CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – Russia and Ukraine are both major players when it comes to world trade.

Ukraine exports a lot of the world’s corn and wheat. While Russia has a lot of energy exports, like oil and fertilizer.

We’re going to see and feel that impact right here in Central Illinois.

“It is important to our state right here, right now,” Joe Janzen, U of I professor of agricultural economics, said.

Corn, wheat, fertilizer and oil. All major players in many Americans’ day-to-day lives.

“We already have food price inflation, agriculture commodity prices, but prices at the grocery store going up we’ve seen energy prices, gas prices are high, and this sort of says that situation isn’t going away anytime soon,” he said.

Janzen said no one is really sure what will happen.

Since the invasion in Ukraine is still developing. He said Ukraine provides 15% of the world corn market, and 10% of the world wheat market.

“Both of these countries’, both Russia and Ukraine, are major exporters of agricultural commodities,” he said.

Another major export, fertilizer. He said the price of fertilizer has been up for at least a year, and if they can’t export it, the price will continue to climb. Impacting farmers like Sam Brandenburg.

“I think we see another big increase in fertilizer prices. I think it’s just going to add to already the high risk situation we’re in,” he said.

He said if it’s a short-term problem, they can probably survive. But if it’s long-term, they just don’t know

“Everything is so risky right now. We could go from it’s like flipping a coin, heads we’re making money, tales we’re losing money. And we don’t know how the coins are going to land right now, and it’s kinda scary,” he said.

Janzen said short term, the countries won’t be able to export the crops they harvested last year, and prices will go up in the grocery store.

Long term, the concern is what will happen to crops and fields they were planning to use, and the big question is, how much will that impact us?