Across the fertile wheat lands of Ukraine, the combine harvesters are in a deadly race to gather the crop before it is burned by indiscriminate shelling and rocketing by marauding Russian artillery and air strikes. Miraculously a fair amount of golden grain is being harvested and stored – though yields are well down on last year.
The wheat harvest is just over halfway done – the corn, or maize, is gathered later , from next month into October. This normally represents between 15 and 20 per cent of all maize and wheat available for export in the world. The Ukraine farmers and grain dealers aren’t giving up, but they face the prospect of yet another attempt by Russian forces to push Westward across Donetsk.
