Let’s compare the agricultural output of Ukraine with a couple US states. Since Ukraine is about the same size as Texas, we’ll use the Lone Star State as one comparison. Due to similar climates and other agricultural conditions, we will also compare Ukraine to Kansas and Nebraska.
For today, let’s focus on Ukraine.
Ukraine is a world agricultural powerhouse.
Ukraine is known as the ‘breadbasket of Europe’ and is amongst the top three exporters of grain in the world.
It boasts some of the most fertile land on earth, with rich black soil, chernozem, that is perfectly suited to growing grains.
Chernozem is extremely fertile and is known to produce high agricultural yields, thanks to its high moisture storage capacity.
Indeed, Ukraine has the ability to provide enough food for half a billion people, maybe more.
Ukraine is also a large producer of potatoes – believed to be the fourth largest in the world, in fact.
What I find interesting in this chart is that potatoes are a popular crop for home gardens and small farms.
iddri.com
Some countries depend heavily on [Ukrainian exports]. Lebanon imports 80% of its wheat from Ukraine and India 76% of its sunflower oil.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), which feeds people on the brink of starvation in countries such as Ethiopia, Yemen and Afghanistan, sources 40% of its wheat from [Ukraine].
Scientifically known as chernozem, the soil is among the world’s most fertile, and makes up around 58 percent of Ukraine’s total arable land, effectively around 30 percent of Europe’s total arable land area.
Chernozem (/ˈtʃɜːrnəzɛm/ CHUR-nə-zem), also called black soil, regur soil or black cotton soil, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus (4% to 16%) and high percentages of phosphorus and ammonia compounds. Chernozem is very fertile soil and can produce high agricultural yields with its high moisture-storage capacity. Chernozems are a Reference Soil Group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB).
The name comes from the Russian terms for black (чёрный čjornyj) and soil, earth or land (земля zemlja). The soil, rich in organic matter presenting a black color, was first identified by the Russian geologist Vasily Dokuchaev in 1883 in the tallgrass steppe or prairie of Eastern Ukraine and Western Russia.
The terrain can also be found in small quantities elsewhere (for example, in 1% of Poland, Hungary, and Texas). It also exists in Northeast China, near Harbin. The only true chernozem in Australia is located around Nimmitabel, some of the richest soils on the continent.
Vegetation burning could explain Chernozem’s high magnetic susceptibility, the highest of the major soil types.
Wikipedia / Map By User:Naevius Varius – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
If you want to do a major deep dive, check out Index Mundi.
Learn from Our Mistakes: Hummus .vs. Humus
Hummus and Humus are two distinct and separate entities. What a difference an “m” can make!
I know we’ve all had the embarrassing moment at the middle-eastern restaurant where we are served a bowl of soil rather than a delicious dish of mashed garbanzo beans.
