A new type of land raiding has appeared in Ukraine. Businesses are blaming for the fact of ammonium in soil, which is not really a toxic element or an indicator of soil contamination.

The new scheme works as follows: the State Coinspection takes a sample at the plot that is cultivated and, accordingly, fertilizers are applied. Another is on a plot that is not used for agricultural purposes. The samples are compared with the content of ammonium (exchange) in terms of ammonium nitrogen, which is a component of both organic and mineral fertilizers and one of the key indicators of soil fertility. It is logical that its content will be higher in the sample of land that is fertilized. However, this is interpreted as pollution, which is the basis for recognizing the land lease as invalid, and may also be a reason for administrative prosecution and even a criminal case. And all this despite the fact that the ammonium content in the soil is not normalized.

The Danish pig farm “DFU Agro”, which together with the parent company “Dan-Farm Ukraine” LLC is one of the twenty leaders in pork production on the domestic market and works according to the strictest European standards, has already found itself in such a situation.

To prove the illegality of the accusation, the company ordered a soil examination. According to the letter of the Kyiv Research Institute of Forensic Examinations, the examination is impossible and impractical, because ammonium (exchange) is not a toxic element and an indicator of soil contamination. In addition, the ammonium form of nitrogen in combination with nitrate is mineral nitrogen - a component of soil fertility (conclusion of the Ukrainian Laboratory of Quality and Product Safety of the agro-industrial complex). All this and many other arguments of the farm, in particular, in terms of the positive impact of the detected ammonium content on soil fertility, were ignored by both the environmental inspectorate and the courts of the 1st and the 2nd instances. The court decided to seize the land on the basis of a single piece of evidence in the case - a protocol drawn up by the environmental inspection to measure the soil content, the results of which compared the ammonium content on 2 neighboring land plots.

This practice indicates the possibility of recognizing any previously fertilized land as contaminated. The result could be mass accusations of agricultural enterprises of soil contamination, termination of land lease agreements and criminal prosecution.

"For our company, the situation is particularly threatening on the eve of the opening of the land market. We are a company with 100% Danish investment, and therefore we are unlikely to be able to buy land as a company with foreign beneficiaries. Accordingly, leased land is an extremely valuable asset for us. However, at present, unscrupulous competitors, using dangerous practices, can incite people to terminate land lease agreements through the courts” - director of “SFU Agro” LLC Vadym Shestakov commented.

Currently, the issue is reported to the relevant ministries. We hope that joint efforts will develop transparent rules of the situation for farmers (including by changing the Methodology for determining the amount of damage caused by pollution and littering of land resources due to violations of environmental legislation) and prevent the development of a new form of raiding!