The Alltech One conference is a world tour this year and it arrived in Dublin this week.
The two-day event hosted 500 delegates and had a range of global speakers who addressed the difficult question of agriculture feeding the world without destroying it in the process.
This challenge was perhaps best summarised by one speaker, who said that agriculture’s single biggest problem used to be feeding a growing global population.
Now it has the twin problems of feeding the world while solving the climate change challenge.
Critics
There was also much focus on the need to build a better image for agriculture that better reflects what it is really about, as opposed to the negative picture so successfully presented by critics of farming.
Even though feeding the world while preserving the planet may be the ultimate goal, for one speaker, Dmitry Skornyakov, there is the immediate problem of running a farm business in a war zone over the past year and a half following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Following his on-stage discussion with Alltech president and CEO Dr Mark Lyons, he explained further to the Irish Farmers Journal just what it is like trying to run a farm business in a war zone.
Grain to Ukraine what oil is to Saudis
As has become the feature of Ukraine since the invasion, Dmitry Skornyakov presented a stoical, matter-of-fact analysis that didn’t sugarcoat the difficulties of farming in wartime.
The company he heads, HarvEast, operates a land base extending to 197,000ha that are mainly in grain, with the business having 17,500 head of livestock.
This is no ordinary farm, but the first distinction Dmitry made in comparing Ukraine to Ireland or indeed EU farming was that in Ukraine, even before the invasion, it is strictly business, while he finds across the EU that agriculture and farming is more of a tradition.
He describes agriculture in Ukraine as “like working in oil in Saudi Arabia or IT in California”, in that it is attractive to young people in a way that it isn’t in the rest of Europe. Part of the reason for this is that the land is farmed in a corporate manner, designed to maximise output and profit.
Agriculture is also Ukraine’s main export, accounting for almost one third of all Ukraine’s exports. That is how it was in normal times, but since the invasion, it is a different picture.
While the Black Sea deal gives Ukraine access to international markets for grain, it comes at a cost and doesn’t have the capacity to handle even the reduced output caused by war.
Dmitry Skornyakov, CEO HarvEast, on right in conversation with Dr Mark Lyons, president and CEO Alltech, at Alltech One conference in Dublin.
Dmitry explained that “before the war, transport cost for grain was in the region of $40 to $60 per tonne, but now it is a minimum of $120 per tonne".
He pointed out that while all grain farmers were losing money and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future, there were also winners.
Successful spirits
“Spirit manufacturers are successful because they have retained their selling price, while the cost of their grain has fallen and it is the same for poultry producers.”
This is a departure from the pre-war days, where a good farmer could make $500/ha across corn, wheat and sunflower crops well suited to Ukraine’s soils.
Despite so many farmers entering the red with these tough market conditions, significant tracts of farmland are not being transferred, limiting the potential for a further concentration of land ownership by Ukraine’s already typically large agri-businesses.
Tight land purchase rules have been a mainstay of the country’s agriculture sector for years and remain a hot topic in political circles, Dmitri says.
De-mining farmland
While HarvEast owns 30,000ha close to Kyiv, the remainder is in the east of the country, currently occupied by Russia which has seized the land and crops.
Even in the Kyiv region, Dmitry explained in a matter-of-fact way how mine clearing is now an every day part of the farming business and comes at great financial cost, as well as human.
He spoke of a tractor exploding in a field that they had cleared and that “there are almost 600ha that remain severely mined around a centre that was previously occupied by Russia”.
When asked about the cost of all this, Dmitry said: “We hope they [Russia] pay sooner or later because we send them to European Court, but it will be very, very long story, I think.”
He put an initial cost of $150m on what has been taken, “grain materials and enterprises”.
Eyes on rebuilding and EU membership
Like most Ukrainians, Dmitry is pro-EU and envisages Ukraine securing membership within the next five years.
When asked about what Ukraine can bring to the EU, he explained that as well as agricultural products, “we have got the second-largest export which is metals, Ukraine is one of the world’s strongest metal players”.
Agri-food output and metals could grant the EU “superpower” status in these areas, he says.
Returning to the war, the Irish Farmers Journal asked how long it would take for agriculture to return to normal when the fighting ends.
Dmitry explained that “the agricultural environment has changed significantly and will never be the same”. However, he added that “when the bombs stop and rebuild is complete, it will take a minimum of five years and it will be a very long and difficult story”.
Potential
Despite the difficulty, Dmitry also sees huge further potential in Ukrainian agriculture.
He says that with the proper investment in irrigation and infrastructure, output could double. For example, he sees the utilisation of waste water from cities as an opportunity.
Access to capital is an issue - it is both expensive to borrow and opportunities are limited.
When put to him that if the EU was to become involved in Ukraine, it would bring a level of bureaucracy, Dmitry accepted this, but, as we concluded the interview, his confidence in Ukraine’s future was undiminished in spite of the challenges.
Read more
Feeding plant waste to cattle reduces methane - Alltech
Farmer-environmentalist conflict a ‘huge challenge’ - McGuinness
Keenan has no plans to move production to Turkey - for now
The Alltech One conference is a world tour this year and it arrived in Dublin this week.
