AgriAcademy, a professional online education platform for Ukrainian agribusiness, has added two new free courses for farmers, created by experts from the Astarta-Kyiv agro-industrial holding. In June 2025, new training modules dedicated to the biological characteristics of corn and corn cultivation technologies became available on the AgriAcademy platform.
Course 1: “Corn. Biological characteristics of the crop”
The aim of the course is to provide farmers with a systematic understanding of:
Course 2: “Corn. Cultivation technology”
The aim of the course is to develop practical knowledge of agricultural technologies:
Both courses were developed by Pavlo Perkhalo, an experienced agronomist with over 10 years of practice at Astarta. Methodologist Svitlana Semenyuk and interactive materials designer Olga Veiler also contributed to the development of the courses.
Like all educational products on AgriAcademy, the new courses are free, available online at any time, and include a certificate upon successful completion.
As a reminder, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Astarta-Kyiv agricultural holding signed a partnership agreement in 2024 to develop distance learning for Ukrainian farmers.
The partnership provides for the creation of 25 online courses on the cultivation, storage, and processing of field crops.
In addition to the new training modules, previously created courses are also available on the platform: “Sunflower. Biological characteristics” and “Sunflower. Cultivation technology”.
AgriAcademy – training for Ukrainian farmers that is changing the industry
AgriAcademy is a free online training platform for agricultural workers and students of agricultural educational institutions, launched by the EBRD in December 2022 as part of its food security support program in Ukraine.
Its goal is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainable development of agriculture, which has suffered significant losses due to the war.
Today, the platform offers 25 online courses — 300 hours of practical training in agronomy, management, technology, processing, storage, and more. Each course includes a knowledge test and certification for participants.
The platform is created and managed (including course development, study tours, etc.) with the support and funding of the EBRD, as well as:
We invite farmers to register on the platform and take practical courses at the link: https://agriacademy.org/courses-catalog
Astarta-Kyiv is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding in Ukraine, a public European company that conducts socially responsible business and produces food products for global markets.
The company was founded in 1993 by Viktor Ivanchyk, who remains its majority owner and CEO. Since 2006, Astarta’s shares have been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Main activities:
As of July 1, 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), Ukraine exported 40.499 mln tonnes of grains and pulses, of which 2.217 mln tonnes were shipped in June, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported, citing data from the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of June 28 last year, the total shipments were estimated at 50.553 million tons, including 3.621 million tons in June.
According to the preliminary estimates, in 2024/25 season, Ukraine exported 15.704 mln tonnes of wheat (18.3 mln tonnes in 2023/24 MY), 2.318 mln tonnes of barley (2.477 mln tonnes), 10.8 thsd tonnes of rye (1.6 thsd tonnes), and 21.788 mln tonnes of corn (29.233 mln tonnes).
The total exports of Ukrainian flour in 2024/25 MY are estimated at 70.4 thsd tonnes (in 2023/24 MY – 97.8 thsd tonnes), including 65.8 thsd tonnes of wheat (92.4 thsd tonnes).
Thus, in the season-2024/25, the grain exports were down by 19.9% in general, by 14.2% for wheat, by 6.4% for barley, by 25.5% for corn, by 28.1% for flour, including 28.8% for wheat. At the same time, in 2024/25 MY Ukraine increased rye exports by 6.8 times.
As reported, in the season-24/25, the domestic market faced the deficit of rye. Flour mills and bakeries started importing it in winter 2025. The main countries supplying rye and rye flour to Ukraine are the Baltic states and Poland. Industry associations predict that in 2025/26 MY Ukraine will face a 100% deficit of rye due to the further reduction of the production area under this crop. According to experts, this will lead to a 20% rise in bread prices.
As of June 25, Ukraine exported 40.314 mln tonnes of grains and pulses since the beginning of 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), of which 1.942 mln tonnes were shipped since the beginning of the month, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported, citing the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of June 28 last year, the total shipments were estimated at 50.553 million tons, including 3.621 million tons in June.
At the same time, since the beginning of the current season, Ukraine has exported 15.641 mln tonnes of wheat (18.3 mln tonnes in 2023/24 MY), 2.318 mln tonnes of barley (2.477 mln tonnes), 10.8 thsd tonnes of rye (1.6 thsd tonnes), and 21.759 mln tonnes of corn (29.233 mln tonnes).
