Ukraine says the ongoing war with Russia is threatening the future of farming. The country told the World Trade Organization that Russia’s military is doing long- term and costly damage to their agriculture sector. Ukraine claims more than $6 billion worth of resources have been destroyed so far. Chemicals from the military are polluting the soil, while bombs are destroying storage, processing facilities and tractors.
Land mines have also been left in fields. Russia has objected to these allegations saying the World Trade Organization was not the proper venue for those concerns.
Meanwhile, six regions in Ukraine have completed spring planting early. Ukraine has 24 regions in total, but the country’s Ag Ministry says no planting will take place in an eastern region due to heavy conflict.
The Ministry says farmers have sown more than 400,000 acres of spring wheat, 2 million acres of barley and almost 2 million acres of corn. No total acreage has been given yet, but the ministry still expects a 20% drop from the Russian invasion.
As for exports, Ukraine has shipped more than 45 million tons of grain so far for this marketing season. The volume does include the 763,000 tons in April and the first cargo that shipped out from Romania since the start of the war. Ukraine exported 2 million tons before the invasion.
The country is working closely with bordering countries to use their ports to continue exports.
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