The Kherson region, one of Ukraine’s key agricultural areas before the Russian war, remains among the most heavily affected by the full-scale invasion. Located along the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, the region was partially occupied in 2022 and remains exposed to regular shelling, missile strikes and drone attacks despite the liberation of its western bank. According to Ukrainian authorities, tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in Kherson oblast are either mined, damaged, or located close to active combat zones.

Northwest of the city of Kherson, the farming enterprise Roksolana continues to cultivate several hundred hectares of land under these conditions. Its director, Maksym Maksimov, says agricultural work in the area has become increasingly dangerous over the past year due to the growing use of drones.

“On our fields, we’ve identified about 20 drones — only those we managed to find or saw explode,” Maksimov says. “This summer, the situation deteriorated significantly. Russian drones hit machinery and set fields on fire across the entire right-bank part of Kherson region. Some neighbouring farms were unable to harvest at all because working there became impossible.”

Farming on the Line of Contact

During the Russian occupation in 2022, Roksolana’s land was located directly along the line of contact. Shelling destroyed several combine harvesters, tractors, seeders and other equipment. Maksimov and his family were forced to evacuate to central Ukraine. After Ukrainian forces retook the western bank of the Dnipro later that year, he returned.

“We collected everything we could salvage piece by piece,” he says, “We cleared the fields ourselves — removing mines, shell fragments, missile debris. In spring 2023, we started sowing again.”

Irrigation was partially restored by autumn 2024 via the Inhulets canal, which had been damaged by Russian forces during their retreat. However, security risks continued to increase. While long-range missiles and Iranian-designed Shahed drones had already posed a threat, the widespread deployment of FPV drones has had a direct impact on agricultural operations.

“When FPV drones started reaching our area, working in the fields became genuinely dangerous,” Maksimov says.

He is now considering additional safety measures, including electronic warfare systems, drone detectors, firearms for field teams, and protective metal structures for machinery. For the upcoming sunflower harvest, he says farm operations are being coordinated with Ukrainian military units based on real-time security assessments.

Despite the risks, Maksimov says abandoning the land is not currently under consideration.

“I’ve spent my whole life here,” he says, “I know the people, and they know me. Starting from zero somewhere else would be extremely difficult.”

A National Sector Under Strain

The situation in Kherson reflects broader challenges facing Ukrainian agriculture. According to government estimates, around two million hectares of arable land across Ukraine remain unsafe due to mines, unexploded ordnance, or proximity to active hostilities. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has reported that more than one-third of farms in frontline regions operate on contaminated land, while power outages, fuel shortages and labour deficits continue to raise costs.

Before the full-scale war, Ukraine was one of the world’s largest agricultural producers, harvesting a record 106 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds in 2021. By 2024, output had declined to roughly 77 million tonnes, reflecting land loss, infrastructure destruction and logistical constraints. Warehouses, elevators, irrigation systems and transport hubs have been repeatedly targeted. Ukrainian and international estimates place direct and indirect damage to the agricultural sector at tens of billions of dollars.

Despite this, agriculture remains central to Ukraine’s economy. In 2024, agricultural exports generated approximately USD 23 billion, accounting for up to 60% of total export revenues in peak months. Grain, oilseeds and vegetable oils continue to be Ukraine’s primary export commodities.

Since Russia repeatedly disrupted Black Sea shipping routes, Ukraine has redirected a significant share of its agricultural exports westward. Overland corridors through Central Europe and river routes along the Danube — known as EU “solidarity lanes” — became critical to sustaining exports.

By 2024–2025, roughly half of Ukrainian agricultural exports were destined for the European Union, making the bloc Ukraine’s largest trading partner for food products. Ukrainian grain, sunflower oil and feed crops now supply processors and traders across Central, Western and Southern Europe, including France and Italy, while also transiting EU ports en route to Africa and the Middle East.

For Brussels, maintaining these flows has been viewed as strategically important. EU officials have repeatedly stressed that restricting Ukrainian exports could increase global food prices and deepen food insecurity in import-dependent regions.

However, the sustained volume of imports has generated political pressure within the EU. Farmers’ organisations in Poland, France, Slovakia, Hungary and Italy argue that Ukrainian products — produced at scale and outside the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy framework — create market distortions.

In France, agricultural unions have warned that Ukrainian grain and poultry imports risk depressing prices at a time when domestic producers face rising fuel costs, labour shortages, climate-related losses and stricter environmental rules under the EU Green Deal. Italian farm groups have raised similar concerns, particularly regarding volatility in feed grain markets.

Poland has seen the most visible protests, including border blockades, but concerns have spread beyond Ukraine’s immediate neighbours. In response, the European Commission in 2025 reintroduced quotas on duty-free imports of certain Ukrainian products, including wheat and barley, while maintaining preferential access for others.

EU officials describe the measures as temporary safeguards rather than a rollback of support. Negotiations between Brussels and Kyiv continue over monitoring mechanisms and product-specific limits.

Enlargement and Agriculture

The debate over Ukrainian imports is closely linked to broader questions about EU enlargement. Ukraine is a candidate country with one of the largest agricultural land bases in Europe. Full integration would require substantial adjustments to subsidy allocation, environmental compliance systems and market protections under the Common Agricultural Policy.

For EU member states, this raises concerns about budgetary pressure and competition. For Ukraine, alignment with EU standards comes amid wartime constraints, labour shortages and ongoing security risks.

For farmers like Maksimov, these policy debates remain distant from daily realities. His focus remains on keeping production going despite drone threats, damaged infrastructure and limited access to capital.

“We think about safety first now,” he says. “Then about whether we can plant, harvest and sell. Everything else comes later.”

The war has transformed Ukrainian agriculture into a sector operating simultaneously as an economic engine, a strategic asset and a target. Fields in southern Ukraine are no longer just sites of production, but locations exposed to military activity. At the same time, their output increasingly influences markets across the European Union.

As Ukraine continues exporting food under wartime conditions, European governments face ongoing decisions about how to balance market protection, food security and political commitments. For now, Ukrainian farmers continue working under risk, supplying both domestic and international markets while the conflict reshapes agricultural production far beyond the battlefield.