The total export of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of June 25 is estimated at 69.7 thsd tonnes (in 2023/24 MY – 97.8 thsd tonnes), including 65.2 thsd tonnes of wheat (92.4 thsd tonnes).
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has improved its forecast for global wheat and corn production in the 2025-2026 marketing year, with no change to its harvest forecast for Ukraine.
According to the forecast on the US agency’s website, the wheat harvest in Ukraine is estimated at 23 million tons, exports at 16.5 million tons, and ending stocks at 1.49 million tons. The corn harvest is expected to reach 30.5 million tons, with exports at 24 million tons and final stocks at 0.6 million tons.
At the same time, global wheat production in 2025/2026 MY will amount to 808.5 million tons (+0.07 million tons compared to last season), exports – 214.33 million tons (+1.34 million tons), and final stocks – 262.76 million tons (-2.97 million tons).
USDA analysts forecast global corn production in 2025/2026 MY at 1,265.98 million tons (+1 million tons compared to the previous season), global exports at 195.81 million tons (+0.01 million tons), and ending stocks at 275.24 million tons (-2.6 million tons).
Corn exports from Ukraine in May 2025 reached over 2 million tons, becoming one of the highest figures in recent months, according to the analytical cooperative “Pusk,” created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council.
According to analysts, at least 850,000 tons of corn have already been contracted for June, and this figure is not final. Total exports in June are expected to exceed 1 million tons.
“This indicates that traders have previously concluded contracts. Therefore, deliveries of the old crop are continuing quite actively,” experts noted.
At the same time, the situation on the export market is complicated by price pressure. Thus, the cost of American corn is currently held at $230 per ton, while prices for Ukrainian corn have risen to $256-260 per ton.
“In the current conditions, we cannot compete with American suppliers on the European market. Ukrainian corn is sold in small batches — 2-5 thousand tons — mainly to Greece and Cyprus. For comparison, the US exports only large volumes of 25 thousand tons,” analysts explained.
An additional factor is limited grain reserves: only 1-1.5 million tons of corn remain on the domestic market. This means that there are already very few volumes available for large-scale exports.
“We expect the market to become less liquid in June. Price benchmarks will gradually decline to around $215 per ton in ports. From the second half of the month, demand will decline significantly, and the market will begin to focus on the new harvest,” Pusk predicts.
Agroholding TAS Agro has completed its spring sowing campaign for 2025, during which it sowed about 40,000 hectares with spring crops, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the agricultural holding, 16,000 hectares of the production area are allocated to sunflowers, 15,000 hectares to soybeans, 7,000 hectares to corn, and 160 hectares to industrial hemp. The company noted that this year it reduced corn sowing, abandoned sugar beet cultivation, but began growing industrial hemp on a trial basis.
“The 2025 sowing season is significantly different from previous ones, primarily due to abnormal weather conditions and constant air raid alerts, which hampered the work of machinery. Snow cover in April and frosts in the first ten days of May slowed down the sowing campaign somewhat, but we adjusted the work of the production units and managed to complete it on time. This year’s sowing season has shown that we have chosen the right strategy of renewing our technical fleet and involving our own staff, who worked cohesively and responsibly despite all the above-mentioned difficulties. In particular, on some days we managed to sow 2.3 thousand hectares per productive day,” said Oleg Zapletnyuk, CEO of TAS Agro LLC.
He added that the agricultural holding has already received high-quality spring crops and is focused on protecting them from diseases and pests. Personnel not involved in current work are preparing for the harvest, which, according to preliminary forecasts, will start in a month.
TAS Agro was established in 2014. Its land bank includes 88,000 hectares in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, and Mykolaiv regions. It specializes in crop production, with the agricultural holding’s elevator capacity amounting to about 250,000 tons. The livestock business is represented by a herd of 5,500 head of cattle, of which 2,500 are dairy cattle.
The agricultural holding is part of the TAS group, founded in 1998. Its business interests include the financial sector (banking and insurance segments) and pharmacies, as well as industry, real estate, and venture projects.
The founder of TAS and beneficiary of the TAS Agro agricultural holding is Serhiy Tihipko.
