War and agrarian change in Ukraine: How different kinds of farms are coping with challenges during the war

I will present preliminary results from a Formas-funded project investigating how Ukrainian agriculture is coping with the challenges that have arisen during the war. Together with project colleagues we have so far interviewed just under 40 farmers and managers in agricultural companies. The sources of resilience for different types of farms in this difficult time will be assessed. Also, despite the war, Ukraine has decided to press ahead with the final stage of land reform allowing the sale of agricultural land to Ukrainian citizens and wholly owned Ukrainian companies. In our project we have been asking farmers and managers in farming companies about their thinking and decisions with respect to land sales, and I will report on this as well in my talk.

Brian Kuns is a senior lecturer and docent at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). With a PhD in Human Geography from Stockholm University, Brian studies agrarian and environmental change from a social science perspective. Within this broad rubric he studies in particular Ukraine and Sweden, and has diverse projects ongoing in both countries.