Farming on the edge

Ivan is a hardworking man who founded a farm in the northern reaches of Ukraine back in 1992. Since then, he has been working the soil, cultivating grains and oilseeds such as wheat, sunflower, and soy. Over the years, Ivan managed to acquire essential farming machinery, granaries for storing grain, and established beneficial partnerships with suppliers and customers for his produce.

Then, the full-scale war changed everything. His village is just two kilometers from the Russian border, and his fields sit perilously close to it. “The war has brought many troubles,” shares Ivan. “We are on the border with the aggressor, under fire every day. It’s tough. There are times when you drive a tractor into the field, and warning shots are fired near you. You turn around and head back home. The next day, I try again, and they keep an eye on us but don’t bother us. That’s how we work here.”

Before the war, the farmer was cultivating 118 hectares of land. Now, part of his fields is mined, and approximately 25 hectares remain unsown. Despite everything and when it is possible, Ivan continues to work, sowing the fields and harvesting crops.

His farm is one of over 8,000 recipients of aid for the 2023 spring sowing campaign from the Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity - USAID AGRO Ukraine . Ivan received one ton of ammonium sulfate fertilizer to nourish his grain crops.

Ivan says that the aid was critical for him during these challenging times. He hopes that farmers like him will continue to receive various forms of support to keep going. Because right now, he is working under tough conditions and also must frequently deal with destruction on the farm, repair buildings and machinery, and his own home. “There are many damaged warehouses and houses. There are holes in the roof, in the house... Sometimes shards fly right into the yard. The shed is damaged now, the roof shattered by fragments, we are patching it up... We put a sofa in the basement, we run there when we need to. But we try to get to the fields early and work because there is less shelling in the field than in the village.”

The harvested grain and crops in the fields reassure him of a better tomorrow and provide income for him and his workers’, and food on the table. Therefore, Ivan continues to work, even under these extremely difficult conditions, as long as he can. “The main thing now is to survive. Somehow sow, somehow mow, and manage to sell at least part of it,” he professes. Despite everything, he is getting ready for the autumn sowing season.

Providing mineral fertilizers and other critically important resources for agricultural producers is part of USAID AGRO Ukraine larger effort for the Agriculture Resilience Initiative-Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine). In 2022, USAID launched this initiative in response to the global food crisis, which is deepening due to the war instigated by Russia. In spring 2023, over 8,200 Ukrainian agricultural producers received more than 6,300 tons of fertilizers from USAID, as well as seeds to sow sunflowers on over 48,300 hectares and corn on over 15,000 hectares. Another 12,000 tons of fertilizers will be provided to farmers in time for this year’s autumn sowing season. These measures contribute to strengthening the entire agricultural sector and help preserve its potential as one of the main drivers of Ukraine’s economy.