By Anna Romandash
Three years on from Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian farmers are still struggling to navigate the lasting legacy of the occupation in Europe’s breadbasket. With the relationship between the EU and the war-torn country set to deepen in the coming years, Ukrainian journalist Anna Romandash takes a deep dive on the current state of affairs on the ground and how to step forward beyond symbolic solidarity and into concrete support.
“The land we operate is located between the second and third lines of defense, and there are constant overflights and shootings – a few months ago, a drone was following our tractor, and exploded right in front of it,” Volodymyr Tenyk, a Ukrainian farmer on the frontline, explains.
His matter-of-fact tone captures the reality of farming in the Kherson region in Ukraine’s South, a region that sits right next to the occupied Crimea and remains an easy target for the Russian troops stationed there.
Once hailed as some of the most fertile lands in Europe, the region is one of the most badly hit after the Russian full-scale invasion. The region was occupied from March until November 2022, during which time life became very complicated for those working in the fields. “The Russian military destroyed our equipment, stole combines, tractors, seeders, and irrigation equipment,” he said.
Meanwhile, more than 150 cluster munitions were detonated on a field of about 55 hectares, according to the farmer, who explained that, even after extensive cleaning and ploughing, a cultivator exploded there later on, as well as another tractor. Fortunately, the drivers survived.
As such, the 2022 harvest remained either “in the fields or in broken warehouses,” the farmer added.
Even now, years on from the liberation by the Ukrainian army, the seven months of occupation continues to leave its mark on the region, which continues to be targeted by Russian drones and missiles.
The constant attacks has seen an ongoing exodus of locals moving to safer areas, taking with them skillsets and energy that would have once been ploughed into the agricultural sector.
Despite the challenges, farmers like Tenyk continue to work; the fields still get planted, the harvest delivered. But nothing works the way it used to.
A Sector Under Stress Today…
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukrainian agriculture has been in the spotlight, both economically and politically. An agricultural powerhouse, the country accounts for more than half of Ukraine’s export revenues, contributes significantly to its wartime GDP, and increasingly shapes the country’s negotiations with Brussels.
Yet in places like Kherson, the farmers producing these exports are working under pressure that European agricultural policy was never designed to address.
When the full-scale invasion began, Tenyk remained in his native Kherson – surviving the Russian occupation and resuming production in late 2022. “Our company covers 2.5 thousand hectares of land,” he says, “And we de-mined nearly 90% of it, making it arable again.”
But now other issues loom large – notably, the lack of water. “After Russians blew up the Kakhovka dam nearby, we started having water issues. Yet, we still manage somehow,” he says.
Russian missiles and drones have hit infrastructure, fuel depots, and industrial sites across the region. Farmers routinely must suspend work during air-raid alerts.
The complications go beyond immediate danger. Explosions and military convoys compact soil, damage drainage systems, and scatter metal debris. De-mining is slow and expensive.
According to Ukrainian officials, nearly a third of the country’s farmland is affected by mines or unexploded ordnance. Clearing it is expected to take decades, as well as a huge amount of effort and resources.
… And tomorrow
But there is another, less visible pressure coming from the opposite direction — from Brussels, where policymakers are debating Ukraine’s future agricultural integration.
Ukraine exports large volumes of grain, oilseeds, and animal feed to the EU. Since 2023, the European market has absorbed roughly half of Ukraine’s agricultural exports. For many farms, including Tenyk’s, EU buyers are now essential.
And that relationship is set to deepen. As part of its path toward EU membership, Ukraine will be expected to align with the EU’s rules in the coming years, including fitting into its farming subsidy programme, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
For EU policymakers, Ukrainian agriculture is both an opportunity and an acid test: a chance to expand Europe’s food production base, but also a sector whose sheer scale could disrupt market balances and policy budget lines.
For farmers, those debates arrive as a list of practical challenges with price tags attached.
“Modernisation is necessary, of course,” says Irina Unguryan, the director of an agricultural enterprise in Zhytomyr region, Central Ukraine, “But in wartime, our priority is staying operational. We cannot invest at the level European standards assume.”
She explains that before the full-scale war, the farm sold everything domestically. The invasion broke those markets overnight. “We could not sell anything in the first months,” she recalls, “Logistics collapsed. Buyers disappeared. We simply waited.”
Eventually the company shifted to export, selling mostly to the EU.
The EU Question
This company’s shift mirrors a broader national trend. In 2024, Ukraine’s agricultural exports reached roughly €23 billion, approaching pre-invasion levels. In some months, the sector has provided more than 60% of total export revenue. That makes it the backbone of the wartime economy, and a critical source of foreign currency needed to pay for weapons, energy, and humanitarian services.
Yet the cost of sustaining that output is rising. Analysts estimate that indirect agricultural losses — soil degradation, destroyed equipment, blocked logistics corridors, reduced yields — have already reached more €4 billion. Meanwhile, the country’s Ministry of Agriculture estimates that fully restoring damaged farmland will require tens of billions more.
For small and medium-sized producers, survival often hinges on government credit and loans, as well as per-hectare subsidies from the government. Small farms can receive the equivalent of €100 per hectare, up to 120 hectares. Livestock owners receive animal-based compensation ranging from €80 to €180 per head depending on herd size.
In European terms, these are modest sums. In wartime Ukraine, they keep farms alive.
Ukrainian farmers are also hoping that EU integration will bring more financial support from Brussels. Yet, while EU farm subsidies remain area-based, Ukraine’s vast farm structures – most of which dwarf the average EU farm – risk sucking up most of the support on offer.
As the EU weighs Ukraine’s membership path, agriculture is one of the most politically sensitive sectors. European farmers have protested against Ukrainian imports, arguing they could not compete with them.
Brussels has tried to balance solidarity with market stability — reinstating quotas on some Ukrainian goods while extending preferential access for others.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian producers must prepare for long-term alignment with EU environmental rules. Precision fertiliser application, improved wastewater management, soil nutrient reporting — all are expensive. In peaceful EU member states, such reforms take years and rely on stable subsidies. In Ukraine, they come while the country is losing farmland every month to Russian attacks – and nearly 20% of the most fertile areas are under occupation.
“European standards are correct,” says Unguryan, “We understand why they exist. But applying them in wartime requires flexibility.”
This is a sentiment echoed by Tenyk. “We farm despite everything,” he says. “The country needs exports, and people here need work. We must adapt.”
Looking to the Future
Europe’s long-term food strategy increasingly depends on Ukraine – while Ukrainian farmers are producing under circumstances no European agricultural model has ever had to anticipate.
The question now is whether EU integration will support these producers or squeeze them. Brussels wants green reform; Ukraine wants market access. Farmers want predictability.
None of these goals are incompatible — but aligning them will require more than symbolic solidarity.
Heinrich Böll Stiftung European Union.
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