With ports closed because of the war, vast amounts of wheat can’t reach nations that rely on it.
PERVOMAISK, Ukraine — The grain Ukraine produces is found everywhere. Much of the bread in the Middle East is made from it. Much of what aid organizations distribute to stave off famine in Yemen is made from it. Much of what feeds Chinese livestock that in turn feeds people worldwide is made from it.
All of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports are closed off to the world by a Russian blockade that includes floating mines. A battleship the Ukrainian navy scuttled to avoid capture is blocking access to grain stores at the country’s biggest port in Odessa. And after 20 years of investment in farm-to-port infrastructure, wheat exported by train is just a tiny fraction of what is exported by sea.
A trader he works with at the Odessa port, Oleksandr Chumak, laid out the industry’s despondency in plain terms. Key moments in the agricultural calendar — fertilizing, tilling and, soon, planting — are passing while farmers struggle to source essential supplies, and while others have left to go fight. Farm employees are exempt from conscription, but many have joined out of a sense of duty.
A collapse of industrial farming would be disastrous for Ukraine in just about every way imaginable. And because Russia is also one of the world’s biggest grain producers, it stands to gain exactly where Ukraine loses.“It’s a secret weapon in the war,” said Andrii Dykun, chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council. “Make Ukraine go bankrupt. Make the world buy from Russia. Of course the world will buy from them rather than starve.
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