Cuurent information on Ukrainian Agriculture

 Russia's genocidal war against Ukraine continues with terror bombings of residential areas in Ternopil and Zaporizhzhia. Gas and electic infastructure is also attacked to ensure Ukrainians suffer from cold this winter. Ukrainians are fighting back, sending rockets and drones deep into russia, destroying oli refineries and now power generation and distribution in line with Russian attacks. Gasoline and diesel are in short supply in Russia. Areas around Moscow are cold and dark. Yet no matter how much destruction Ukraine inflicts on Russian drone and rocket factories they still keep coming night and day. The Russian economy is staggering but propped up by Iran and China, though the latter claims not to be involved. 

Ukraine was once the breadbasket of Europe (some claim it is the bridebasket of Europe but I digress). Now it provides grain to nations in the Middle East and in Northern Africa. Russia has attempted to cut off Ukraine's grain trade and replace it with their own wheat or wheat stolen from Ukraine. Ukrainian export of wheat and corn has been able to resume by hugging the Black Sea coastal waters of neighbouring countries. 

And Ukrainian farmers are fighting back. One farmer carries a shotgun to use against incoming drones. Ukraine is adapting to Russia’s genocidal war by going digital.  The scale of adoption is striking. This is not limited to the huge Oligarch-controlled farms over which Brussels is obsessed. They only make up 10% to 20% of farmed area in Ukraine.

Use of digital technology on Ukrainian farms

Some of these farms are adjacent to active combat in Sumy and Kherson oblasts. They use the same satellite imagery systems to spot crop stress and avoid freshly mined areas.

Digital technology chains together. Sixty-eight percent use yield mapping in combines, feeding data into next year’s variable-rate seeding plans. Fifty-three percent automate grain truck routes from field to elevator. Forty-two percent eliminated paper waybills, and 38% use electronic queues at delivery points—no drivers idling for hours while Russia launches missiles at grain infrastructure.

Russia wants to wreck Ukraine’s economy through bombardment. Ukrainian producers are building the infrastructure to do the opposite—feed more people with fewer inputs, using farmers’ phones and satellites instead of more land and diesel.

Russia’s energy warfare strategy has proven more effective at inflating food costs than destroying Ukraine’s agricultural capacity, revealing a sophisticated shift in economic warfare tactics.

Inflation in the food group is 22%. Electricity, logistics, and fuel costs for businesses are constantly rising, as is the need to raise wages. All these factors shape wholesale prices at bakeries much more than grain costs.

Current retail prices reflect this inflation: rye bread averaging 45.83 hryvnias ($1.11 USD) for a 300-gram loaf in major Ukrainian supermarkets as of August 2025, while standard loaves (450 grams) now cost an average of 36.7 hryvnias ($0.89 USD)—nearly 9 hryvnias ($0.22) higher than the previous year.

Ukraine’s National Bank raised interest rates to 14.5% in January to combat overall inflation, which reached 15.9% in May before moderating to 14.1% in July 2025.

Ukrainian exports dropped 33% in the first two months of the 2025/26 marketing year compared to the previous season. Yet grain prices are rising, with wheat climbing from 7,350 UAH/t ($178 USD) in mid-September to 8,750 UAH/t ($212 USD), driven by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure rather than supply shortages.

Medium-sized and family businesses account for about 80% of agricultural enterprises, while only 20% operate companies with more than 10,000 hectares. The 8,600 medium-sized farms of 200-2,000 hectares—not the massive holdings that dominate headlines—produced over 50% of cereal output before the war.  Farms under 1,000 hectares account for 58% of production.

While Russian forces steal grain from occupied territories and systematically target food infrastructure, Ukrainian farmers continue producing crops that feed both domestic and global markets.

This agricultural persistence represents more than economic necessity—it demonstrates the resilience and institutional capacity that make Ukraine’s European integration both possible and strategically vital—if Brussels can move beyond its misconceptions to recognize the complex reality of Ukrainian agriculture fighting for survival and a European future.

Sources:

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/10/03/ukraine-agriculture-digitization-war/

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/18/ukrainian-grain-exports-plunge-33-as-eu-integration-advances/

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/08/ukraine-bread-prices-surge-russian-energy-attacks/