Field-gate prices of 2–4 UAH per kilogram have forced Ukrainian watermelon farmers to leave fruit rotting in the fields, plough it back into the soil as fertiliser, or give it away as humanitarian aid.

Andriy Verteba, who planted 2 hectares of watermelons in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, Cherkasy Oblast, sold nothing wholesale all season. Not a single buyer came to his farm. With prices at 3–4 UAH/kg straight from the field, part of his harvest never left the ground.

"This season didn't bring in any money," says Verteba. "I'm feeling discouraged; I have no motivation to work. I've devoted ten years to this business. I don't feel like planting more than a hectare for now."

Costs of 150,000 UAH per hectare against 2 UAH offers

The economics no longer work. Verteba puts his production cost at over 150,000 UAH per hectare, growing under plastic mulch with drip irrigation. Hybrid watermelon seed alone costs roughly $450 per hectare, against about $50 for heirloom seed, before land rent, fertiliser and labour.

Oleksandr Gurin, a farmer from Poltava region, confirms the numbers. "Costs per hectare amount to 150,000–200,000 UAH, and net profit at normal market prices yields at least 200,000–250,000 UAH per hectare," he says. In his view, a normal market price should return a profit twice the cost of production. This year, farmers report the opposite: a grower in Nikopol district says loading labour alone eats 0.5–0.7 UAH per kilogram when the truck is loaded at 2 UAH/kg.

In Zakarpattia, farmer Mykhailo Palii hauled several trailers of watermelons onto a wheat field and used them as fertiliser. His troubles started in May, when a downpour destroyed seedlings and washed away his irrigation system, forcing a replant. Lost time and extra inputs pushed his production cost up by more than 70% — from 1.5–2 UAH/kg last year to over 3 UAH/kg this season. "Thanks to our regular customers, we were still able to sell the lion's share of the harvest, which covered our losses," he notes.

War adds a logistics premium

Frontline regions face an extra penalty. A farm in Nikopol district with more than 20 years in watermelons lost about 30% of its profits after emergency water shutoffs disrupted irrigation and carriers refused to travel into the area.

"We had problems transporting the crop from the field; trucks from other areas didn't want to come to us. They say, 'No, there are drones flying over your area,' and they don't want to come," says Vitalii, the farm's foreman. He expects most farmers will simply disc-harvest the fruit: "The watermelons will be chopped up and serve as fertilizer for next year, but the benefit will be minimal."

The Kherson region, historically Ukraine's melon heartland, has been hit hardest. Dmytro Yunusov, director of the Department of Agricultural Development and Irrigation at the Kherson Regional State Administration, says farmers will likely be unable to harvest roughly 50% of their land due to security risks. Only about 3,000 tonnes of watermelons were shipped out of Kherson region in June and July, as buyers who had committed earlier switched to safer sourcing areas. Wholesale prices there fell to 2 UAH/kg while retail in Kherson city held around 10 UAH/kg.

The gap between wholesale and retail is stark elsewhere too. At Kyiv's Stolichny market in September 2026, wholesale watermelons traded at 10–12 UAH/kg. At the Pochatok market in Odesa, wholesale started near 7 UAH/kg while retail reached 25–30 UAH/kg. At the Shuvar market in Lviv, mid-September prices were about 10 UAI/kg, roughly half of last year's near-20 UAH/kg.

Cost inflation hits a labour-intensive crop

Serhiy Milko, commercial director of FC FINVIN, says the average tractor price in Ukraine in 2025 was about $33,500, with mini-tractors starting at roughly $4,900 — and prices rose by about 50% over the year into spring 2026. But machinery is not the core cost in melons.

"Melon farming is a labor-intensive, not technology-intensive, crop. Unlike grain farming, harvesting here is primarily done by hand, so the main burden falls on labor and plant protection products, rather than on machinery," Milko explains. "The cost of fieldwork across Ukraine is rising by 5–10% year over year. Wage increases of 10–15% due to labor shortages are putting additional pressure on production costs — and for a labor-intensive crop like melons, this factor is more significant than for grain crops."

Farmers add that virtually no herbicides are registered for watermelons, so fields are weeded by hand.

Too many watermelons, too few eaters

The structural driver is oversupply. Since 2022, when war disrupted the traditional southern production base in Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa, watermelon growing has spread into central and northern regions. "They are doing quite well in the Kyiv region, and in the Vinnytsia, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk regions — these are areas that have been very actively developing watermelon production over the past 5–6 years," says Maksym Hopka, an analyst at the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club.

"In the years when production in Kherson ceased, watermelon prices were high. Now more and more watermelons are being planted every year, but it's very difficult to sell the produce because our people simply don't eat as many watermelons as farmers grow," says farmer Vitaliy Krugoruky.

Who is still making money

Growers with direct retail contracts are the exception. Inna Fedosienko, a farmer in the Carpathian region, sells about 90% of her crop to retail chains, with direct retail accounting for only 10–15% of sales — but at an attractive 8–10 UAH/kg, with contracts honoured and no payment issues.

Yield leaders also hold margins better. Andriy Fedyk in Vinnytsia region, growing watermelons and cantaloupes for over 20 years, achieves about 80 tonnes per hectare — roughly double the national average — with marketable fruit of 9–14 kg and individual Tateum hybrid fruits reaching 18–20 kg. Despite a cold spring that delayed planting to early May, he started harvesting on July 10. "It's impossible to achieve a high yield without strictly adhering to the proper growing techniques — the right choice of hybrid, the irrigation and fertilization system, plant training, and the timely cessation of irrigation before the fruit ripens," he says.

The crisis extends beyond melons. Viktor Goncharenko, chairman of the Association of Farmers and Landowners, reports onions changing hands at 3 UAH/kg, and in Poltava region farmer Andriy Kalinichenko ploughed his unsold tomatoes back into the ground on September 27 after opening the field to self-picking in early September. Vadym Krychkovsky, head of the Organic-D farm, argues the root cause is the absence of any production planning: "No one knows what production volumes are actually planned in Ukraine. Vegetable farmers calculate their profits once every four years. If you grow nothing but onions, you're guaranteed to lose money."

Goncharenko warns that low purchase prices leave farms without the funds or workers to prepare for the next planting season. Whether watermelon area contracts in 2027 — and whether prices recover as a result — is the key signal for growers currently deciding between scaling back and exiting the crop entirely.