[blam]

"The world’s major grain exporters are the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and Ukraine. Corn and wheat are fungible, but Ukraine exports a lot to China. Fun times if Ukraine’s exports are cut off."

I read years ago that Ukraine's topsoil is about 150 feet deep and that it had blown in from Russia over thousands of years.

[sphinx]

I don’t know about that, but Ukraine is one of the world’s great breadbaskets. Always has been. The ancient Greeks and Romans were running grain ships into the Black Sea. The only times Ukraine hasn’t been a major exporter were when the Mongols rolled through and killed everybody and when the communists ran it. As the saying goes, if Saudi Arabia went communist, in five years it would have a shortage of sand. That’s like Ukraine and grain.