{"id":1117994,"date":"2026-07-29T11:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T11:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1117994\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T11:37:25","slug":"with-twice-the-arable-land-of-france-ukraines-vast-farms-spooks-european-counterparts-amid-looming-fight-over-market-access-and-eu-subsidies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1117994\/","title":{"rendered":"With twice the arable land of France, Ukraine\u2019s vast farms spooks European counterparts amid looming fight over market access and EU subsidies"},"content":{"rendered":"

It doesn\u2019t matter when you read this: somewhere in Europe, farmers have taken their tractors to the streets and are protesting against one policy or another. It may be due to the rising cost of fuel<\/a>, unfair competition<\/a> from much cheaper products coming from less developed markets, the burden of European phytosanitary regulations<\/a>, or any cut to the CAP<\/a>, the European Common Agricultural Policy. The CAP is probably one of the biggest puzzles into which yet another piece may now need to fit: the accession of Ukraine (and Moldova).<\/p>\n

Even if we discount the territorial amputations suffered by Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion\u2014Crimea and parts of the Donbas\u2014Ukraine still has 32 million hectares of usable agricultural land, of which 26 million are already under cultivation. That is twice the amount of arable land in France (17 million hectares) and three times that of Spain and Poland (11 million each, according to the World Bank). In the event of accession, Ukraine would become the EU\u2019s leading producer of cereals and oilseeds\u2014rapeseed, sunflower and soybeans.<\/p>\n

Next to it, Moldova is little more than an appendage (1.87 million). But that will not necessarily benefit the Moldovans: Moldova\u2019s accession trajectory has largely advanced in parallel with Ukraine\u2019s, benefiting from the geopolitical momentum created by Kyiv\u2019s candidacy while remaining subject to its own merit-based assessment. But it also gets some of the associated risks and anxieties of the bigger candidate.<\/p>\n

The agricultural chapter \u201cis considered among the most difficult in the EU accession process,\u201d argues researcher Elsa R\u00e9gnier in a 2024 study from SciencesPo<\/a>. This is due to the central role of CAP in the EU budget and the general vulnerability of farming systems. The European Commission similarly acknowledges that Ukraine and Moldova \u201cwill need time and effort,\u201d as the EU \u201cmust ensure that its policies, including the CAP, are fit for an enlarged Union.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore difficult than the war? Than the Holodomor? I don\u2019t think so. We will adapt,\u201d jokes Volodymyr Rever, a farmer from Lviv in western Ukraine. Like him, many other farmers have become both victims and soldiers in the war Russia has unleashed on their fertile steppes. <\/p>\n

Ukrainian soil is among the richest in the world. Scientists call it chernozem (black earth), due to the characteristic dark colour created by the accumulation of organic matter in the soil. That is called humus, \u201cthe essential nutrients for plant growth,\u201d explains Mykhailo Mulenko, researcher at the Khortytsia National Reserve.<\/p>\n

\"\"Chernozem is the best soil in temperate climate. Source: Open Edition Journals Vol 30\/3. 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some areas of central Ukraine<\/a>, the humus layer can reach up to one metre in thickness, which is extraordinary,\u201d says Mulenko. The depth of the humus makes it more resistant to the aggressive techniques of modern agriculture, helping preserve its fertility.<\/p>\n

Today, much has changed since the beginning of the invasion, when the advance of Russian tanks from the north and south of Ukraine seemed unstoppable. At that time, Russian ships blockaded the port of Odesa, which accounted for more than 80 percent of Ukraine\u2019s agricultural exports; missiles destroyed factories that processed food and seeds in Kharkiv; and Russian bombs deliberately targeted crops and agricultural machinery in Chernihiv and Sumy. Mines contaminated the soil across areas crossed by Russian forces.<\/p>\n

But they were halted; and Ukraine managed to retain control of the port of Odessa, established new export routes by sea and rail (with the cooperation of countries such as Romania and Poland), saved its seeds and harvests, and reorganised its logistics and fuel supply chains. \u201cIt is like another front line: bread is sacred for us, and sowing is a symbol of life. You cannot imagine what it means for Ukrainians, who have survived two world wars and a famine,\u201d says Roman Leshchenko, Ukraine’s former minister of agrarian policy and food.<\/p>\n

\"\"Volodymyr Rever shows the grains of Ukraine. Source: Alicia Alamillos.<\/p>\n

And this goes beyond the \u201cunique fertility potential of the soil,\u201d says Yves Le Morvan, head of supply chains and markets at the Agrill\u00e9es think tank in France. \u201cUkraine has strong human capital, as well as resilience in its logistics, trade and processing chains,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

But these measures already sparked tensions with neighbouring countries. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia even went as far as imposing bans on Ukrainian imports<\/a>. D\u0103nu\u021b Andru\u0219 was a farmer whose face became emblematic of Romanian farmers\u2019 protests against Ukrainian products, during which tractors blocked the main road into Bucharest. At the time, Ukraine was accused of unfair competition. Today, he is no longer so radically opposed to Ukraine
and Moldova\u2019s integration. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s good, because it will destabilise the market, but every people has the right to do what it wants; if they comply with the rules, I have no problem,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But precisely this potential destabilisation caused by the entry of such a large producer as Ukraine could become an opportunity for the EU commission, perhaps through a major reform of the CAP\u2014a process that has been on the table for years.<\/p>\n

To date, the EU has undergone seven enlargements. The most recent were in 2007 (Romania and Bulgaria) and 2013 (Croatia). Of all of them, the only ones comparable to the current negotiations, \u201cin terms of geopolitical relevance and agricultural impact,\u201d according to Le Morvan, are those of the Iberian Peninsula in 1986 and those of Central Europe in 2004 and 2007.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 1986 enlargement (Spain and Portugal) increased the EU\u2019s agricultural land area by 30 percent, while the 2004\u20132007 enlargements added 44 percent. The enlargement including Ukraine, Moldova and the Balkans would represent a 28 percent increase.<\/p>\n

In 1986, a simple \u201cadjustment through institutional prices combined with a phased implementation schedule\u201d was enough. In 2004\u20132007, a deep prior reform of the CAP was required, \u201cwhich created the system of area-based payments and allowed their gradual rollout to new member states in a normalised legal and economic framework.\u201d In the case of the future enlargement, a minor adjustment of the CAP will not be sufficient. \u201cUkraine is not Poland; it has an agricultural economic model inherited from the former Soviet Union, with land ownership structures and business forms that are external to the EU system,\u201d the expert explains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It doesn\u2019t matter when you read this: somewhere in Europe, farmers have taken their tractors to the streets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1117995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7654],"tags":[217083,2000,299,218484,217086,304670,296899,275538,296897,217084,304668,275536,218482,296898,217085,304669,275537,218483,657],"class_list":["post-1117994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ukraine","tag-typedefinedterm","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-identifier24","tag-identifier4044","tag-identifier4518","tag-identifier4578","tag-identifier4703","tag-nameagriculture","tag-nameanalysis","tag-nameeu-accession","tag-namemoldova","tag-nameukraine","tag-termcodeagriculture","tag-termcodeanalysis","tag-termcodeeu-accession","tag-termcodemoldova","tag-termcodeukraine","tag-ukraine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117003071397124199","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1117994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1117995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1117994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1117994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1117994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}