An unexploded rocket sticks out of a field, and another is embedded in the ground of the farm compound. Workers found a cluster bomb while clearing weeds, and there's a gaping hole in the roof of the shrapnel-scarred livestock barn.
Agriculture is a critical part of Ukraine's economy, accounting for about 20 per cent of gross national product and 40 per cent of export revenue before the war, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The country is often described as the breadbasket of Europe and millions rely on its affordable supplies of grain and sunflower oil in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia where many already face hunger.
But its location made it particularly vulnerable in what has been largely an artillery war. It lies in an almost direct line between the strategic city of Izium, seized by Russian forces in early April and retaken by Ukraine in September, and Kramatorsk, the largest city in the eastern Donetsk region still in Ukrainian hands.
"All this research work was destroyed," he said. "You see, how can I feel? How can a person feel if you wanted to do something, but somebody came and ruined it?"