Ukraine's farmers turn ploughshares back into swords

Ploughshares back into swords – that was how the response of Ukrainian farmers to Russian aggression was described by a British agricultural specialist with business links and a long-standing relationship with the agricultural community in the country.

Dr Keith Dawson has been involved in farming in Eastern Europe since 1984.

Dr Keith Dawson, who has been involved in farming in Eastern Europe since 1984, co- founding Continental Farmers Ukraine in 2006, and who is currently technical director with the Central Plains Group (CPG), the UK-based company with strong business interests in the region, yesterday told The Scotsman that the Ukrainian citizens’ response to the invasion was “humbling”.

He said: “We are so proud of our Ukrainian friends and colleagues putting up such a brave resistance and all their resolve and unity.”

Dawson added that many of the farms he worked with had been using their farm machinery to help build defensive constructions and roadblocks – “ploughshares back into swords”.

“We need to do all we can to support them,” he said, adding that for Putin it would be easier to invade the country than to occupy it, indicating that the speed of invasion had not gone to plan as the Russian troops had only been supplied with rations for two days. He said that CPG had set up a just giving page for local communities and refugees in west Ukraine and called on the sector to offer its support.

On the UK front he forecast that port issues would drive up prices – and fertiliser, fuel and energy prices were likely to escalate again.

But he issued a warning that the consequences were likely to be far-reaching around the globe: “I recall the 2010 block on exports which spiked grain prices – and that was a major factor in the rise in food prices which prompted the Arab Spring uprisings.”

¤ Meanwhile on the home front the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) said it was closely monitoring the situation emerging in Ukraine with regards to impact on the UK’s overall agri-supply chain.

The organisation said it was in regular dialogue with AIC Members who supplied or sourced farming inputs to the UK from Ukraine, Russia, and the broader Eastern European region, to try and understand the full scale of any potential or actual impacts.

“This is a rapidly changing situation,” said the AIC’s head of policy, Ed Barker. “We are currently reviewing the emerging information on the supply and availability of raw materials across cereals, animal feed, seed, crop protection, and fertiliser, the impacts on these sectors and what it may mean for the UK market.”

He said that the AIC would continue to closely engage with Government departments and provide them with information as it was received.

He added: “Having been through the recent disruption of the Covid pandemic it is clear that we do have a resilient supply chain – but, as was the case then, we would strongly advise farmers to liaise with their merchants and dealers at the earliest possible opportunity to make sure that their needs can be met in as timely a fashion as possible.”