The Russian invasion and conflict in Ukraine could have a lasting impact on the agricultural economy.

Kelvin Leibold, an area farm management specialist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, gave a presentation Wednesday night on agricultural practices on eastern Europe and other foreign nations he’s visited. He presented to a Women in Grain Marketing class with Webster County Extension at Soldier Creek Winery.

Leibold visited farm operations in Ukraine in 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the issues Ukraine will have with its agriculture production is the limited options for transporting the results of the harvest.

“Ukranians don’t have a good rail system to transport grain,” Leibold said.

Shipping grain by waterways is also difficult. Despite having the Dnipro River bisecting the land mass of Ukraine, Russia currently controls most of the access to the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.

“If the Russians have totally destroyed the ports, it will be years before those can be rebuilt,” Leibold said. “And if Ukraine is sitting on a good amount of wheat, they won’t be able to ship it anywhere.”

As of 2020, Ukraine was the No. 4 largest exporter of corn in the world, shipping out more than $4 billion of the crop’s harvest.

One of the attendees to the presentation asked if Ukraine will export any corn this next year.

“I’m not sure that they will,” Leibold answered.

Eastern Ukraine, where much of the action from the conflict with Russia is widespread, is not likely to have many farms operational and planting this year, he said. The western side of the country — which grows corn, wheat and sunflowers, as well as other crops — will probably have a somewhat normal growing season if the conflict doesn’t move farther west, he said.

Another attendee asked what’s happened to the large farms in eastern Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

“A lot of those huge farms would have had fertilizer and fuel in storage,” Leibold said. “I would guess that they got pillaged and plundered pretty hard when the Russians came through and needed fuel for the tanks.”

As a farm management specialist, Leibold has also visited Russia to see their agricultural operations.

“They grow a lot of beautiful wheat, that’s for sure,” Leibold said of Russia.

Russian farmers also grow crops like potatoes and sugar beets.

Unlike what would be common in the Midwestern United States, Russia doesn’t have very many small family farm operations, Leibold said. The farm operations are mostly large, corporate or government-run farms.

Leibold also discussed visits he’s had to Germany, China and India.