Combine harvesters cruise through golden crops of barley in the fields of Kyshchentsi, 200km south of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, leaving clouds of dust in their wake. Wheat, rapeseed and vegetables will follow as farmers gather the last spring-planted crops.
Ukraine’s harvest has begun despite a deepening crisis in one of the world’s great breadbaskets. Russia’s invasion and blockade of the Black Sea have ravaged the country’s agricultural sector, as war damage to infrastructure, soaring fuel and fertiliser costs and a loss of exports routes leave farmers starved of revenues and with stark choices to make.
“If they can’t sell their crops, they will just run out of money,” said Kornelis Huizinga, a Dutch farmer who moved to Ukraine more than 20 years ago and farms 15,000 hectares of land in Kyshchentsi in the central Cherkasy region. “They won’t have money to buy fuel or pay salaries.”