War influence on sunflower seed and oil production in Ukraine

Abstract

Sunflower is a high oil content seed and average yields can produce 600 pounds of oil per acre, considerably more than soybeans and some other oilseeds. There is a great deal of interest from EU market for construction of small processing facilities for sunflower biodiesel production. For more than 10 years Ukraine is known as the biggest producer of sunflower seeds worldwide. For now, sunflower seeds and oil are the most profitable branch of agricultural production in Ukraine, which has a steady demand from global farmers. Moreover, among the agrarian activities of oil crops, the segment of sunflower cultivation and processing suffered the biggest blow from military operations, since the sown areas under sunflower make up an average of 62% of the entire area of oil crops in Ukraine. The ecological consequences of hostilities for the environment are accompanied by significant destruction of natural ecosystems and environmental pollution. Each rocket or projectile explosion pollutes the air, water and soil with toxic substances. Many industrial facilities were attacked, resulting in uncontrolled emissions of pollutants. Military operations and related activities led to a significant number of violations of the natural environment and established forms of agricultural use of nature. The purpose of this study is to analyse in which way the cultivation of sunflower seeds and producing of sunflower seed oil has changed since the war in Ukraine started from February 24, 2022.