Organic farming in Ukraine
I have been asked by Eugene to write a piece for the Newsletter of organic farming in Ukraine, so here it is:
Eugene Milovanov asked me to write down some of my impressions from five weeks in Ukraine for the newsletter of organic Farming in Ukraine. I saw some copies of the newsletter and I think it is a very good initiative and send my best greetings to its readers.
I have had the pleasure to go by bicycle through Ukraine from 2 November to 9 December. I crossed the border from Poland and came to Lviv and end by taking a flight from Simferopol to Istanbul. The trip has been a holliday trip, and my reflections are purely those of an amateur! Before saying something about farming let me just say that I love this country and the people in it. I don't know why but Ukraine hasn't got a very inspiring image where I come from. Why would you go to Ukraine? was a question I got from many. That I also planned to go by bicycle AND in November made most people think I suffered from some mental disorder. But as I said I think Ukraine is great, food is good, landscape is fascinating and the people are really nice and helpful. If only I had known the language!
When you go by bicycle you get a good feeling for what is going in in agriculture. Ukraine is truly a very agrarian country. Fields, field, as far as the eyes can see. You have even tucked away your villages into valleys so they are not seen so easily! Farming is a strange mix of almost susbsistence farming - people keeping a cow and a few chicken - and very large scal industrial farming. The field sizes are almost like the US praries! But here and there on those huge fields you see somebody with a scythe cutting grass for his or her cow... That combination is unique and I doubt that it will continue so long. My understanding is that most of Ukraine was steppe before it became farm land. I guess it is a bit too dry for forest? Still I would believe that a bit more forest in the landscape should be beneficial for all and in particular for wild life. It would surely provide better wind breaks for the cyclists!
Trying to follow the ecological origin of the land, it surprises me that there is not more cattle for beef and sheep grazing. I mean a Steppe is made for grazing isn't it? Most cows I saw were dairy cows that are taken in during night and kept individually by farmers. I would belive that a kind of ranching farming (say 200-1000 cows in a unit) would suit the conditions quite well. I am aware of that there is less food produced with that kind of farming than by growing wheat and corn which is fed to animals as animal feed, but I still think an increase of cattle ranching would make sense. Ukraine has so much agriculture land that it can afford that. it would increase bio-diversity a lot. Also I believe that such an extensive land conversion would be interesting from a carbon sequestration perspective and that Ukraine should lobby for that agricultural carbon sinks should be taken up in the the post-Kyoto negotiations.
When it comes to organic farming I visited Dr Eugene Milovanov and his colleagues of the Organic Federation of Ukraine. I also visited the biggest organic arable farm in the world in the area around Chaplinska. Apparently all organic products are produced for exports and there is not yet any organic market in Ukraine. I did see a few imported organic products in the shops, e.g. baby food. The kind of crops that are mainly grown will not be the basis for the development of the initial consumer market for organic. I mean consumers don't eat sunflower, wheat and rape seed, they eat processed products from those. It is mostly easier to start the organic marketing with products that have no or very little processing between the farmer and the consumers, I think mainly on fruits and vegetables. They are also the products where most pesticides are used and consumers are often weary of that, and if they are not they can easily become weary about it, if they get the information. I think the organic market has to be seen in the context of the food market in general in Ukraine. There is actually very little "branding" in the Ukrainian food market. Milk is milk, meat is meat and there are almost no real brands. Most brands are in the beverage segments (vodka, beer and juice) and in chocolates. In such a market with low diffrentiation it is hard to market organic. On the other hand I think it creates special opportunities for the use of an organic label as a marketing brand for all product categories. That would be my most important recommendation, to get such a brand established and to see it mainly as a marketing brand and not as a certification logo.
On the production level I have not seen enough to have any real recommendations for how to improve organic farms in Ukraine. I think organic farms in Ukraine should go in the forefront in creating more biodiversity on the farms - that is really neeeded. So think a bit beyond "no chemicals", think how can this piece of land that I am responsible for be a better living environment for people, for animals, for wild life? How can it be more beautiful? This doesn't have to be expensive.
I want to finish by thanking Eugene, Genadij, Alexander and Segej and others for taking well care of me. For those that can follow English you can read about my trip in Ukraine on gunru.blogg.se
Eugene Milovanov asked me to write down some of my impressions from five weeks in Ukraine for the newsletter of organic Farming in Ukraine. I saw some copies of the newsletter and I think it is a very good initiative and send my best greetings to its readers.
