The international agricultural research company Corteva Agriscience has implemented a pilot project in Ukraine to pollinate parental lines of sunflower seeds using bumblebees on 29 hectares in Kyiv region, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
“Pollination of the field with the help of bumblebees, compared to fields that were not additionally pollinated, contributed to an increase in yield by 70%. Compared to fields that were pollinated by bees, the yield of seeds ready for sale increases by 30%,” Field Operation Manager Andriy Kuzmenko said.
The company added that the use of bumblebees ensures the genetic purity of the seeds, since they work within a radius of 1 km, and bees of 3-4 km.
Corteva Agriscience is considering continuation of the project to treat 10-15% of fields where there is a high risk of cross-pollination, the press release said.
It is noted that the Dutch Koppert became the supplier of bumblebees to the fields of Corteva Agriscience, and supplied 150 hives with bumblebees to the company in 2020.
Corteva Agriscience was formerly the agricultural division of DowDuPont and became an independent, publicly traded company on June 1, 2019. The company provides growers around the world with the most complete portfolio in the industry, including a balanced and varied selection of seeds, crop protection products and digital solutions to maximize productivity and profitability.
The little-known French company SAS Investcompagnie (Paris) plans to acquire Agrikor Holding LLC (Chernihiv region), Agroprime Holding LLC (Izmail) and Agrovit LLC (Cherkasy region), which were part of the agrarian holding Agrain, which curtailed activities in Ukraine in 2016.
According to the published agenda of the meeting of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, the committee can grant SAS Investcompagnie permission to acquire shares in the charter capital of three agricultural enterprises, which will ensure exceeding 50% of the votes in the management bodies of the companies.
According to the French register, SAS Investcompagnie was created in April 2018 with a registered capital of EUR 250,000 0. Its president is Anna Rubtsova.
According to the unified public register of legal entities and private entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiary of Agrikor Holding is Vitaliy Kuznetsov, Agroprime Holding is Oleksandr Riasnenko, and Agrovit is Hanna Harifulina.
Agroholding Agrain, before ceasing operations in 2016, was one of the largest in Ukraine, its land bank amounted to about 130,000 hectares. The company had silo storage capacities in the amount of 330,000 tonnes of crops, and was also engaged in dairy and beef cattle breeding.
In 2014, Agrain agricultural holding announced an attempt to seize the company’s head office by unknown persons, after which a number of court proceedings were opened against the top management, and arrests were imposed on the property of the agricultural holding.
