines is possible but the process is long and laborious for the country’s experts — particularly since their priority remains removing them from towns and villages, not agricultural lands — meaning thousands of acres of farmland are still waiting to be demined.

Meanwhile, in the fields HarvEast can use, what they do grow has now been dictated by the sheer economics of logistics.

The cost of moving grain out of the country has risen so high and so rapidly that it no longer makes economic sense to grow cheap crops like corn and winter wheat — staples of Ukrainian agriculture.

“At the moment we grow more sunflower than usual, more soy than usual, and significantly less corn and wheat,” Skornyakov told ABC News.

However, even these crops are more expensive to produce than usual since the war began. They are now grown in lesser quantities and take longer to move out of the country.

“So every step we’re doing at the moment is 2 or 3 times more expensive than it was before the war,” Skornyakov continued.

Analyst Michael Lee, director of Green Square Agro Consulting, says that cash flow is one of the biggest problems Ukrainian farmers are facing meaning that some farmers are left with no choice but to grow those cheaper crops.

“They just need to generate some cash,” Lee told ABC News.

Yet, despite these challenges, Lee says farmers have still managed to generate results.

“The Black Sea grain production is there. It’s just there’s other issues in terms of logistics and supply, getting out of the country,” Lee said.

The port cities

From her home in Tulcea, Romania, Corina Davidov can see the explosions that regularly rock the Ukrainian city of Izmail, just across the border from where she lives.

“We are used to the war being near, with drones lighting up the night sky,” Davidov says.

Izmail is one of a few Ukrainian towns on the Danube River which have actually seen massive growth in their handling of agricultural product.

Before the war, Black Sea ports like Odesa handled the near totality of exports, but the protected nature of the Danube River — along with its proximity to Romania, a NATO member — has bolstered activity in towns like Izmail.

This, however, has not stopped Russia from sending drones and missiles to attack the grain infrastructure at the port, like it has at other ports in Ukraine.

Colin Carter is an agricultural economist at the University of California, Davis. He believes the attacks on the river ports are absolutely targeted at grain infrastructure and agricultural production in Ukraine.

“Putin not only declared war on Ukraine, but he also declared war on the world’s food supply,” Carter said, adding that Putin has tried to take advantage of it with Russia’s own wheat exports.

Satellite images show specific damage to buildings in the port of Izmail that have been destroyed over multiple attacks in the last few months, with many of the missile and drone strikes setting fire to and ruining warehouses of grain that were waiting to be exported.

Not only does this destroy the grain waiting to be shipped, it creates uncertainty and drives up prices.

This, however, is only the first roadblock to the export ordeal.

Export headaches

Ukraine’s exports were nearly completely cut off during the beginning of the war due to shipping restrictions in the Black Sea and heightened risks at Ukrainian ports, the USDA said.

Yet despite the recent port attacks, Carter, the agriculture economist, believes the river port alternative is Ukraine’s best export route now even though Romania is struggling to increase its grain-handling capacity as its port in Constanta steps into its key role handling transiting Ukrainian grain.

Meanwhile, many of Ukraine’s neighboring countries, including Romania, have banned Ukrainian grain imports.

HarvEast CEO Skornyakov says promises of transit corridors from Poland, and the continued use of the port of Constanta, are essential to keep grain moving out of Ukraine.

Before the war broke out, most of Ukraine’s grain went through ports on the Black Sea but use of these ports was severely hampered in the early days of the war, prompting the creation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), which facilitated the safe export of grain.

The initiative had helped to stabilize global markets and reduce spiking prices, according to the UN. It also allowed the World Food Programme to transport wheat to countries vulnerable to severe hunger.

But when the BSGI ended in July after Russia refused to extend the agreement, it reignited concerns in Ukraine and abroad.

Now, at least seven ships have used a potential new Black Sea corridor successfully, prompting hope for renewed, and hopefully increased, activity.

“It’s amazing how they’ve managed to rearrange the infrastructure and still get that grain to port,” says Carter.

On your table

Meanwhile, supply chain strains have even been felt by restaurateurs across the world, including in the U.S. like Myron Lewyckyj, owner of Chicago’s Tryzub Ukrainian Kitchen.

Lewyckyj said he’s faced “real difficulties” obtaining corn, millet, buckwheat and wheat vodka from Ukraine, but getting his hands on Ukrainian wheat vodka and buckwheat has been especially tough, he said.

“It’s just not coming through,” Lewyckyj said. “Whereas we normally would just place our order every couple of weeks, there have been weeks and months at a time where none has been available.”

