Ukrainian farmers who owned their own equipment were not at risk of missing crucial field work windows.  Photo: Ihor Pavliuk

War teaches Ukrainian farmers tough lessons 

As the war approaches its second anniversary, the farmers who adapted earliest have been in the best position to survive  

Feb. 24 marks two years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It seems like a short time, but it has caused huge upheaval in our society. Hundreds of thousands have died and millions have lost their homes.

A man is seen outside the house damaged by Russian shelling, Odesa Region, southern Ukraine. (Photo by Nina Liashonok/Ukrinform/Sipa USA)

What is war fatigue?

If the West is 'tired' of the war in Ukraine, consider the reality of Ukrainians

As we approached the end of December, my mood, like that of most Ukrainians, was not at all Christmassy. The heroic achievement of 2022, when our lives hung in the balance and our defenders managed to repel the enemy, was replaced by the bloody routine of 2023.


A display of civilian vehicles destroyed in the war in Kyiv. Photo: Aleksandr Gusev/SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters

Ukrainian farmers’ history of making do pays off in wartime

First person: over the past 20 months, hundreds of thousands of civillian vehicles have passed through the crucible of war

The technical arsenal of farmers who cultivate small acreages is extremely varied. They have small tillers to which trailers are attached, and tiny, sometimes homemade, tractors. Sometimes you can even see a small field being plowed with the help of horses. We still have horse-drawn carts, although this is rare. In my town, there is only one horse left. My friend keeps him at home as a pet. In his youth, my friend worked at a stable and retained his love for horses.

Viktor and Sergiy Shipov say they’ll harvest a crop this year, despite the challenges from the war. (Photo: Ihor Pavliuk/Oleksandr)

Farming behind the lines: Growers in Ukraine plant amid hostilities close by

'We started the sowing campaign by removing rockets from the field'

Viktor and Sergiy Shipov are used to adversity. Viktor established a farming company in southern Ukraine 20 years ago, in the Mykolaiv Oblast, where hellish heat and lack of rainfall can make the land look like the Sahara Desert with yellow dunes. This is a corner of the classic Ukrainian steppe, where rainfall is very […] Read more


A farm worker unloads Ukrainian-made fertilizer from a truck on April 5, 2022 to use on a wheat field near the village of Yakovlivka, outside Kharkiv, after it was hit by an aerial bombardment. (Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Farming behind the lines: Ukraine’s farmers sow amidst wreckage

Despite their best efforts, however, famine looms as war rages

In early April, Ukrainian soldiers expelled the Russian invaders from the northern regions of Ukraine: Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. The wounded enemy left, leaving behind burned-out war machines and the unburied corpses of his soldiers. However, the invaders managed to do a lot of damage. Many of you are probably aware of the atrocities […] Read more



Parts are already in short supply in Ukraine, and farmers are stockpiling and lending and borrowing amongst themselves. (Ihor Pavliuk photo)

Farming behind the lines in Ukraine

A Ukrainian agriculture journalist chronicles the challenges of sowing a crop during wartime

Ukrainians will farm their land, even in the face of war. In the Kherson area of southern Ukraine, where war rages and the city of Kherson is seen by the Russian invaders as strategic, a column set out on Monday. This was a column of tractors, under the flag of Ukraine. In it were farmers […] Read more

Anti-tank ‘hedgehogs’ are seen in Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on March 9, 2022. Farmers are among those assembling the obstacles, set up to block roads against advancing armoured vehicles. (Yevhen Kotenko/Ukrinform/Abacapress.com via Reuters)

Bread and war: Farmers in the fight for Ukraine

Agriculture, being the most important industry in Ukraine, will play a large part in the war, a Ukrainian ag journalist writes

It is very difficult to explain what a person feels when they’re awakened at 5 a.m., when a rocket explodes near their house. That’s exactly what I experienced Feb. 24. The first thing I did was fill my car with gasoline. Then we bought a lot of products we thought we might need — medicines […] Read more