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UKRAINE: Show of solidarity at Keith Show for farmers in country besieged by Putin's Russian forces


By Chris Saunderson

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IT is 2,114 miles from Keith in Moray to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

A vintage tractor bearing the flag of Ukraine.
A vintage tractor bearing the flag of Ukraine.

The population of Keith is just 4,610, while Kyiv has 2.8 million inhabitants and Ukraine 44.13 million citizens.

The land mass of Moray is 2,238 square kilometres; Ukraine covers a vast 603,548 square kilometres.

However, although Keith and Kyiv are world's apart most ways, a symbolic gesture at Keith's agricultural show – held for the first time since 2019 on August 7 and 8 – showed that the plight facing farmers in Ukraine is very much in the minds of farmers in Moray.

A single tractor in the parade of vintage vehicles at the end of the opening Sunday, flew the flag of Ukraine – a show of solidarity for a farming community and a country fighting for its harvest and its future.

Farmers here are facing the challenges of extreme heat in growing crops and looking after livestock.

In Ukraine, they have the added challenge of keeping the wheels turning on domestic and international food production while an unjustified and senseless war rages front and centre.

The BBC reported this week that a ship had left the Ukrainian port of Odesa carrying 26,000 tonnes of corn, its destination Lebanon. That country imports 80% of its wheat from Ukraine.

It was the first cargo ship to leave a Ukrainian port since February, when Russian began a naval blockade in the Black Sea.

Another 16 grain ships with 600,000 tonnes of foodstuffs are waiting to leave ports in and around Odesa.

Some grain and other crops have been able to leave Ukraine by road and rail, but not nearly the usual volume, and it is creating a problem for the world.

It is estimated that around 20 million tonnes of grain bound for export around the world are stuck in Ukraine because of the war.

And Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has reportedly said this could rise to 75million tonnes after the harvest.

The display of vehicles enters the arena.
The display of vehicles enters the arena.

This was the 148th Keith Show and it was a celebration of a rural way of life which literally puts food on our table.

Farmers are at the heart of food production in Scotland, and this was a showcase of what they do.

Their Ukrainian counterparts do the same for their country and many other countries around the world. That is under threat by Russia's ongoing assault on the country.

Ukraine produces 42% of the world's sunflower oil, 16% of its maize, 10% of its barley and 9% of its wheat.

So, while a solitary tractor flying a Ukrainian flag more than 2,000 miles away is not going to change anything, it was a heartwarming message from one farming community to another.


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