Amid active missile strikes, land mines and destroyed equipment, Ukrainian farmers battle to eke out crops

Ukraine photos in outline map of the nation (Howard G. Buffett Foundation)

Ukrainian farmers struggle to continue their labors in war zones. Their equipment is targeted, and as less of their land is planted, the world will be a hungrier and more dangerous place, reports Clinton Griffiths of Farm Journal. "Prior to the invasion, Ukraine was the world’s biggest exporter of sunflower oil and sunflower meal, the fourth-largest exporter of corn and the fifth-largest exporter of wheat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All told, Ukrainian farmers were growing about 100 million metric tons of commodities."

Illinois farmer and philanthropist Howard G. Buffett (son of Warren Buffett) is in Ukraine working to help farmers through his foundation, a global entity that works to mitigate human suffering. Buffett told Griffiths, "A lot of farmers are fighting on the front line and die on the front line, which has a huge impact on how you continue to function in your agricultural sector. This isn’t just a war on civilians, this is a war on agriculture. If people cannot feed themselves. . . . it breeds conflict. When Ukraine fails, in terms of their ability to produce agricultural products, the world becomes less safe."

Ukraine is in green. (Wikipedia globe)

Griffith writes, "Ukrainian farmers have learned it’s increasingly more difficult to grow, harvest and ship products abroad. From limited and high-priced inputs to a lack of labor, production problems appear to be a reality for the foreseeable future." Dan Basse, president of AgResource Co., told Griffins, “Ukraine, no matter what happens with the war, will probably see corn and sunflower production 40% to 50% below normal."

What's unfolding in Ukraine is difficult for American farmers to imagine. “There are landmines on hundreds of thousands of acres,” Buffet told Griffith. “More than $4 billion worth of commodities have been stolen; there’s infrastructure damaged and 84,000 pieces of farm equipment have been destroyed, and it’s not stopping. . . . Mykola Solskyi, Ukraine’s minister of agrarian policy and food said the country’s cultivated areas have decreased by about 25%. . . . Solskyi said, “There are areas farmers cannot cultivate . . . . A considerable amount of land is polluted with explosives.” 

"This year, Buffett says his goal is to spend $300 million in support of Ukrainian agriculture. That includes finding ways to provide lower interest rates for loans and moving equipment and inputs to areas in need," Griffith reports. "With a global lens, Buffett has witnessed how important Ukraine is to world stability. For him, it outweighs potentially lower prices when he hauls corn to the elevator in Decatur, Ill."  Buffett told Griffith, “I know some farmers think they’re a competitor. That’s natural. If you want to think that way, that means your neighbor is also your competitor. Yet, we don’t treat our neighbor like they’re our competitor; we treat neighbors like neighbors.”