I have had the pleasure to go by bicycle through Ukraine from 2 November to 9 December. I crossed the border from Poland and came to Lviv and end by taking a flight from Simferopol to Istanbul. The trip has been a holliday trip, and my reflections are purely those of an amateur! Before saying something about farming let me just say that I love this country and the people in it. I don't know why but Ukraine hasn't got a very inspiring image where I come from. Why would you go to Ukraine? was a question I got from many. That I also planned to go by bicycle AND in November made most people think I suffered from some mental disorder. But as I said I think Ukraine is great, food is good, landscape is fascinating and the people are really nice and helpful. If only I had known the language!
When you go by bicycle you get a good feeling for what is going in in agriculture. Ukraine is truly a very agrarian country. Fields, field, as far as the eyes can see. You have even tucked away your villages into valleys so they are not seen so easily! Farming is a strange mix of almost susbsistence farming - people keeping a cow and a few chicken - and very large scal industrial farming. The field sizes are almost like the US praries! But here and there on those huge fields you see somebody with a scythe cutting grass for his or her cow... That combination is unique and I doubt that it will continue so long. My understanding is that most of Ukraine was steppe before it became farm land. I guess it is a bit too dry for forest? Still I would believe that a bit more forest in the landscape should be beneficial for all and in particular for wild life. It would surely provide better wind breaks for the cyclists!
Trying to follow the ecological origin of the land, it surprises me that there is not more cattle for beef and sheep grazing. I mean a Steppe is made for grazing isn't it? Most cows I saw were dairy cows that are taken in during night and kept individually by farmers. I would belive that a kind of ranching farming (say 200-1000 cows in a unit) would suit the conditions quite well. I am aware of that there is less food produced with that kind of farming than by growing wheat and corn which is fed to animals as animal feed, but I still think an increase of cattle ranching would make sense. Ukraine has so much agriculture land that it can afford that. it would increase bio-diversity a lot. Also I believe that such an extensive land conversion would be interesting from a carbon sequestration perspective and that Ukraine should lobby for that agricultural carbon sinks should be taken up in the the post-Kyoto negotiations.
When it comes to organic farming I visited Dr Eugene Milovanov and his colleagues of the Organic Federation of Ukraine. I also visited the biggest organic arable farm in the world in the area around Chaplinska. Apparently all organic products are produced for exports and there is not yet any organic market in Ukraine. I did see a few imported organic products in the shops, e.g. baby food. The kind of crops that are mainly grown will not be the basis for the development of the initial consumer market for organic. I mean consumers don't eat sunflower, wheat and rape seed, they eat processed products from those. It is mostly easier to start the organic marketing with products that have no or very little processing between the farmer and the consumers, I think mainly on fruits and vegetables. They are also the products where most pesticides are used and consumers are often weary of that, and if they are not they can easily become weary about it, if they get the information. I think the organic market has to be seen in the context of the food market in general in Ukraine. There is actually very little "branding" in the Ukrainian food market. Milk is milk, meat is meat and there are almost no real brands. Most brands are in the beverage segments (vodka, beer and juice) and in chocolates. In such a market with low diffrentiation it is hard to market organic. On the other hand I think it creates special opportunities for the use of an organic label as a marketing brand for all product categories. That would be my most important recommendation, to get such a brand established and to see it mainly as a marketing brand and not as a certification logo.
On the production level I have not seen enough to have any real recommendations for how to improve organic farms in Ukraine. I think organic farms in Ukraine should go in the forefront in creating more biodiversity on the farms - that is really neeeded. So think a bit beyond "no chemicals", think how can this piece of land that I am responsible for be a better living environment for people, for animals, for wild life? How can it be more beautiful? This doesn't have to be expensive.
I want to finish by thanking Eugene, Genadij, Alexander and Segej and others for taking well care of me. For those that can follow English you can read about my trip in Ukraine on gunru.blogg.se
Kommentarer
Postat av: kari
trevligt brev till alla som du har mött och till landet Ukraina! Undrarvad du skulle ha skrivit om det var Sverige du cycklade genom
Postat av: Marika (m k)
Tack för kort! Tyvärr är jag inte så bra på engelska så jag hänger inte riktigt med på din resa. Kanske får vi tillfälle att diskuter Krim och framför allt Jalta i jul.
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