The two-day event hosted 500 delegates and had a range of global speakers who addressed the difficult question of agriculture feeding the world without destroying it in the process.
This challenge was perhaps best summarised by one speaker, who said that agriculture’s single biggest problem used to be feeding a growing global population.
Now it has the twin problems of feeding the world while solving the climate change challenge.
Critics
There was also much focus on the need to build a better image for agriculture that better reflects what it is really about, as opposed to the negative picture so successfully presented by critics of farming.
Even though feeding the world while preserving the planet may be the ultimate goal, for one speaker, Dmitry Skornyakov, there is the immediate problem of running a farm business in a war zone over the past year and a half following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Following his on-stage discussion with Alltech president and CEO Dr Mark Lyons, he explained further to the Irish Farmers Journal just what it is like trying to run a farm business in a war zone.
Grain to Ukraine what oil is to Saudis
As has become the feature of Ukraine since the invasion, Dmitry Skornyakov presented a stoical, matter-of-fact analysis that didn’t sugarcoat the difficulties of farming in wartime.
The company he heads, HarvEast, operates a land base extending to 197,000ha that are mainly in grain, with the business having 17,500 head of livestock.
This is no ordinary farm, but the first distinction Dmitry made in comparing Ukraine to Ireland or indeed EU farming was that in Ukraine, even before the invasion, it is strictly business, while he finds across the EU that agriculture and farming is more of a tradition.
He describes agriculture in Ukraine as “like working in oil in Saudi Arabia or IT in California”, in that it is attractive to young people in a way that it isn’t in the rest of Europe. Part of the reason for this is that the land is farmed in a corporate manner, designed to maximise output and profit.
Agriculture is also Ukraine’s main export, accounting for almost one third of all Ukraine’s exports. That is how it was in normal times, but since the invasion, it is a different picture.
While the Black Sea deal gives Ukraine access to international markets for grain, it comes at a cost and doesn’t have the capacity to handle even the reduced output caused by war.
Dmitry Skornyakov, CEO HarvEast, on right in conversation with Dr Mark Lyons, president and CEO Alltech, at Alltech One conference in Dublin.
Dmitry explained that “before the war, transport cost for grain was in the region of $40 to $60 per tonne, but now it is a minimum of $120 per tonne".
He pointed out that while all grain farmers were losing money and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future, there were also winners.
Successful spirits
“Spirit manufacturers are successful because they have retained their selling price, while the cost of their grain has fallen and it is the same for poultry producers.”
This is a departure from the pre-war days, where a good farmer could make $500/ha across corn, wheat and sunflower crops well suited to Ukraine’s soils.
Despite so many farmers entering the red with these tough market conditions, significant tracts of farmland are not being transferred, limiting the potential for a further concentration of land ownership by Ukraine’s already typically large agri-businesses.
Tight land purchase rules have been a mainstay of the country’s agriculture sector for years and remain a hot topic in political circles, Dmitri says.
De-mining farmland
While HarvEast owns 30,000ha close to Kyiv, the remainder is in the east of the country, currently occupied by Russia which has seized the land and crops.
Even in the Kyiv region, Dmitry explained in a matter-of-fact way how mine clearing is now an every day part of the farming business and comes at great financial cost, as well as human.
He spoke of a tractor exploding in a field that they had cleared and that “there are almost 600ha that remain severely mined around a centre that was previously occupied by Russia”.
When asked about the cost of all this, Dmitry said: “We hope they [Russia] pay sooner or later because we send them to European Court, but it will be very, very long story, I think.”
He put an initial cost of $150m on what has been taken, “grain materials and enterprises”.
Eyes on rebuilding and EU membership
Like most Ukrainians, Dmitry is pro-EU and envisages Ukraine securing membership within the next five years.
When asked about what Ukraine can bring to the EU, he explained that as well as agricultural products, “we have got the second-largest export which is metals, Ukraine is one of the world’s strongest metal players”.
Agri-food output and metals could grant the EU “superpower” status in these areas, he says.
Returning to the war, the Irish Farmers Journal asked how long it would take for agriculture to return to normal when the fighting ends.
Dmitry explained that “the agricultural environment has changed significantly and will never be the same”. However, he added that “when the bombs stop and rebuild is complete, it will take a minimum of five years and it will be a very long and difficult story”.
Potential
Despite the difficulty, Dmitry also sees huge further potential in Ukrainian agriculture.
He says that with the proper investment in irrigation and infrastructure, output could double. For example, he sees the utilisation of waste water from cities as an opportunity.
Access to capital is an issue - it is both expensive to borrow and opportunities are limited.
When put to him that if the EU was to become involved in Ukraine, it would bring a level of bureaucracy, Dmitry accepted this, but, as we concluded the interview, his confidence in Ukraine’s future was undiminished in spite of the challenges.
Read more
Feeding plant waste to cattle reduces methane - Alltech
Farmer-environmentalist conflict a ‘huge challenge’ - McGuinness
Keenan has no plans to move production to Turkey - for now
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