The keynote speaker at this year’s Australian Dairy Conference was on a mercy mission to protect the agricultural industry in his own country.
Andriy Dykun, president of the Milk Producers of Ukraine and chair of the Ukrainian Agri Council, was also the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in Ukraine 2014-2015.
In his opening remarks to the ADC, Andriy commended Australians for living on an island. In comparison, Ukraine is landlocked by neighbours who are all interested in invading his country.
Andriy leads the co-operative organisation representing the interests of Ukraine’s 1100 farms that includes 150 dairy producing farms.
These dairy farms produce 40 per cent of the raw milk processed in Ukraine into products similar to the Australian dairy industry — especially liquid milk and yoghurt.
Andriy said prior to the war with Russia, Ukraine was classified as one of the top 20 milk producing countries in the world, and steadily moving towards being classified among the top three.
In 2021, it was in 21st spot, producing 8,713,900 litres; one spot below Australia, producing 8,858,135 litres.
Prior to the war, the International Finance Corporation (IMF is a division of the World Bank Group) was assisting Ukraine to help its farmers improve efficiencies, lower costs of production and increase volume.
At the time, most milk was produced for domestic use and the IMF identified stability in the sector could be accelerated by farmers adopting improved technology, production and management processes.
This would in turn increase production to the volumes necessary to meet forecast export markets.
Andriy said there were no standalone dairy farmers; rather, they were grain growers who operated dairies as an added value side venture.
These dairy farms milk between 200 and 700 cows and the animals are housed in barns for most of the year.
The IMF identified value adding as key to enabling dairy expansion in Ukraine.
The IMF, with the support of the Austrian Ministry of Finance, and in partnership with Ukraine’s Association of Milk Producers, developed the Dairy Development Project to fast-track volume increase in Ukraine.
This would be expedited by increasing grain volumes and turning some land into pasture for harvesting fodder — this vertically integrated supply of cattle feed would be utilised to increase herd sizes and therefore milk volume.
At the same time, investment would be made into milk processing factories to enable them to manufacture more dairy products for export markets.
This project has been disrupted by the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Andriy said all farms in Ukraine are owned by co-operatives and leased by a farmer to produce food, most of which is sold locally.
Even with bomb craters making some of the farm non-arable, the farmer is still expected to pay rent to the owners.
Andriy held the audience in awe as he described the war in the occupied territory of his home country.
Thousands of cows have been killed by bombs, and farmers in the occupied territory have been displaced — he suspects some farmers are in detention, because they cannot be accounted for.
Andriy told stories about farms occupied for periods of one month to six months by military forces; farms in the occupied territory which have then been destroyed, along with tractors, buildings and herds of cows.
A new milk processing factory built and opened just before the war with Russia began, is now within the occupied territory and not operating.
Andriy said it was expected to take hundreds of years to return Ukraine’s arable land on the frontline of the war to its full cropping status.
In comparison, other farms outside the occupied territory are expanding their production.
Andriy said one of the challenges now was to increase dairy herd size to meet the country’s demand for milk as a nutritional food.
Andriy is privileged to be allowed to travel out of the Ukraine.
In an interview with Dairy News Australia, he said men aged 18 to 60 years old were obligated to serve in the military, and were not allowed to travel out of Ukraine.
Andriy has special dispensation because he travels overseas to raise money to protect the infrastructure that enables Ukrainian farmers to keep operating.
Andriy told Dairy News Australia donated money pays the military to protect power and water infrastructure, roads and processing factories.
The military needs vehicles and arms to protect the nuclear power plants, water infrastructure, transport routes and processing factories, to enable agriculture in general and the dairy industry in particular to keep functioning during the war.
Andriy said farming inside the 1500km frontline of the war — the occupied territory — has been disrupted, but beyond a 40km buffer zone, the remainder of the country is operating as normal.
He said schools, retail centres and other businesses, farms, milk processing and other factories are operating as normal.
Farmers in the obligatory age group are part of the military, which means farms are being worked by men aged 60-plus years, women and youths.
Farmers are also fulfilling a social function, providing local residents and the armed services with food.
“We deliver between 30,000 to 50,000 boxes of food each month to displaced people and local residents,” he said.
“We rely on local farmers to know who needs the food.
“We also provide food to our military forces.”
Andriy said people who are internally displaced by the war — who used to live in the region now occupied as the frontline — receive an allowance from the Ukrainian Government, but are also dependent on family, friends and aid organisations for daily help with housing and food.
As part of his visit to Australia, Andriy was meeting with representatives from key dairy industry organisations, as he looks beyond the war between Ukraine and Russia, to a time of rebuilding.
“Today, our plan is to survive,” Andriy said.
“Rebuilding is for tomorrow. Rebuilding tomorrow is not as urgent as surviving today.
“After the war, we will need to find ways to add value to our farm production and processing.
“After the war, when we have won, we will have the manpower to rebuild our country.
“I’m in Australia to meet with people and find opportunities for what we could do within our dairy sector as we rebuild after this destruction.”
Since the onset of the war, Australia has provided Ukraine with nearly $1 billion in aid, including $730 million in military aid.
In 2023, as part of Operation Kudu, more than 1200 Ukrainian soldiers underwent training from Australian Defence Force instructors.
Attendees at ADC were encouraged to bid in a silent auction on two paintings.
The silent auction raised $7800 for Andriy to take back to Ukraine. Further donations are still being collated.