Morgan Williams writes: Ukraine's huge potential is being unmet.
Ukraine historically has been called “the breadbasket of Europe.” Even this underestimates Ukraine’s potential. The nation today can be a huge “market basket” of high-value products, not a “breadbasket” of low-value products.
Land reform has started up in Ukraine. In the course it provides the creation of special public institution for land management, the ban on land sales to foreigners and legal entities, limitation of the areas one buyer can get. How much will the land cost? What a farmer needs to know to avoid a bad bargain, and when will the sale of land start? Guests of “IZVESTIA” in Ukraine” Press Club were searching for the answers to these questions.
A letter from E.Morgan Williams, President of U.S-Ukraine Business Council addressed to The US Senate on behalf of the USUBC Agribusiness committee.
Ships with grain leave ports of Ukraine tomorrow. Quoting Nicolai Prisiazhniuk, Minister for agrarian policy of Ukraine, the decision was adopted today during the meeting with N.Azarov, Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Amid all the doom and gloom, one sector in the country’s economy has a bright future and promises high yields. Despite a deep recession that sent gross domestic product plunging 15 per cent last year, some budding domestic agribusinesses reported double-digit growth.
Russia's grain harvest this year is likely to be 3 million-6 million metric tons lower than the earlier estimates of 90 million-93 million tons because of drought in the country's Southern and Central regions.
Argentina's soybean crush from January through April was down sharply on the year despite the bumper crop grown this season as more of the crop is being shipped as beans.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday lowered its forecast for corn planting this year to 87.9 million acres. That's down from the 88.8 million acres in USDA's previous prediction, but still a 2% increase from 2009.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk has expressed hope that a moratorium on sale and purchase of farmland would be cancelled from January 1,2011. "I'd be glad if free trade is introduced from January 1,2011. Everybody is waiting for the cancellation of the moratorium,starting from farmers and ending with investors," he said in an interview with the Kontrakty weekly published on May 31.
Ukrzernoprom Agro, one of the largest farming companies in Ukraine based in Kyiv, began gathering the 2010 harvest. On June 20 Ukrzernoprom Agro started the harvesting campaign of early grain crops in husbandries of Crimea and Odesa region," the company has announced in a statement. The company says early grain crops and rapeseed acreage for harvesting makes 57,900 hectares.