Unable To Sell Their Harvests, Ukrainian Farmers Struggle To Survive

Viktor Tsvyk normally exports up to 90 percent of his harvest from the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa. Although this year's crop is 20 percent larger than last year's, which would have been a boon in times of peace, in times of war, the exorbitant logistics costs and Russia’s blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports have made shipping grain prohibitively expensive.

Russia pulled out of a wartime agreement last month allowing Ukraine to ship grain around the world. Like many of Ukraine's farmers, Tsvyk's produce is effectively stranded. With no way to sell, his concern now is how to stay afloat financially.
 
When asked how he envisions the future for his business and the 77 employees who depend on him for their livelihood, Tsvyk says, "It’s too painful to talk about."

Since terminating the agreement, Russia has targeted Ukraine's ports and especially its grain silos, such as this one struck in the early morning hours of August 16 near Odesa. Ukraine has retaliated by targeting Russia's ports, leading to spikes of wheat and corn prices on global markets.
 

With grain being the farm's main source of income, Tsvyk's products went as far as India and poverty-stricken countries in North Africa, he says. With the only other options being more costly road, rail, and river routes through Europe that have stirred pushback from neighboring countries, his grain will likely sit in storage depots, costing him tens of thousands of dollars in losses.

Farmers harvest around a crater left by a Russian rocket. With the blockade of their ports, in addition to the dangers of unexploded ordnance littering their fields and a decrease in manpower as the able-bodied head to the front, many of Ukraine’s farmers are struggling to provide their produce to those in developing nations who are battling with hunger.

Tsvyk's vast farm in Zhurivka, 85 kilometers east of Kyiv, produces not only wheat but also fine goat cheeses.


 

While four of Tsvyk's employees have left to join the fight, the ones that remain have harvested and stored his wheat and are preparing for the next season.

With their options limited, many farmers are choosing not to plant. Corn and wheat production in agriculture-dependent Ukraine is down nearly 40 percent this year from prewar levels, analysts say.

Though some farmers are turning to other products, such as sunflower oil, to squeeze out some profit.

A worker rakes wheat in a granary.

Viktor Tvysk inspects the storage of goat cheese. There are strategies such as bartering that Tsvyk has resorted to in order to keep the farm afloat. But he doesn’t expect to make a profit -- breaking even is the best he can hope for.