Ukraine's Biggest Farmer

Here is a story about "the Ukraine's biggest farmer" betting on the EU and China.

"Inside the command and control center of Ukrlandfarming, some 20 information technology specialists track every operational detail of the nation’s largest farm on 24 computer monitors. Using global positioning systems that feed real time data on sophisticated maps gleaned from satellite images, they monitor 654,000 hectares of farmland in 19 oblasts, including what machinery is on hand and how much fuel each one has.

Pointing to the screens, chief financial officer Natalia Smolyanets explains how each of the company’s 12 farming clusters is strategically structured so that its fleet of John Deere machinery can take fuel-saving routes in the fields.

It’s this kind of sophistication, combined with high-precision farming, that has made billionaire Oleg Bakhmatyuk’s Ukrlandfarming a darling and the envy of Ukraine’s dynamic agricultural community. The company claims to have 70 percent higher corn yields than the national average, for example.

Impressive as it looks, including last year’s 39 percent net income jump to above $750 million, the agriculture company’s eurobond and stock holders are probably wondering more about operations in Russia-annexed Crimea and the turbulent eastern regions, where it has land resources and chicken processing plants."

I was hoping to visit in this lifetime but I doubt that is going to happen now.  A group wanted to bring me over to talk about how we do things in the U.S. but that fell through about the time the unrest started.

They claim to have some the richest soil in the world but not the climate or infrastructure to go with it.  I think Darren and Brian Hefty have been there, they could tell you more but I am sure many things have changed.

I know wheat farmers have been talking about the Ukraine affecting current wheat price and that's about it.

Ed