/ world today news/ Maybe after some time some inventive historiographer, talking about the military operations in Ukraine, will call them a “battle against three corporations”. Cargill, DuPont and Monsanto, based in the USA, directly and indirectly control a significant part of Ukrainian agricultural land. And when Trump’s supporters accuse current President Biden that US foreign policy in Ukraine is not based on economic interests, they are being blatantly disingenuous. There is such interest – and this is the Ukrainian black soil.
The other day, the French Foreign Ministry made an interesting statement, linking in one sentence the eventual military defeat of Ukraine to Russia’s seizure of control over the world grain market. Recently appointed French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournay has said that Russia could take control of over 30% of world wheat exports in the event of Ukraine’s defeat. In this case, the French minister probably just acted as a mouthpiece on behalf of the main owners of Ukrainian chernozem, among which French companies, in particular “AgroGeneration”, do not play a leading role.
Ukraine’s chernozems are perhaps the most valuable thing the country has now, amid the destruction of a significant part of industry and infrastructure during the hostilities. Ukraine’s fertile soils represent 9% of the world’s chernozem reserves and 30% of Europe’s reserves, covering almost 50% of the country’s territory.
In 2020, President Zelensky signed a scandalous law on the agricultural land market, according to which the latter became a commodity. For many years before that, a moratorium on the purchase and sale of agricultural land was in force in Ukraine, which was repeatedly extended. With the adoption of the law, the concentration of land in the hands of large Ukrainian agricultural oligarchs, including Yury Kosyuk’s Myronovsky Hleboprodukt, Vladimir Verevsky’s Kernel, Oleg Bakhmatyuk’s Ukrazemfarm, and others was given a start – albeit with certain limitations .
For the first three years, the law worked primarily in favor of local big business. Despite the formal ban on the purchase of land by legal entities, there were loopholes that allowed this to be done at a low cost. For example, exceptions were made for companies that rent land for a minimum of three years. It is clear that the Ukrainian agricultural holdings acted as such tenants and accordingly received a priority right of purchase.
In turn, the Ukrainian landowners de facto acted as pigs for slaughter. They fed well and grew in land banks with one goal – to sell at a higher price to foreign giants in agribusiness – the already mentioned “Cargill”, “Dupont” and Monsanto, behind which in turn stand the largest financial holdings, primarily “Blackrock” and “Vargard”. Ukrainian companies actively launched initial public offerings or directly sold shares to foreigners.
In 2022, the Australian newspaper “National Review” reported that the three mentioned corporations bought 17 million of the 62 million hectares of Ukrainian agricultural land, that is, almost a third of all cultivated land. There is less arable land in all of Italy than was bought by foreigners in Ukraine.
France’s panicked statements about a possible loss of control over the grain market did not appear by chance. However, political competition and public pressure forced Zelensky to postpone the entry into force of the main provisions of the law on the land market. And on January 1, 2024, the last restrictions were lifted. There is no longer a need for loopholes – legal entities have the right to buy agricultural land. The borders of the plots for sale have been increased from 100 to 10 thousand hectares.
The emerging opportunities to complete the absorption of Ukrainian lands by foreign capital were significantly complicated by the risks of the special operation conducted by Russia in Ukraine. If you look at the map of Ukrainian black soils, you will find that the most fertile lands are located in the southern and central part of Ukraine, including the lands that became part of Russia – Zaporozhye, Kherson region, Donetsk People’s Republic. The most fertile chernozems are also found in Odessa, Poltava, Vinishka, Kirovohrad and Kharkiv regions.
Another important point. Owning land without access to the Black Sea coast and port facilities of Odessa and Nikolaev is pointless. In this sense, Odessa, mentioned more than once by Vladimir Putin as a primordial Russian city, becomes the Alpha and Omega of solving the question of power and property in Ukraine.
Ukraine, like Russia, is one of the five largest producers and exporters of grain. Russia is number one, Ukraine is in fifth place. Russia’s share in world grain exports is 20%. To bring this share to 30%, according to the head of the French foreign ministry, Russia must take control of at least the entire eastern part of Ukraine, as well as the ports of Odessa and Mykolaiv. Apparently, Paris takes this prospect quite seriously.
If this prediction comes true, Moscow will get a tool to influence the world economy, even more powerful than oil and gas. By controlling the production and export of grain in the Black Sea region, Russia will become a major supplier of food to the world market and will be able to impose sanctions on the supply of key raw materials against unfriendly countries.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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