Life Goes On Despite War
By Dennis Sun
In the U.S., we’ve not had a war on our lands in modern times, so our main visuals of war come from the television and other media outlets.
One doesn’t realize all of the terror of war and impacts to the agricultural industry, similar to those felt by producers in the Ukraine who have been in a war for three years.
Ukraine is a huge exporter of agricultural products to Europe, Africa and Asia. It really is an agricultural bread basket, especially in the western part of the country.
A recent World Bank report detailed some of the costs of the war-ravaged country, which added up losses until December 2024, totaling $176.1 billion. This included $11.2 billion to the ag industry and $77.1 billion in stolen goods, lost crops, the forced slaughter of livestock and the destruction of fisheries.
Ukraine is still the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil. Its ag exports bring in around 60 percent of the country’s revenue, so one can see supporting the ag industry is a government priority.
One of the largest problems, especially in the northeastern and eastern third of the country, are landmines buried on some 7.4 million hectares. One hectare equals about 2.5 acres.
In 2024, about 300,000 hectares of ag lands were demined to restore agriculture.
Ukraine has the most land mines of any country in the world, hands down. They have over 200 mechanical demining machines in use and over 5,000 demining specialists around the country, but still, hundreds of farmers have lost their lives to landmines.
Ag exports are vital to the country and so is the need for safe ports and access to the Black Sea. While Ukraine is trying hard to keep up its farm exports, the war has been hard on them.
Railways are playing a larger part now in transporting bulk shipment to markets, but this method is more expensive and complicated than using Black Sea ports.
Still, in 2024, Ukraine exported 57 percent of its ag exports to Europe, while countries in Asia – especially China – have reduced their imports. South America and Africa have increased their ag imports from Ukraine.
Corn has remained Ukraine’s top farm commodity export since the start of the war with about 77,032 thousand metric tons exported, versus 47,670 thousand metric tons for wheat. Sunflower oil was third by volume with 15,824 thousand metric tons.
Ukraine has caught on to soybeans, as their soybean production has doubled in size from 2021-24, while corn production has decreased by 18 million metric tons. But if demand grows, soybean acres will increase due to the lower cost of inputs compared to corn.
It is hard for us in America to imagine not being able to do our daily work. I can’t imagine being out gathering cattle or plowing a field and having to worry about going over a minefield or being bombed by rockets, planes, drones or artillery.
I have the utmost respect for the Ukrainians and hope this war stops soon. They surely have suffered enough.
