On February 28, 2017 the first Winter Cereal Congress was held in Kyiv. The event organized by the Association ‘Ukrainian Agribusiness Club’ together with AgriEvent Agency was entirely devoted to the practical aspects of winter crops production and targeted at developing and improving efficiency of the agriculture in Ukraine.

Leading domestic and foreign experts discussed topics regarding assurance of profitability in growing winter crops, state-of-the-art technologies for soil treatment and sowing, insurance of winter and spring crops yield against spring and summer risks. Format of the event envisaged discussion on the effectiveness of various technologies in agricultural production as well as review of innovative solutions and peculiarities on the resource provision.

According to Taras Vysotskyi, General Director of the Association ‘Ukrainian Agribusiness Club’, within the past two or three years a recovery of the farmers’ interest to winter crops is observed. It is primarily due to the changes in climatic conditions, possibility of performing production operations in spring as well as stable profitability of winter crops. ‘In the mid-2000s there was a trend of reducing the areas under winter crops in favor of spring crops, but 5 years ago this trend has been changed. Over the last two years winter crops started to return the lost ground - said General Director of the Association ‘Ukrainian Agribusiness Club’ - In the spring there were increasingly unfavorable conditions for sowing spring crops which did not allow to complete sowing on time, and as you know, 10-15% of the yield depends on the timing of sowing. If you count the factors of harvest shortfall, the profits of winter crops are more stable. Currently, we are witnessing the return of 10-15% of the areas under winter crops that were used to be sown with spring crops’.

Taras Vysotskyi noted that indices of two previous yields indicate that more and more companies are starting to consider wheat not as a part of crop rotation and possibility of paying rent to the shareholders, but as a marginal crop. ‘Farm businesses set goals to get as a minimum 6 t/ha instead of 4 t/ha. Investments in this technology are increasing as well as the risks, therefore, there is no room for error

Invited expert from the United Kingdom, Rod Smith, a farmer and Guinness record–holder shared practical experiences how to collect a record harvest of winter wheat - 16.52 t/ha.

Mr. Smith spoke on a number of factors influencing high yield, particularly long growing season and low disease incidence on the field: ‘Previous seasons were always at risk due to the factors that affected the yield, i.e. drought or waterlogging, disease, high temperatures or lack of sunlight, however, this season we have been lucky with the weather. In addition, our entire farm and team of agronomists have been working diligently to get the most out of our soils (heavy clay). In particular, we made extensive use of tracks, underground lifter, used straw and added 500 tons of manure a year in order to maintain the productive structure and soil conditions. Dickens wheat was chosen in view of the high yield potential, particularly in the northern regions. Legumes were the predecessors. Seeding rate was 185 kg/ha with the aim to obtain 330 seeds/m², in the end our yield was 16.52 t/ha at 15% moisture and our productivity became record-setting’.

Legal workshop ‘Practical aspects of effective agribusiness in new realities of preparation for lifting the moratorium’ was held under Winter Cereal Congress. Leading experts of ALEXANDROV & PARTNERS considered the issue of lifting the moratorium on land sales, aspects for expansion of land bank, holdings restructuring, fraud prevention, etc.

‘Lifting of moratorium on sale of agricultural land - this is the reality of future towards which most market participants are preparing today - said lawyer Dmitry Aleksandrov, Managing Partner of ALEXANDROV & PARTNERS. - There are particular things that impede lifting the moratorium: fear, distrust to government, lack of understanding of transparent rules, historical experience with privatization’.

According to Mr. Dmytro, algorithm for buying lands by investors shall include the following phases: search of a larger farming area, purchase of corporate rights, study of contracts, negotiation with each shareholder and stage-by-stage repurchase. 3 years will be necessary to fulfill this plan with the possibility of repurchase of 80% of lands.

Days of Agricultural Technologies of UCAB were announced at Winter Cereal Congress. This year the Association ‘Ukrainian Agribusiness Club’ kicks off with a series of events - demonstrations of leading-edge technologies for the basic production operations: soil treatment, planting, covering with plant protection agents, plowing and harvesting. Operation of agricultural equipment of international manufacturing leaders, generators of agricultural technologies will be presented at the events. Events will take place with the active participation of all members of UCAB as well as agricultural producers that are interested in their implementation. First Day of Agricultural Technologies will take place in the third week of March and will be devoted to pre-sowing soil treatment.

эWe are going to choose for each event one or two operations which are currently critical in terms of making decisions by the farmers. For example, when sowing, only accurate quantity of seed sown will be shown, spraying will be only with the differentiated introduction, automatic pilot, etc. The essence of these measures is to show the Ukrainian farmers the latest advanced technologies, product innovationы that are not widely used on the fields’, said General Director of the Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness  Club", Taras Vysotskyi.

Association

‘Ukrainian Agribusiness Club’

 146 Zhylianska Str., 3^rd floor

01032 Kyiv, Ukraine

Tel/Fax: +380 44 236 20 97, 79

[email protected]

www.ucab.ua 

Viktoriia Onykiienko

Association ‘Ukrainian Agribusiness Club’ (UCAB), , was founded in 2007 to protect economic and professional interests of the agribusiness players of Ukraine. UCAB is a unique platform in Ukraine for establishing business contacts between the agribusiness leaders, enhancing their performance efficiency as well as building dialogue with the government authorities. UCAB greatly facilitates establishing and maintaining international business relations for the Ukrainian producers. The Association includes the largest producers and processors of agricultural products in Ukraine