When possible, Lewyckyj is combatting shortages by purchasing larger batches of ingredients to create a cushion of inventory.

But not all the shortages in Ukraine are impacting U.S. restaurants in the same way.

Ron Kavral, manager of the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant in Manhattan, said he hasn’t had any disruptions obtaining buckwheat from Ukraine and multiple Ukrainian restaurants told ABC News they don’t purchase products from Ukraine at all anymore, with some establishments opting for local ingredients instead.

But, at least for Lewyckyj, there is an integrity and tradition he tries to maintain by using ingredients from Ukraine.

“There’s a difference between the wheat that comes from Ukraine and the wheat that’s grown in Kansas … And they’re subtle differences, but we try to maintain that uniqueness, if possible,” Lewyckyj said.

For now though, the future for Ukrainian agriculture remains uncertain with attacks on port infrastructure a regular occurrence and talks between Ukraine and neighboring countries continue.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian farmers continue to press on and they’ll finish planting their next crops in just a few weeks.

“Don’t underestimate the ability of these farms to be able to manage through a situation like this,” Michael Lee says.

Source : ABC News

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Following similar moves by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, Bulgaria on Wednesday temporarily suspended the import of certain agricultural, poultry and meat products from Ukraine, the state-run BTA news reported.

The ban will be in force from April 24 to June 30 and will include 20 goods including wheat, wheat flour, honey, milk egg, poultry, goat and sheep meat, walnut, and hazelnut.

The ban, however, will not be applied to goods in transit through the territory of Bulgaria if the consignments are in specialized vehicles, sealed and sealed at the border, without allowing unloading and reloading them on Bulgarian soil.

Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev said Bulgaria followed the example of the three other countries over concerns that the market is saturated with grain crops.

“We have produce worth several billion that we believe we will have a hard time selling and we will incur losses, unless we take measures,” he told a news briefing.

Earlier, the three Visegrad countries banned the import of grain and other food items from war-hit Ukraine after a slump in prices triggered protests from local farmers.

Source: Anadolu Agency

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Slovakia has become the third European country to pause imports of some Ukrainian agricultural products, amid fears a glut is pushing prices down and imperilling farmers, as Hungary threatened to extend a grain ban.

Sandor Farkas, the Hungarian agriculture minister, said on Monday that if the European Union does not take sufficient action to protect Hungarian farmers, Budapest might halt imports beyond June.

“Ukrainian grain imports got stuck in Hungary, driving down prices by about one-third, year on year,” he told parliament, saying he will use “all possible” means to protect Hungarian farmers from market disruptions.

Meanwhile, Slovakia said it will temporarily ban some farm imports – but not grain – from Ukraine as other countries in central and eastern Europe said they were considering action.

Amid a recent surge in cheap Ukrainian agricultural goods within the bloc, officials from Poland and Hungary earlier announced bans on the import of Ukrainian grains to protect their own farmers’ interests.

The leader of Poland’s governing party, Jarosław Kaczyński, said that the Polish countryside is facing a “moment of crisis,” and that while Poland supported Ukraine, it was forced to act to protect its farmers.

The European Commission has rejected the bans and said in a statement that the “EU’s trade policy is of exclusive competence and, therefore, unilateral actions are not acceptable”.

EU representatives are expected to discuss the issue later this week.

Ukrainian officials have said they regret Poland’s decision, saying while Polish farmers may be suffering, Ukrainians have it worse.

“The first step, in our opinion, should be the opening of transit, because it is quite important and it is the thing that should be done unconditionally and after that we will talk about other things,” Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said on Monday.

Talks between Ukrainian authorities and those in Poland, Romania and Slovakia are expected in the coming days.

What’s behind the tensions?

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Moscow blocked the Black Sea port’s sea routes, stalling Ukrainian ships from transporting grains and other agricultural products to the rest of the world.

The blockade ended in August with Black Sea grain deal, under which Russia allows the transport of Ukrainian grain.

The EU has lifted all duties on Ukrainian grains and introduced “solidarity lanes” to ensure there are no further obstacles in global exports.

But this move has angered farmers across Eastern and Central Europe.

Roads have been blocked in countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, with farmers protesting that cheaper Ukrainian grain has made them suffer huge financial losses.

Bulgaria’s Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev said on Monday that while his country is in solidarity with Ukraine “a local glut is being created on the agricultural market, because instead of export corridors, our countries are becoming warehouses”.

His country is also working to ban imports from Ukraine, he said.

Source: Aljazeera

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