At Oleksandr Peretiatko’s farm in central Ukraine, the harvest is just days away. In normal times, the crops would be sent off to ports on the Black Sea for export around the world.
This year, Peretiatko’s freshly cut grain will be stuffed instead into massive polymer silo bags snaking across the 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) of farmland — because there’s nowhere else to put it.
From a dramatic loss of export revenue to mine-riddled fields and exploding machinery, Russia’s invasion has taken a massive toll on Ukraine’s agriculture sector. Now, with ports remaining closed despite international efforts to reach a deal, harvests are getting underway with silos still loaded with last year’s crops.