The Ukrainian Agri Council has held a general meeting of members, which was the result of a difficult but productive year for the association. During the event, the UAC reported on its key achievements and outlined the challenges it will focus on in the future.

The UAC has managed to achieve a number of key results, including preserving preferential financing for agricultural producers, launching automatic reserving of employees through Diia, abolishing corruption barriers to exports, and lobbying for a fair approach to tax changes. An important achievement is prohibition on privatization of state-owned agricultural enterprises that use agricultural land plots.

The UAC paid special attention to protection of farmers from the frontline and occupied territories. After an active advocacy campaign, a law was passed to suspend credit obligations for companies that lost assets due to the war, introduce tax benefits, and compensate for demining costs. We managed to reduce transportation tariffs for the affected regions (savings for farmers amounted to over UAH 400 million in 2024).

Another important achievement was that the UAC has managed to stop an attempt to introduce a 10% export duty on rapeseed and soybeans, an initiative that could have dealt a devastating blow to small and medium-sized agricultural producers.

At the meeting, the UAC also announced a new cooperative model with a system of patronage dividends. It will allow cooperative members to receive cashback for fertilizers, fuel, seeds, processing, and exports, as well as to participate in infrastructure projects and have access to international financing.

The UAC continues to pay considerable attention to European integration. During the year, the organization has managed to push through key amendments to the law on plant protection products that bring the rules of the game closer to EU standards, protect Ukrainian producers from the uncontrolled launch of GMO crops, and achieve a transition period for raising excise taxes on fuel.

"European integration is not only about markets, it is about equality and respect for Ukrainian farmers. We are fighting for adaptation, not copying, and for our industry to be competitive - even during the war," said Andrii Dykun, the UAC Chairman.

Despite the successes, the UAC has clearly outlined what it will work on in the near future. Talking about main things – it’s about a number of general initiatives that are important for the long-term stability of the agricultural sector. These include reducing the excise tax rate on diesel fuel, introducing loans to farmers secured by agricultural land lease rights, adopting a law on land consolidation, equalizing railroad tariffs for grain transportation, supporting agricultural enterprises after the abolition of the Commercial Code, abolishing VAT on the transfer of property to the Water Users Organization (WUO), changing the methodology for calculating the nominative monetary valuation to take into account the moisture coefficient, exemption from land tax for plots transferred under emphyteusis, and the introduction of patronage dividends for agricultural cooperatives.

A separate area is systemic support for affected enterprises. The UAC will ask the President to sign the Law of Ukraine №4340-IX on “suspending loans” and adopt the law on fortification, create a sustainable system of state aid to agricultural enterprises that have lost capacity as a result of the war, simplify registration procedures for businesses that have moved from the occupied territories, and legislate activities in the frontline and de-occupied regions.

"We see that unresolved problems are turning into systemic crises. Therefore, the UAC will continue to be a driver of reforms in the interests of farmers and, consequently, the state. Because those who feed the country should be at the center of state policy," emphasized Andrii Dykun.

The Ukrainian Agri Council remains the largest and most influential association of Ukrainian farmers, which systematically protects the interests of small and medium-sized businesses in the context of war, reforms and pressure on the industry. The UAC meeting proved that the agrarian community is strong, united and ready for action.

The UAC sincerely thanks all farmers for their trust, unity and support. It is thanks to you that the voice of farmers is loud.