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Unfortunately the news out of Ukraine isn’t getting much better. Heavy fighting continues in the East with government jets shooting rebel targets and the inevitable civilian casualties and retaliation such as this weekends shooting down of a military transport plane killing all 49 on board. Despite many politicians avoiding the term it is for all intents and purposes a war which is steadily piling up body bags with military personnel and civilians... 

While a full on war hasn’t quite broken out the situation in eastern Ukraine continues to teeter on the brink of something tense but no one seems quite sure what. Various official buildings and offices are being taken over by pro-Russian, pro-separatist groups who rally around a single issue agenda of self-rule and have a general distrust of the interim Government in Kiev. Shots have been fired with several deaths reported, journalists have been... 

A lot has happened since I last sent a blog in to Farmers Review and some of it actually about farming but first I’ll start with the geo-political stuff. Over the course of a couple of weeks Ukraine went from having a functioning if not deeply corrupt administration to the government ordering the devastating use of live ammunition in Kiev to the President fleeing the country and a new interim government issuing a warrant for his arrest. Russia thought... 

Today, 7th January, is Christmas Day in Ukraine, Happy Christmas Ukraine. According to tradition, this evening people will tuck in to a 12 course vegetarian supper started as the first stars appear in the sky. Carol singers, Christmas trees and decorations, street entertainers, mulled wine and sausages all make the town centre a very festive and fun place to be at the moment the only thing missing is snow. We have no snow!  It is like spring at the... 

A cold and wet start to October brought wheat planting to a dead stop and nothing moved for the first ten days of the month. The news reports went in to doom mongering mode with stories of a catastrophic harvest, food shortages and empty shelves, the minister of agriculture called farmers to arms with rallying calls that all tractors, planters and peasants should be pressed in to action in scenes reminiscent of the soviet days. Then the weather changed. ... 

Autumn has arrived and the central heating has been turned on; central as in it is produced somewhere central to the city and is piped to all apartments. It is now ON regardless of the temperature outside and with no ability to adjust it or switch it off so apartments and other buildings become super-heated for the next six to seven months. Having said that it is a bit chilly here at the moment with the first morning frosts starting to appear but... 

It was good to see Ukraine in the news for all the right reasons this week as they hosted England for the world cup qualifier in Kiev. I was lucky enough to acquire some tickets and enjoyed a fantastic game that was only marred by some mediocre football. The season has changed with the end of the long hot summer marked by cooler “coat and jumper” autumn temperatures.  Time to dig out the fleece. Wheat harvest is complete with official figures... 

There was a time not so long ago that the mention of Egypt conjured up pictures of ancient pyramids, pharaohs and holidays on the Red Sea. After the Arab Spring of 2011 and the fall of Mubarek we think first of riots in Tahrir square and people being killed and injured in the demonstrations for democracy and a better deal for ALL Egyptians. Egypt has a population of 90m with 30m of these living in the sprawling chaos that is Cairo today. Imagine if... 

When I was approached by Farmers Review to write a regular blog post from Ukraine and Russia for their excellent website, with my tongue planted firmly in cheek I suggested we called it “Know Your Enemy”. Then I started to give it some thought and thought actually that’s not a bad idea. Except not the enemy bit, but to know about what goes on in one of the largest grain producing and exporting regions in the world from someone who was there. “Know...