Impact of Military Actions on Agricultural Land – Results of the 2024 SNAU and Syngenta Project Work
Every day, more hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine are being affected as a result of ongoing military actions. Some of these lands, especially in border regions and near the front lines, have been removed from agricultural use altogether.
Lands that were previously occupied are gradually being demined, and decisions are being made about their further use depending on the degree of damage and the need for reclamation. Farmers in such situations are concerned about the condition of their soil and the quality of agricultural products destined for export and import.
Most frequently asked questions include: “Where can I test my soil for heavy metals? And if the permissible concentration limits (MPC) are exceeded, won’t those metals enter the plants, making it impossible for me to sell my products? Does demining machinery worsen soil structure? What’s the best way to carry out reclamation?” These are the types of questions directed to environmental and soil experts at universities and research institutions that have experience in this area.
Since 2022, Sumy National Agrarian University (SNAU) has collaborated with scientists from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), who helped establish a system for working with farmers to examine soil contamination by heavy metals. Seminars were held on sampling methods, sample preparation, and heavy metal determination. Initial publications were released, and together with the team at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, a geoportal was created to present collected data. This effort also attracted the attention of experts from Syngenta Ukraine. Associate Professor Olena Melnyk initiated a project to assess the condition of soils damaged by military activity for Syngenta clients, which was successfully implemented by the SNAU team led by Professor Volodymyr Trotsenko, Associate Professor Elina Zakharchenko, and PhD Oksana Datsko. Experts from Cambridge Geoconsultants Limited, UK, were involved in the sampling and analysis of physico-chemical properties. Students and postgraduates from the Faculty of Agro-Technology and Environmental Management actively worked with the soil samples, which later contributed to their academic research under the supervision of Oksana Datsko.
The project aimed to examine agricultural land owned by Syngenta clients in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions, and was implemented from April to December 2024. The examined areas had been damaged by landmine explosions, cluster and artillery munitions, and air bombs. The work was carried out jointly with Syngenta agronomists and specialists. Samples were delivered to the soil evaluation lab at SNAU for preparation and heavy metal testing using the pXRF XL2 Niton Thermoscientific analyzer. Additional analyses were carried out on macro- and micronutrients, pH, humus content, clay fraction, and organic matter at the accredited SAT Lab in the village of Severynivka, Sumy district. The work was extensive: from each impact site, samples were taken from the crater base, slopes, edges, and control areas not affected by explosions. All samples were collected in triplicate to ensure data accuracy.
Samples from crater rims were taken from all four cardinal directions, as explosions scatter soil and bedrock in different directions and distances. The larger the crater, the wider the affected area and the greater the radius of particle dispersion. In some cases, remnants of munitions were found in large quantities.
Clearly, if the fragments are small, they may remain in the soil and eventually be buried by machinery. But what happens to them next? They will interact with soil solutions, initiating natural chemical processes—this is where the danger lies. What is the composition of these fragments? Do they contain elements that could degrade soil fertility and later increase toxic element content in crops? Element behavior depends on their compound forms in the soil, pH, humus content, clay content, sorption capacity, and element ratios.
Using the pXRF analyzer, specialists determined concentrations of up to 27 chemical elements—not just well-known soil pollutants like cadmium, mercury, and lead, but also lesser-known ones for farmers such as arsenic, nickel, bismuth, rubidium, antimony, titanium, chromium, iron, magnesium, barium, sodium, etc. Some of the elements detected by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (in total content) do not have approved MPCs in Ukraine; others have MPCs only for their mobile forms. However, the method is considered promising, fast, and cost-effective, and is recognized in countries like those in the EU, Australia, and the UK. Spatial distribution maps were created based on the pXRF results. Therefore, analyzing soil samples from affected and unaffected areas across Ukraine remains a current scientific task at SNAU.
So what did we find? Are there real risks to farmers due to munition remnants in the soil?
It’s important to note that we did not sample soil from areas with extensive fortifications, trenches, or where active combat occurred. Samples were collected in areas with relatively low munition impact.
Research showed no exceedances of threshold levels according to the MEF (Finland) scale, nor concentrations surpassing Ukraine’s established MPCs. Can such exceedances occur? Yes—because samples were collected months after impact. It takes time for remnants to react with soil solutions and atmospheric moisture.
What exactly did we detect at impact points?
In grey forest soils (Chernihiv region) affected by an air-detonated Iskander missile, fragments were scattered over a large area. Compared to control points (outside the blast zone), there were slight increases in barium and manganese concentrations.
In southern chernozem soils (Kherson and Mykolaiv regions), we examined craters from Grad rocket strikes and post-demining explosions. Slight increases from background levels were observed for barium, zirconium, strontium, and antimony. In some cases, higher concentrations of zinc, rubidium, arsenic, iron, titanium, and chromium were also recorded. Still, these did not exceed permissible limits.
Of course, this does not include areas where equipment burned or fuel and lubricants spilled, leading to contamination by hydrocarbons and other pollutants.
Regardless, it is essential to conduct regular long-term monitoring of such areas and remove munition fragments whenever possible. To model the chemical interaction of these residues with soil, fragment composition should be analyzed—another task performed by the pXRF device, which can scan both soil and metal content.
To resume agricultural use of these lands, farmers need to conduct mechanical reclamation as the first step—mainly field surface leveling. If resources are available, farmers can use biopreparations developed by BTU-Center and the D.K. Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology to restore soil microbiota after reclamation.
The NSC “O.N. Sokolovsky Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry” and the network of the Soil Protection Institute can analyze mobile pollutants (7–8 chemical elements). In cases where MPCs are exceeded, farmers should consider growing plants that extract these pollutants, an approach currently being studied in Ukraine and globally.
As part of the project, the team has prepared a farmer-oriented booklet and a brochure, soon to be published.
We are working for the future: analyzing, modeling, and restoring. Join us in cooperation!
