The fields of discontent

A report from CNN details the Ukraine farmers’ ongoing struggle against wildfires, fields wired with landmines, or just being too darn close to the expanding battlegrounds between its country’s freedom fighters and the invading Russian Federation military.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image via CNN

While no one will ever dispute that the life of a farmer in North America isn’t rife with uncertainties such as extreme weather, labour shortages, and fertilizer costs, ad infinitum, brethren over in Ukraine have it worse.

Currently, many farmers in Ukraine struggle daily with wildfires burning their crops—whether naturally occurring or deliberately set is unknown—the added concern of their fields planted by enemy landmines, and even artillery flying overhead as they work their farmland.

Mortar hits have also taken out farm infrastructure, with barns, sheds, and animal shelters taking damage, not to mention the farm equipment—it almost makes one long for a simple beetle infestation to be the concern of choice.

Military helmets and flak jackets have become part of the daily clothing for farmers, and even that is no guarantee of personal safety.

And, should a crop be safely harvested, what to do with it? It’s not just a Ukraine concern, it’s a global one.

CNN reporters Tim Lister and Petro Zadorozhnyy have written about the plight of the Ukraine farmer. Click HERE to read.