Agrotrade Agroholding has completed harvesting industrial hemp, which it grew on an area of about 230 hectares in Chernihiv region, the company’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, 2024 was the final year of the agricultural holding’s hemp cultivation trials. The company has determined the best technologies and herbicide plant protection products, and understood the technical features of working with this crop.
“By changing approaches to seed harvesting and processing, we have obtained very good quality grain indicators: the oil content is high, and the acidity and peroxide values are low. The yields were slightly lower than we expected. The hemp was dry and the fiber was easily separated from the bast, so technical support during harvesting was the biggest challenge. The reason is that you can’t just pick up any harvester at any time: you need to know exactly what kind of hemp is best for what time and what kind of harvester will be optimal. These are the technical features of hemp that we have figured out,” says Oleksandr Ovsyanyk, Director of Agrotrade’s Agricultural Department.
“This year, we started harvesting later to get higher quality seeds. Due to the peculiarities of the variety and the year in general, threshing took longer than expected.
The agricultural holding emphasized that the Ukrainian market is not yet ready to consume large quantities of hemp grain, so this year’s harvest will be exported. If it can be sold profitably and in large volumes, the company will consider expanding the area.
Agrotrade Group is a vertically integrated holding company with a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage and trade of agricultural products). The company cultivates over 70 thousand hectares of land in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv regions. Its main crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 570 thousand tons.
The group also produces hybrid seeds of corn and sunflower, barley, and winter wheat. In 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of seeds per year was built on the basis of Kolos seed farm (Kharkiv region). In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand Agroseeds on the market.
Vsevolod Kozhemiako is the founder and CEO of Agrotrade.
As of October 15, farmers in all regions of Ukraine sowed 4.75 million hectares of winter crops, up from 3.8 million hectares last week, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
According to the report, winter crops are being sown in all regions. In total, almost 3.7 million hectares have been sown. In particular, winter wheat has been sown on 3.3 million hectares (2.6 million hectares a week earlier), barley on 331.7 thousand hectares (208.7 thousand hectares), rye on 51.6 thousand hectares (45.9 thousand hectares), and rapeseed on 1 million hectares (986.4 thousand hectares).
According to the Ministry, the leaders in sowing winter crops are Poltava region, which sowed 224.5 thousand hectares (90.3%), Ternopil region – 176 thousand hectares (89.3%) and Khmelnytsky region – 213.2 thousand hectares (88.8%). Farmers in 11 regions have completed sowing winter rapeseed.
As of the same date a year earlier, Ukraine sowed 4.5 mln ha of winter crops, 3.018 mln ha of wheat, 260 thou ha of barley, and 63 thou ha of rye.
As of September 18, farmers in all regions of Ukraine sowed 1.8 million hectares of winter crops, compared to 1.0487 million hectares last week, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
According to the report, winter wheat was sown on 878.8 thousand hectares (340.3 thousand hectares a week earlier), barley – on 45 thousand hectares (16.5 thousand hectares), rye – on 20.7 thousand hectares (3.4 thousand hectares), and rapeseed – on 862.2 thousand hectares (688.4 thousand hectares).
According to the Ministry, the leaders in sowing of winter grains are the farmers of Poltava, Kirovograd and Mykolaiv regions, who planted 944.5 thou hectares.
As of the same date a year earlier, Ukraine planted 2.179 mln ha of winter crops, including 1.038 mln ha of rapeseed, 1.024 mln ha of wheat, 74 thou ha of barley, and 42 thou ha of rye.
As of September 18, farmers in all regions of Ukraine planted 1.0487 million hectares of winter crops, up from 639.9 thousand hectares last week, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
According to the report, winter wheat was sown on 340.3 thousand hectares (101.1 thousand hectares a week earlier), barley – on 16.5 thousand hectares (3.7 thousand hectares), rye – on 3.4 thousand hectares (0.4 thousand hectares), and rapeseed – on 688.4 thousand hectares (534.7 thousand hectares).
According to the Ministry, winter wheat is being sown in 18 regions, barley in 12, and rye in six. Winter rape is being sown in 18 regions of Ukraine. Farmers in Volyn, Rivne, Ternopil, and Lviv regions have finished sowing it.
As of the same date a year earlier, Ukraine sowed 1.584 mln ha of winter crops, including 1 mln ha of rapeseed, 514 thou ha of wheat, 47 thou ha of barley, and 24 thou ha of rye.
TAS Agro intends to allocate 22 thou hectares for winter wheat, the company’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
“Thanks to the updated modern agricultural machinery, it is possible to ensure an efficient sowing process, combining it with the simultaneous application of granular fertilizers,” the agricultural holding said.
TAS Agro noted that in 2024 it completely abandoned traditional plowing and started using Mini-till technology. This allows to preserve the soil structure, reduce erosion and increase its fertility, which will eventually have a positive impact on yields, the agricultural holding explained.
At the same time, TAS-Agro continues harvesting soybeans on 16 thousand hectares.
“Harvesting started in the best possible time. Teams of specialists are using modern methods and equipment to ensure high harvesting efficiency and minimize losses,” the agricultural holding added.
TAS Group was founded in 1998. Its business interests include the financial sector (banking and insurance segments) and pharmacy, as well as industry, real estate, and venture capital projects.
Before the war, TAS Agro Group cultivated 83 thousand hectares in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Dnipro regions, where it grows soybeans, sunflower, rapeseed, wheat, barley, and corn. In addition, the agricultural holding is engaged in dairy farming (up to 5.5 thousand heads of cattle) and owns six elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 250 thousand tons.
The founder of TAS is Sergey Tigipko.
Despite Russia’s war against it, Ukraine intends to export 60-65% of its harvest in the 2024-2025 marketing year (MY), Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval said during a national telethon.
“The main issue facing the government is to ensure the country’s food security. At the same time, we plan that Ukraine will export about 43 million tons (of agricultural products – IF-U) to foreign markets,” he said.
Koval specified that wheat exports are expected to reach 16.2 million tons, and corn – about 25 million tons. Ukrainian processors will be provided with wheat, and the surplus is already being exported.
“Today, the agricultural sector accounts for about 60% of the country’s total export revenue. It is very important that foreign markets receive Ukrainian products. And not only agricultural raw materials, but also value-added products and processed products. It is very important that these percentages grow. It is also important that the amount of harvested crops that we can export does not remain in the country and that exports grow,” the Minister of Agrarian Policy summarized.
