The agricultural sector in Ukraine has suffered a lot since the beginning of the russia’s large-scale invasion. The cultivated areas in Ukraine have decreased by 25% because of the military actions, but the entire sector continues to work.

Despite the difficulties, the organic agriculture shows more resilience in crisis situations than conventional. The organic agriculture shows less vulnerability than the intensive production:

• organic production facilities are less vulnerable because the areas of organic production facilities are usually smaller than the traditional large livestock complexes and logistics centres that became easy targets for airstrikes and artillery
• organic operators have a variety of sales channels, including direct sales to consumers, so they are less dependent on large logistics centres. While remoteness of logistics centres from production facilities and problems with fuel showed imperfection of long supply chains in conventional farming
• organic operators were able to increase exports to the EU countries and Switzerland by 13% in 2022 thanks to differentiated sales channels, while exports of conventional products decreased by more than 30%, primarily due to port blockages

The latest data collected by the Organic Initiative^[1] in the run-up to Biofach 2023 demonstrate the determination of organic operators to continue their activities, in particular:

• over 85% of organic operators continue to work despite that a part of them suspended their work during the first months but were able to restart their activities
• over 95% of organic operators plan to continue their activities specifically in the organic sector

Full version of media release

More information about the state of the organic sector in Ukraine:

Olena Deineko, Organic Initiative coordinator
+38 (067) 103 96 94,
coordinator@organicinitiative.org.ua
www.organicinitiative.org.ua

[1] Data collected by the Organic Initiative (Ukraine) in cooperation with Organic Standard certification body (Ukraine) from the results of the survey of organic business conducted from January 20 to February 1^st, 2023.