Comments on: Honoring the Ukrainian Roots of American Wheat

By: Michel Pavluk

Michel Pavluk — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 18:45:24 +0000

“Putin’s invasion in Ukraine echoes Stalin’s 1932-33 Holodomor, a forced starvation of millions of people in southern Russia.”
It’s historical bullshit from ruzzian propaganda.
It’s not been in “southern Russia”. Southern russia – it’s been a well-fed USSR.
Holodomor tragedy happened throughout all Ukrainian countries.

By: Deb

Deb — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 06:53:19 +0000

"Putin’s invasion in Ukraine echoes Stalin’s 1932-33 Holodomor, a forced starvation of millions of people in southern Russia." Southern Russia? Wrong. Stalin's Holodomor was a forced starvation of millions of people in UKRAINE (exact numbers are hard to know...but it's now estimated that the number of deaths were likely 3-5 million Ukrainians). The word itself means "death by hunger/starvation" in Ukrainian. It was a Communist/Soviet policy created to punish Ukrainian peasantry, who were greatly resistant to Soviet policies. But the first part of this quote is unfortunately accurate...both the Holodomor and what is happening today in Ukraine are genocides. My paternal grandparents immigrated from Ukraine. They (and many generations before them) were born and raised on farms in the western part of the country, where most of the wheat is grown. Miraculously, none of my many relatives who remained in Ukraine perished from the Holodomor, and they even were able to save most of their land from being confiscated...and some of their descendents still live on and work that same land today. I no longer live there but am originally from the Midwest, but didn't know about this wheat connection to Ukraine. Thanks for this interesting article/information.

By: kev

kev — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 23:49:26 +0000

In reply to Melinda Matuch. in fact, very few countries inspired the nazis with notions of 'manifest destiny' and racial purity laws.

By: Susan Dorey

Susan Dorey — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 22:31:23 +0000

I do appreciate the history of the people who brought Turkey Red wheat to Kansas. Do you know what species of wheat that was?

By: Melinda Matuch

Melinda Matuch — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 15:26:04 +0000

"America had room—not open space that was innocently discovered but, rather, land that was brutally taken through the forced removal of Indigenous peoples." This is the history of humanity and human population interactions and migration since the beginning of time. In fact, this is the history of all invasive species, whether animal or vegetable. It is time to stop constantly beating Americans up for being part of the human race.

By: Brystal Karber

Brystal Karber — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 03:30:47 +0000

As a descendent of some of the mennonites who lived in those colonies in Russia, I share that the history is complex, as I’ve more recently learned.

I celebrate that my menno ancestors crossed countries and continents with seeds in their pockets and it is lovely to see modern farmer sharing some of that story. However, my ancestors that farmed the Russian steppes did so in fulfillment of a Russian policy aimed at bringing the steppes firmly under Russian control through the vehicle of colonization. Displacing various pastoralist, nomadic peoples, including the Nogai and the Zaporizhian Cossacks who called the place home, Mennonites aided the conquest of the Russian empire.

David Moon writes in “Cultivating the Steppe: The Origins of Mennonite Farming Practices in the Russian Empire,” the mennonite settlers who moved onto the steppes did not settle on vacant land.

I’m still learning about the Eurasian nomadic pastoralists who belong to those lands. Its so important to engage in a deep reading to honor land and Indigenous Peoples. Thanks for reading this far and as I loop in another piece of the story relating to colonization that’s missing

By: Imby

Imby — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 06:19:30 +0000

They are the 4 largest producer of wheat in the World.

By: Elliot Fridy

Elliot Fridy — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 00:30:04 +0000

I am happy to be part of this site