Around this time of year, Yaroslav Andrushko would normally be overseeing the sowing of crops on his 1,000-hectare farm in the Vinnytsya region of central Ukraine.
Instead, he swapped his workwear for fatigues, joining the army a day after Russia invaded his country. ¡°Once a farmer always a farmer,¡± said Andrushko, the chief executive of a small agriculture company. ¡°But circumstances required us to take up arms.¡±
As Ukrainians resist Russian President Vladimir Putin¡¯s military machine, the 36-year-old is another example of the resilience shown by so many of his compatriots in protecting their nation¡¯s statehood. Yet Andrushko and farmers like him are also defending a core component of the global food supply chain that¡¯s increasingly in peril.
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