The excuse for NATO to invade western Ukraine should be to stop worldwide famine. Ukraine will need to be re-built anyway. So why not "invade" it.
NATO should invade in the west of Ukraine moving troops to the west bank of the Dnieper deeming it no longer Ukraine but now NATO territory. A no-fly zone over the NATO Territory of the Former Ukraine should go up straightaway.
Let Putin take lands east of the Dnieper. Keep all sanctions on Russia to 11. In a few years the Russian Federation will collapse.
Russia needs to be broken up. The people of Far East Russia, Buryatia and so on need to be liberated. Russia needs to be stripped of nuclear weapons once the break up happens.
A Putin-ruled Russia is the most dangerous country on earth. Russia seems to have a much weaker military than ever was believed. Thus, having nukes makes Russians that much more dangerous.
War Effect on Crop Yields
Russia and Ukraine are major crop exporters, accounting for roughly 30 per cent of global exports of wheat and barley. Russia alone exports 15 per cent of global fertiliser, while Belarus, also under sanctions, is an important producer of potash, crucial for growing soybeans that in turn go into animal feed. Lower worldwide use of fertiliser, likely will affect yields for major crop growing countries like Brazil and Argentina.
According to Reuters, Ukraine Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko said, “Ukraine’s spring crop sowing area may more than halve this year from 2021 levels to some 7 million hectares versus 15 million hectares expected before the Russian invasion."
Reuters reported that 3.3 million hectares of corn could be planted in spite of war versus 5.4 million hectares in 2021. That would be a -38.9% drop year over year.
The Ukraine ag ministry is urging farmers to sow more spring wheat, buckwheat, oats, millet and spring barley.
According to Bloomberg citing Kyiv-based analyst UkrAgroConsult, Ukrainian farmers could to sow about 3.5 to 4 million hectares (8.6 to 9.9 million acres) of the oilseed this spring, down from 6.8 million last spring.
Yields could be lower for planted fields as farmers lack fuel and fertilizer.
Ukrainian Agricultural Production in Maps
Ukrainian Corn
Ukrainians produce corn mainly in the north, central, and central-west parts of the country—while wheat and barley are grown mainly in the southern and eastern regions. Less than 40 percent of Ukraine’s corn comes from east of the Dnieper.
Despite having a small share of global corn output, Ukraine accounts for about 17 percent of global corn exports. Ukraine has become one of the 4 major world exporters of corn, on par with Brazil and Argentina.
In 2012/13 Ukraine exported corn to China for the first time, and within 2 years (2014/15) Ukraine had become by far the major supplier of corn to the country, supplanting the United States and providing (in any given year) 60 to almost 90 percent of Chinese imports. When (in 2020) China’s demand for imported corn surged and its imports almost quadrupled, the country became Ukraine’s largest export destination, for the first time outstripping the European Union.
Until the Putin ordered Russian of Ukraine, for 2021/22 (for the October- December period), about 30 percent of Ukraine’s corn exports were expected to ship to China, down from about 40 percent during the same period a year ago. That would have put Ukraine on track to send about a third of its corn exports to China in the period, making Ukraine a direct competitor with United States corn growers.
Ukraine Wheat
Exports are usually brisk in the first few months given the limited storage infrastructure and the pressure to ship other grains, especially corn, later in the season. Ukraine directly competes with Russia in nearby markets such as Egypt and Turkey and has been very price competitive thus far.
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