Farmers In Europe’s Largest Economy, Elsewhere Worry About Harvest As Ukrainian Workers Fight Russia

Seasonal workers harvest white asparagus in a field on March 26, 2020, near Luckenwalde, Germany. Farmers across Germany who depend on foreign, seasonal workers for planting and harvesting face a significant labor shortage with Ukrainian workers occupied with war. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Farmers in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, and in other European Union countries are concerned about their harvests as laborers from Ukraine stay home to fight Russian forces.

The Ukrainian government ordered all able men from 18 to 60 to remain in the country and take up arms against the Russian forces shortly after they crossed into sovereign Ukrainian territory on Feb. 24.