A new free certified course has been launched on the AgriAcademy educational platform: ‘Peas. Biological characteristics of the crop’, dedicated to one of Ukraine’s key legumes. The curriculum has been developed by specialists from the agro-industrial holding company Astarta.
What is the course about?
The new training module takes a detailed look at the biological characteristics of peas that determine their yield potential. Students will learn:
The course will be useful for both practicing agronomists and managers, students or farmers who want to improve their approach to pea cultivation technology.
Who created the course?
The lead expert is Volodymyr Kuryachiy, one of the most renowned agronomists in the Poltava region with over 40 years of experience in production. At the Astarta-Kyiv agricultural holding, he headed the crop production department of the Dovzhenko Agricultural Firm for over ten years and has been working as the chief agronomist of the Poltava region since 2019.
The following people also worked on the course:
Certificate and accessibility
All AgriAcademy courses, including this one, are free of charge.
Students receive:
The course is available at any time, allowing farmers to study at their convenience without taking time off from their daily work.
Why is this important?
The demand for legumes is growing both due to the development of export markets and the need to restore soil fertility. Peas remain one of the most effective crops in crop rotation, and a proper understanding of their biology directly affects yield stability even in difficult climatic conditions.
The new course from Astarta and AgriAcademy provides agricultural producers with practical, scientifically based knowledge that can be applied as early as next season.
Farmers can join via the link on the AgriAcademy platform and start learning immediately after registration.
Other training courses from Astarta specialists are also available on the platform:
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding in Ukraine, a public European company that conducts socially responsible business and produces food products with a focus on global markets. Its main activities are concentrated in crop production, the sugar industry, dairy farming, soybean processing, grain logistics, and bioenergy.
AgriAcademy is a free online learning platform created on the initiative of the EBRD as part of its food security support programme in Ukraine. Its goal is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainable development of agriculture, which has suffered significant losses due to the war.
The creation and management of the platform (including the development of courses, educational tours, etc.) is supported and financed by the EBRD, as well as:
SALES FORUM’2025 “Code for Profit. Sales of New Thinking” was held in Kyiv, an event that brought together 300 business owners, CEOs, commercial directors, and heads of sales, marketing, analytics, and export departments. The event was organized by KA Group, which has been forming a professional community of leaders for over 13 years, strategically helping them grow despite challenges and uncertainty.
“We are here to talk about the most important thing – how to build a sales system that grows faster than the team wears out. Today, we are looking for the code for profit: behavioral changes, channel architecture, export potential, and systems thinking,” emphasized Alona Zhupikova, founder of KA Group, in her welcoming speech.
Behavioral economics: why customers are no longer rational buyers
Andriy Dligach (Advanter Group) showed in his analytical presentation that customer decisions are largely shaped by unconscious biases. Ukrainian culture remains paternalistic, and this dictates new rules for communication, service, and sales architecture.
He emphasized that over 70% of Ukrainian consumers’ decisions are made unconsciously, through quick mental models, rather than through rational analysis. That is why brands that operate “logically” lose out to those that work with behavioral triggers, emotions, and trust.
Who really sells in the company
In the MHP case study, Denis Korabliov, Oksana Bornak, and Alexander Palamarchuk showed how focusing not only on transactional relationships but also on the development of clients’ businesses allows you to synchronize roles and eliminate conflicts that slow down sales.
According to Denis Korabliov: “Instead of a sales department, MHP has a customer business development team that focuses not on product shipment volumes, but on the efficiency of the partner’s business: logistics, warehouse, team, motivation, the work of sales representatives and sellers, and internal processes. If necessary, we help to reorganize these processes, set goals, training, motivation, and reporting—everything that really affects the result. It is this approach that allows us to maintain a balance between marketing, sales, and category management and ensures the manageability of the commercial model.”
A unified growth system: when numbers become the language of business
Participants in the discussion included Andriy Myroniuk (Myroniuk Consulting), Anton Fedulov (Sales Label), Oleksandr Kolb (Promodo), and Anastasia Gerasymenko (Kasta SuperApp).
The panel was dedicated to building an integrated revenue system: combining Sales, Marketing, Analytics, and Customer Success. They discussed metrics as a common language for teams, the role of the CEO in synchronizing processes, and a culture of data-driven decision-making.
Export and global competition
Moderator Dmytro Shvets (Start Global) led a discussion with the participation of Iryna Zelenina (Ukrainian Export Alliance), Vasyl Yatsyshyn (Kormotech), and Dmytro Kazavchynskyi (CLIXAR).
