All-Ukrainian Potato Day
All-Ukrainian Potato Day "Potato Blockecain-2021" took place on August 26-27, 2021 on the basis of Farm "Adelaide" (village Chulakivka Kherson region). The organizers of the event were "DLG Ukraine", Farm "Adelaida", Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers (UAVK).
The event was supported by the Office of the Agricultural Counsellor of the Netherlands Embassy in Ukraine and The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ukraine. The sponsors of the event were: Pepsico Ukraine (ТМ Lay`s), Mondelez Ukraine, LLC Sammit-Agro Ukraine, Factory Fregat.
During two days, the All-Ukrainian Potato Day 2021 was visited by about 600 guests. There are 60 B2B companies and organizations working in the potato segment, in particular, 7 breeding companies, 10 suppliers of storage equipment, 5 representatives of equipment manufacturers, 5 companies offering irrigation equipment, supplier of crop protection agents, fertilizers and others. 7 Dutch companies took part in the event.
The event was attended by the Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky, a group of people's deputies, representatives of the State Water Agency of Ukraine, Kherson Regional State Administration and Regional Council.
In his opening speech the Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko said that in 2021 Ukraine will have a state support program for the development of potatoes sector:
"The purpose of the program to support potato growing, to show examples of efficient management, value added, development of modern infrastructure. The main goal we set ourselves is import substitution".
He added that the state will support farms like FG "Adelaide", which take risks and make significant investments in the development of their material and technical base, using various channels to raise funds.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine is an initiator of the event, which has been supporting the development of industrial potato growing in Ukraine for 11 years.
"Ukrainians and Dutch have a lot in common and love to potato unites us for many years. We are glad that potato growers and suppliers, government officials and parliamentarians visited the All-Ukrainian Potato Day. Our cooperation is important not only for building trade ties and developing Ukraine from an economic point of view, but also for learning together to care for the environment and overcome the effects of climate change. Ukrainian potato growing is making great strides towards strengthening itself, but also in order to take its rightful place in sustainable development, to have great prospects for the future, it is necessary to introduce innovations and new practices into its work, ”said the Agricultural Counselor of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Reinoud Nuijten.
Frank Muller, Attaché for Agrarian Policy of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ukraine, expressed his desire to support the Ukrainian representations of German companies operating in the industrial potato segment. He recalled the well-known words of Angela Merkel in Germany, who said that "globalization and computerization cannot be constantly pursued. There should be a place in life for simple, accessible and pleasant things, such as thick potato soup and delicious nutritious potatoes. But if we look at the modern potato business in Ukraine, which has powerful machines, storage, developed material and technical base, as we see in the example of "Adelaida" Farm, we understand that this is a highly industrialized business that works well for the state economy, using innovative European achievements. Ukrainian potato industry still has a long way to go to create value-added products. We welcome the desire of the Ukrainian government to support this promising sector of agriculture, "he said and assured the audience that Germany will continue to support the desire of potato growers to improve their businesses, will share their experience in potato growing and mechanization.
Denis Statsenko, President of UAVK, Director of Poliska Potato Company LLC, called on producers to make more active use of all opportunities for communication: "Such events give new impetus to the development of our industry. I ask everyone to make more active use of these opportunities, get pleasure from it and make new contacts that will contribute to the development of individual businesses, the industry as a whole and the final result of the economy. The natural reduction of potato growing by households poses new challenges to the potato industry: we need to increase the volume and quality of potatoes grown. We must unite to solve this problem and ensure the food security of the state. "
Director of "Adelaida" Farm Sergei Rybalko congratulated everyone in the Kherson region and drew the attention of the audience that the specific hot climate is difficult for both people and plants, in particular, potatoes, which ceases to grow normally if the thermometer reaches above +27 C. “In the Kherson region you will not see huge harvests, superpowers of potato varieties. Every day we fight for the potato harvest, work on it and water it. The purpose of our demo field, with 76 potato verieties from 8 breeding companies planted on June 30 is to find varieties suitable for growing in the South in the second, summer turn. This experiment is a real effective help, an invaluable experience for producers in the Southern region, "he said and promised that in autumn the potato crop will be harvested, the yield of varieties will be determined, and the farm will share the information with colleagues.
All-Ukrainian Potato Day "Potato Blockchain-2021" was held on the basis of Farm "Adelaida", founded by the family of Sergiy Rybalko in 1992. It cultivates the area of 2700 ha on the territory of two village councils of Holoprystan district of Kherson region and 2800 ha on the territory of five village councils in Novograd-Volynsky district of Zhytomyr region. The farm specializes in growing winter wheat, rye, canola, sunflower, mustard, soybeans and corn. The farm also produces table and chips varieties of potato, supplying to a number of potato processing companies. Adelaida is sertified as a seed potato farm.
The program of the All-Ukrainian Potato Day "Potato Blockchain-2021" provided an overview of the demo field (76 varieties of potatoes on sprinkler irrigation of the plant "Frigate"), acquaintance with the lines of protection and nutrition of potato plants from agrochemical companies (BASF, Terra Tarsa, Eco-organic) . Within the framework of the exhibition of machinery and equipment for industrial potato growing the first presentations of sowing complexes from LLC "Technology Ukraine", sorting complexes from PBP "Vimal", services of acceptance and calibration of potatoes in the field from LLC "Zamozhna Kraina" took place. Visitors were able to get acquainted with the offer of 60 B2B companies in the tent camp, watch the field cultivation, the competition of Ropa and Grimme potato harvesters, take part in the auction, press conferences of government officials and parliamentarians, irrigation seminar dedicated to a separate day.
A novelty of the event was a negotiation panel for potato growers, representatives of trade networks, processing enterprises, traders and plants for pre-sale processing of potatoes, initiated by UAVK, Agristatis LLC, DLG Ukraine LLC. A number of events of the All-Ukrainian Potato Day took place on the territory of the newly built "Adelaida" potato storage with a capacity of 15 thousand tons for storage in bulk of potato for chips. The farm plans to participate in receiving financial assistance under the State Program for the Development of Industrial Potato Growing for 2021-2025. This is one of the first successful projects already implemented under the development of industrial potato growing in Ukraine.
"Potato Blockchain" is an entertaining and educational quest to test and replenish knowledge in industrial potato growing. The event gave producers the opportunity to sell their knowledge to partner B2B companies and get potato cryptocurrency for it. Frits - (from the Dutch. One french fries) cryptocurrency, which existed in denominations of 1, 5 and 10 frits. The participants of the quest were invited to hold presentations of B2B companies' products, answer interesting questions, and supplement the speeches of colleagues. Subsequently, at the auction for earned frits, the participants of the event bought useful goods, services, gadgets, etc. in their further professional work. More about the All-Ukrainian Potato Day: Official site www.potato.com.ua Watch the video here
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/423030818983820
Event website: Potato.com.ua
Program of the event: http://potato.com.ua/#rec201431267
Read also atricle POTATO BUSINESS IN UKRAINE