Moscow has made multiple demands for an extension of the Black Sea grain deal.

West still has time to solve grain deal issues: Russian diplomat

Russia wants agricultural bank reconnected and machinery and parts restrictions lifted

The West still has time to remove “obstacles” hindering the implementation of the Black Sea grain deal before a deadline on May 18, senior Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov said April 14. The Black Sea grain export deal was renewed for 60 days last month, but Russia has signalled it may not agree to extend it

Ukrainian farmers are surviving the invasion, now it’s time to rebuild for the 2023 growing season.

From Ukraine: Farmer struggles after Russians driven back

Yuriy Zayikin lived under Russian fire for close to a year, now plans to rebuild

Yuriy Zayikin has had a front row seat to the war in Ukraine. And at times he’s been forced onto the stage. He farms in the southern Kherson region. At one point 95 per cent of the area was occupied by invading Russian forces. Just five per cent remained under control of Ukraine, which is where Zayikin was ‘lucky’ enough


Grain farmer Oleksandr Klepach points at trenches in his field, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Snihurivka, southeast Ukraine.

Facing minefields and cash crunch, Ukraine farmers to sow smaller crop

As spring draws nearer, the farmers of this global breadbasket face growing challenges

Facing fields full of mines and short of cash, many Ukrainian farmers are likely to sow a smaller area this spring than they did following Russia’s invasion, in what could be a further blow to global food supplies after disruptions last year. Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat and corn to world markets. Production

Despite the challenges caused by the war, Bernatsky got the corn crop off.

From Ukraine: The goal now is to save the farm

How a well-known Ukrainian farmer survived a year of war and now views the future

Colleagues from other countries often ask me about the situation of Ukrainian farmers. It is difficult for me to answer this question, because every farmer is in their own unique circumstances. The main thing that unites them is the understanding that life will not be the same for a long time, if ever. To describe


Grain farmer Andrii Povod stands in front of a destroyed barn at his farm, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Bilozerka, Kherson region, Ukraine, Feb. 20.

The soils of war

There’s a toxic legacy for Ukraine’s breadbasket from the Russian invasion

Reuters – When Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November, Andrii Povod returned to find his grain farm in ruins. Two tractors were missing, most of the wheat was gone and all 11 buildings used to store crops and machinery had been bombed and burned. The farm bears the scars of Russian shelling and unexploded ordnance riddles

Ukraine grain exports down 29.2 per cent in 2022/23

Ukraine grain exports in the 2022/23 season, which runs through to June, are down 29.2 per cent to 28.2 million tonnes so far, due to a smaller harvest and logistical difficulties caused by the Russian invasion, agriculture ministry data showed February 8. The volume included about 10.1 million tonnes of wheat, 16.2 million tonnes of


Corn is harvested on the Roksana-K farm, Vinnytsia, west-central Ukraine.

From Ukraine: The song of winter corn

As a mild winter lets farmers harvest corn, spring is just around the corner

Have you ever seen combines in the middle of January going into a field? And behind them – huge disc harrows.  It’s no wonder that this year Ukrainian farmers use some warm days in the middle of winter to harvest corn. After almost a year of war, thousands of combine harvesters were destroyed or stolen

Destroyed grain storage in the village of Kamianka, Kharkiv, liberated from Russian invaders by Ukrainian forces in October 2022. Three very separate, unique and low probability events caused grain prices to rise this time around: pandemic, drought and war.

When markets burst, it’s never pretty

We’ve seen plenty of price surges followed by collapses. Are commodities next?

Over the past few years, if not decades, there’s been a lot of volatility in markets and economies worldwide. You can start 30 years ago with the Asian currency crisis, Russian debt default and Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund collapse in the late 1990s as examples of explosive events in financial markets. Then, as we


Editor’s Take: Apocalypse soon-ish?

It’s the job of the commentator to be a bit provocative and to make people think. Geopolitical economist Peter Zeihan, who gave a keynote address at last week’s Ag Days, certainly accomplished that. Pulling many threads together, from the war in Ukraine and Russia’s historic borders, past the sclerotic regime in Beijing incapable of adapting,

A woman sings a carol in front of a Christmas tree, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, at the Sofiyska Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 19.

From Ukraine: Two Christmases and one dream

Despite the threat of a renewed invasion, the population of Ukraine celebrates the season

Winter in Ukraine this year looks quite Canadian, with frequent snows and severe frosts, ice-covered roads and power lines. Of course, we are not very pleased with such a rampage of winter elements this year, because the electricity in Ukrainian houses is unreliable. I read in the news about what is an ordinary event for us – over Kyiv, our