Focus: the transition from Made in Ukraine to Trusted in Ukraine, the digitization of export sales, and new rules for working with international buyers.
Invisible barriers in channels
Oleg Koss (LANKA.CX) showed where conversion disappears and why companies often fail to notice the real points of loss. Omnichannel works only when channels do not compete with each other but support a single customer journey.
CX and EX increase LTV only when they work in sync.
Sales culture as a team strength
Marina Avdeeva (Arsenal Insurance / Easy Peasy Insurtech) spoke in a motivational speech about the importance of ambition, service, and discipline:
“Strength is in action. Sales culture is clarity, speed, and consistency.”
Digital transformation at PUMB
Dmytro Polishchuk (PUMB) shared his experience of digitally restructuring the retail business: from the Agile management model to rethinking the role of physical and online channels.
The main focus: sales quality and moving away from a “zoo of products.”
CRM as a company’s operating system
Spartak Polishchuk (Uspacy / RUBICON) outlined three typical CRM pitfalls and showed how to turn it into a growth management system with pipeline health, stage velocity, and conversion loops.
CRM should reflect the real path of the lead, not the picture that the manager sees.
Funnel audit: where businesses lose profits
The final workshop by Vadim Martsenko (Martsenko Sales) allowed participants to see their own “loss zones” in sales funnels, those places where the customer seems to be “thinking” but has actually already dropped out of the process.
Participants’ voices
Oleksandr Dzekan (Factum Auto): “Today, for the first time, I saw our funnel the way it should be. We lose sales where we unconsciously shift responsibility to the customer — and the forum highlighted this very clearly.”
The event was supported by: General Partner MHP, Official Partners KORMOTECH, Linkos Group
Media contacts KA Group – www.kagroup.ua info@kagroup.ua
Interfax-Ukraine – information partner
One in six residents of the European Union lives in cramped housing, while approximately one in three lives in a household that is considered too spacious for the number of residents, according to Eurostat’s overview publication ‘Housing in Europe – 2025 edition’.
According to the statistics agency’s estimates, in 2024, about 17% of the EU population lived in overcrowded housing. The highest rates of ‘overcrowding’ were recorded in Romania (41%), Latvia (39%) and Bulgaria (34%).
The lowest rates of overcrowded housing were recorded in Cyprus (2%), Malta (4%) and the Netherlands (5%).
At the same time, about 33% of the EU population lives in ‘underoccupied’ housing – houses and flats that are considered too large for the number of people living in them.
The highest proportion of such households is in Cyprus (70%), Ireland (67%) and Malta (64%), and the lowest in Romania (7%), Latvia (10%) and Greece (13%).
A new analysis of GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite data for 2002–2024, published by The Guardian, has revealed a steady decline in freshwater reserves in Southern and Central Europe. This applies not only to rivers and lakes, but also to soil moisture, snow, glaciers, and groundwater, which have traditionally been considered a more stable source.
From Spain and Italy to Poland and Ukraine, there is a negative trend in the “water balance” — water losses exceed replenishment.
Against the backdrop of the pan-European trend, Ukraine faces several specific risk factors at once. Scientific studies on water security in Ukraine note an increase in climate risks – from droughts to flash floods. Water shortages are already causing significant economic losses, primarily in agriculture, and are intensifying as temperatures rise and precipitation patterns change.
A joint document by experts and environmental movements on irrigation warns that if current trends continue, most of the territory could effectively turn into a single arid zone similar to the current steppe. Without modern irrigation systems, it will be impossible to grow major crops in the south, and droughts are increasingly being recorded even in the central and western regions.
The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in June 2023 devastated the country’s largest reservoir, which provided up to 40% of the water consumption in southern Ukraine, including drinking water supply, industry, and irrigation. Scientific assessments indicate a sharp deterioration in water supply to southern regions in the context of the existing climate drought.
Further research has revealed a long-term “toxic” effect: tens of thousands of tons of heavy metals and pollutants have begun to be released from bottom sediments, posing long-term risks to the rivers and ecosystems of the lower Dnipro and the Black Sea.
A number of communities in the south and east of the country, especially in the combat zone, are already experiencing local “water crises” – from interruptions in drinking water supply to problems with water supply for irrigation and industry. Military destruction exacerbates the overall climate trend towards scarcity.
Ukraine has formally recognized water as one of the key priorities for climate adaptation. Water management is being transferred to a basin-based approach following the European model: the Dnieper basin management plan was developed with EU support and is being used as a template for the country’s eight other river basins. Agricultural policy until 2030 specifically stipulates the development of water supply systems for irrigation, the transition to climate-oriented agriculture, and more efficient water use.
