Today, small farmers perform the most important functions to support the economy of the country – such as providing food and accommodation to people, especially for internally displaced people, who have suffered from the invasion. Farmers continue working despite the insane risks to their own lives. It is the households that do not allow the Ukraine's food system to collapse. The purpose of the study is to characterize the features of the small business functioning in the agricultural sector of Ukraine's economy. Research methods are monographic, statistical, graphical and tabular, method of comparative analysis. In the production of agricultural products, households rely mainly on their own resources, and their products are mainly aimed to self-sufficiency and partial sale in local markets. Before the full-scale war, small producers produced about 40% of the total volume of Ukrainian agricultural products, not participating in state support programs. There are many obstacles in Ukrainian law for small farmers to receive the financial support they need. In fact, farms that have up to 50 hectares of agricultural land remain outside the state support system. In the near future, it is necessary to include small farmers in state support programs, as has long been introduced in EU member states, where small farms are the leading organizational and legal form of the agricultural sector. In 2022, the decline in production of small producers in rural areas, from which the population was not completely displaced as a result of military activities, will be insignificant. This partially compensates for the loss of production by large agricultural enterprises. Household activities are tied to a specific rural area, and field or farm work cannot be postponed. However, production volumes will decrease in some regions due to internal and external displacement of rural residents from areas that are under full or partial control of the occupiers.