Main points
- The “Fierce Bread” initiative, presented in London, raises funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, using bread made from front-line wheat as a symbol of the resilience of Ukrainian farmers.
- During the event, a charity auction was held, supported by famous personalities, and the funds raised were directed to support the Charter National Guard unit.
“Sour Bread” in London / Photo AGROTRADE Group
The “Bitter Bread” initiative was presented in London – a symbol of the resilience of Ukrainian farmers working on the front lines. This project not only tells the world about the war, but also helps raise funds for the military.
On March 18, the Burning Bread: from the Ukrainian frontline fields to London evening took place in London, reports Channel 24. The event brought together representatives of business, media, creative industries, the Ukrainian diaspora, and residents of the British capital to draw attention to the work of Ukrainian farmers during the war and raise funds to support the Ukrainian military.
The central symbol of the evening was “Zapekly hlib”. This is bread made from flour made from wheat grown in the fields of the AGROTRADE Group just 30 km from the front line near Kupyansk. Its story became a simple and at the same time very accurate illustration of what Ukrainian farmers face every day.
The price of Ukrainian bread
Today, the price of Ukrainian bread is much higher than it seems. According to experts, the losses to the agricultural sector as a result of the full-scale war amount to about $84 billion. This includes destroyed infrastructure, loss of equipment and crops, disrupted logistics, mined or temporarily occupied lands.
Ukraine has already lost up to 20% of its arable land, and over 5 million hectares remain unusable due to mines and unexploded ordnance.
Sowing fields and harvesting crops in frontline areas is about preserving life in these communities. It means jobs, taxes to local budgets. But above all, it is about the resilience and character of Ukrainians, about the eternal right to grow and eat their own bread on their own land,
– notes Yegor Podkydyshev, Communications Director of AGROTRADE Group.
The fields of the AGROTRADE Group are located in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Poltava regions. Some of them are located in front-line regions.
Why “Fierce”?
When my team and I heard about this bread, we realized that it had much more meaning. So we proposed the concept of “Stale Bread”,
– says Iryna Metnyova, founder and creative director of Vandog agency, which became the creative partner of the project.
Fierce, because it is scorched by fire, like the grain and soil of the front-line fields. Fierce is also about the character of those who have been tempered in the fire and have become more enduring, stronger. It is about the people who grow this bread, despite everything.
“Sour Bread” / Photo by AGROTRADE Group
The creatives conveyed the feeling of the heat of war through visual images and, in fact, presented it for the first time in London.
About the event and further plans
The event was initiated by AGROTRADE Group in partnership with UABeyond with the creative support of Vandog Agency.
The bread was baked at a local bakery, Today Bread, using Ukrainian flour, according to a local recipe, deliberately not changing the taste. The idea was to show that everyday things take on a completely different value during wartime.
To get a familiar piece of bread, Ukrainians have to make many times more effort. We convey this natively through taste associations. In a week or two, just taking a bite of a familiar sandwich, one of the guests will once again remember that evening and the war that is still going on,
– explains Iryna Metnyova.
During the event, a charity auction was held in support of the Second Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine “Charter”, which is holding defenses near Kupyansk, where grain for “Zapekly Khlib” was grown. The funds raised will go to support the unit.
The event was supported by British journalist and author of Bread and War: A Ukrainian Story of Food, Bravery and Hope Felicity Spector. Among the guests was also producer, BAFTA 2025 winner for the short film “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, Haider Rothschild Huzir, who joined the charity auction and purchased a “Charter Method” T-shirt.
Important! Both creatives and farmers believe that Zapekly hlib will turn from a pop-up product of charitable initiatives into a regular project for collecting donations. They even have some experience on how to adapt it for the Ukrainian market, and are currently looking for partners. After all, while the war is ongoing, supporting defenders should become a natural part of everyday life, just like bread itself.
The wheat market has revived: farmers are massively fixing prices for the new crop
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Farmers in Ukraine have begun entering into forward contracts for new crop wheat, fixing prices at around $225 per ton for food wheat.
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Wheat exports from Ukraine amount to approximately 388 thousand tons, with the main supplies going to Algeria, Egypt, Israel and Tunisia.