However, there remains a large gap between the strategies on paper and the actual state of the networks, canals, wells, and treatment facilities. In the context of war, the resources of the state and local communities are limited, while demand for water—from the agricultural sector to IDPs and frontline cities—is growing.
Against the backdrop of Europe-wide “drying up” and the trend identified in the study towards the depletion of water resources in Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, the country is effectively under double pressure: climatic and military.
Water is becoming not only a resource but also an element of national security. This means that water infrastructure, groundwater protection, and restoration after the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant must be placed on a par with energy security and defense. Recovery and European integration projects must include a rigorous “water check” — from new agricultural programs to industrial policy. International funding for reconstruction and climate adaptation should logically be linked to reforms in water management, transparency of water use, and modernization of irrigation, especially in the southern regions.
Satellite data on the “drying up” of Europe is transforming the issue of water in Ukraine from a background issue to one of the key issues for the future – from harvests and exports to population density and climate resilience.
Ukrainians purchased about 8,300 new passenger cars in November 2025, which is 58% more than in November 2024 and 6% more than in the previous month, Ukravtoprom reported on its Telegram channel.
According to the association, this result is a record high for the last 14 months.
As reported, in October 2025, this market grew by a third compared to October 2024, to 7,800 new passenger cars.
The most popular brand of the month was again the Chinese BYD with 1,615 cars registered (last November, the brand was eighth with 178 cars).
The top ten most popular brands also included last November’s leader Toyota with 859 units (1% less than last year), Volkswagen with 798 units (+78.5%), Renault with 577 units (+8.3%), Skoda with 561 units (+9%), Zeekr with 397 units (5.2 times more than last year, when it was ranked 20th), Hyundai with 363 units (+96%), Honda with 341 units (2.7 times more), BMW – 239 units (-21.6%) and Audi – 239 units (two more cars).
The Renault Duster was the bestseller of the month.
Thus, according to Ukravtoprom, taking into account the results of November, in January-November, the market accelerated the positive dynamics that began in the first 10 months, with 68,900 new passenger cars sold, which is 7.5% more than last year.
Earlier it was reported that experts attribute this situation on the market for new passenger cars to the approaching deadline for the abolition of incentives for electric vehicles.
According to AUTO-Consulting, Ukrainians purchased 8,530 new passenger cars in November 2025, which is 61% more than in the same month last year and 7% more than in October 2025, with the share of electric vehicles increasing to 40%.
According to Ukravtoprom, in 2024, initial registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine increased by 14% compared to 2023, to 69,600 units, while according to AUTO-Consulting, sales increased by 9.8% to 71,300 units.
Pharmacy sales in Ukraine in January-October 2025 grew by 14.38% in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2024, reaching almost UAH 180.143 billion, while in real terms they decreased by 1.75% to 942.749 million packages, according to data from a study conducted by Business Credit and reported to Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the data, the weighted average price of goods in the pharmacy basket for January-September was UAH 191 per package, which is 16.42% more than a year ago.
At the same time, pharmacy sales of medicines during this period increased by 12.88% in monetary terms, to almost UAH 139.262 billion, and decreased by 0.46% in real terms compared to the same period in 2024, to almost UAH 667.242 million.
The weighted average retail price of medicines for the 10 months was UAH 208.71 per package (+13.41%).
Pharmacy sales of dietary supplements in January-October increased by 32% in monetary terms, to almost UAH 21.156 billion, and by 2.69% in real terms, to 82.255 million packages. The weighted average price in this segment increased by 28.52% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 257.21 per unit.
At the same time, according to Business Credit data, dietary supplements are the leaders in terms of growth in pharmacy sales over the first 10 months of 2025.
As reported, pharmacy sales in Ukraine in the first half of 2025 increased by 11% in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2024, reaching UAH 105.214 billion, while in real terms they decreased by 2.78% to 567.02 million packages, and the weighted average price of goods in the pharmacy basket increased by 14.17% to UAH 185.56 per package.
At the same time, pharmacy sales of medicines in January-June 2025 increased in monetary terms by 10.33% to almost UAH 81.929 billion, while in real terms they decreased by 2.32% to almost UAH 399.292 million. The weighted average retail price of medicines in the first half of the year increased by almost 13% to UAH 205.19 per package.
Pharmacy sales of dietary supplements in the first half of this year increased by 17.67% in monetary terms compared to January-June last year, to almost UAH 11.679 billion, and decreased by 1.5% in real terms, to 49.479 million packages. The weighted average price in this segment increased by 19.5% to UAH 236.03 per unit.
