Russians burn fields and trucks during harvest in Kherson region: farm has already lost 6 hectares of flax crops

The farm, a private enterprise called “UKAN,” in Kherson region, operates less than 10 km from the contact line. They are currently harvesting oilseed flax. The fields have been partially burned by Russian shelling, says the company’s director, Andriy Povod.

“This year is quite unusual, the poor harvest was caused by spring frosts and a total lack of moisture. But we don’t regret it anymore, as long as nothing falls on our heads from artillery, hail or drones. Therefore, the weather is the main problem now,” said the company’s director, Andriy Povod.

He adds that some of the fields had to be abandoned due to the dangerous situation and constant attacks by the Russians. They were sown in the fall, since the security situation was more or less normal then, but in the winter Russian drones began to fly there, so it was decided not to harvest the crop on those land plots.

Despite the lack of moisture and drought, the farm is finding approaches to farming, using moisture-saving technologies to get crops. Flax is grown as a drought-resistant crop.

Due to the Russian attacks, a lot of the crop burned down, and the weather conditions only contributed to this. The fires on the farm were extinguished by our own efforts. Flax crops also caught fire, and some were saved.

“In general, oil flax is a crop that almost does not burn, but there was a very strong wind. Plus, according to the technology of our production, there were remnants of spring barley stubble in the flax rows, which contributed to the fire,” shares the farm director.

As a result, 6 hectares of oilseed flax were burned.

Oilseed flax is harvested with a yield of 1 t/ha. That is, 6 tons of the crop were actually lost, which at a price of about 30 thousand UAH per ton is 180 thousand UAH in losses. On the fields that are not harvested this year due to the worsening security situation, the farm lost 600 thousand UAH.