And now farmers in Poland have set Feb. 20 as the date to blockade the border in protest against grain coming from the Ukraine.
It has become one of Ukraine’s avenues to market because the Russians have destroyed export port facilities and have refused to renew a deal to allow passage of ships carrying grain through the Baltic Sea to customers, including African nations in dire need of aid.
Ukraine, which has a huge agrarian complex capable of feeding hundreds of millions of people, was invited to join the EU last year and will start sectoral talks on its accession in March to harmonise its legislation with EU requirements.
Before Russia's full-scale invasion two years ago, the Ukraine was the world's fourth-largest supplier of grain.
If that grain were to fall under current European Union farm subsidies, it would cost about $104 billion US ($142 billion Cdn) per year.
The Ukraine has apparently been counter-offering to forego those subsIdies in return from an exemption from the most costly European Union environmental regulations.
