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More than 20 leading agricultural associations have appealed to the government to intervene in the critical situation in agriculture, which has arisen due to anomalous drought, spring frosts, as well as EU restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports. This was reported by the VAR.

Ukrainian farmers sent a corresponding letter to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. In it, they call on the government:

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  • develop and implement a mechanism for direct state subsidies per hectare of lost crops for affected farms;
  • to provide money in the state budget for 2026 to launch a state program for insurance of agricultural crops and perennial plantings.

Farmers also expressed their willingness to work with the government on realistic solutions to prevent an even deeper crisis in one of the key sectors of the Ukrainian economy, which provides up to 59% of foreign exchange earnings to the country.

Due to the prolonged lack of precipitation and the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, the harvest on tens of thousands of hectares was lost in whole or in part.

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According to the data provided in the appeal, the greatest damage was suffered by agricultural farms in the southern and eastern regions, in particular the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

"According to the results of a survey conducted by the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council among farmers of the Kherson region, more than 55 thousand hectares of crops have been lost in the region. In significant areas, crop losses of the key crop for food security – wheat – range from 50% to 100%," the appeal states.

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The farmers added that most of the crops were not insured, because due to the war, the agricultural insurance system is actually not working, and farmers from frontline regions do not have a financial cushion to cover the risks independently.

An additional blow was the new trade restrictions from the EU, which began to apply to imports of Ukrainian agricultural products on June 6. Because of this, farmers are losing not only their harvest, but also the opportunity to sell it profitably.

In addition, the letter states that for the fourth year in a row, the area sown with grain crops has been decreasing (in 2024, 21% less than in 2021), as well as the gross harvest (minus 27% compared to 2021).

Wheat production, according to the USDA forecast, will be about 23 million tons in 2025, which is almost 10 million tons less than in 2021.