The global organic market is developing dynamically as the demand for organic produce continues to grow. Ukraine, with its vast swathes of fertile land and geographical location between Europe and Asia is poised to be a key supplier in the market. At the end of 2019, Ukraine took 1st place in Europe and 2nd place in the world in terms of exports of organic products to the EU.

Size & Soil

Ukraine is the largest country in Europe with a total area of 60.3 million hectares, including 42.7 million hectares of agricultural land, owning 33% of the world’s most fertile black top soils. Ukraine is ranked 14th in Europe according to the volume of organic agricultural area amounting 879 000 hectares: 233 500 hectares of fully converted land + 75 600 hectares of agricultural land in conversion + 570 000 hectares of wild area. Ukraine has outstanding potential to become a major global supplier of organic products as only 0.7% of its total farmland is now organic. Currently, under a national moratorium there are 41.5 million hectares of agricultural land of which 7% is not cultivated at all. Those lands that have been idle for decades are now being put to productive use with a focus on organic farming.

Growing Conditions

Thanks to its size, geographical location, temperature climate, proximity to potential international buyers, and widespread fertile black top soils, Ukraine has extremely favourable conditions for organic agriculture.

Established Farmers

Ukraine already has an established history in organic production: globally it is ranked 6th in organic oilseed production and 8th in organic wheat. There are already 635 organic operators in Ukraine (including 501 agricultural producers).  The majority of the organic operators in Ukraine are certified according to the EU organic standard, equivalent to the European organic Regulations (EC) 834/2007 and 889/2008 applied for export of organic products. Ukrainian organic operators are also often certified in accordance with the US National Organic Program (NOP) and/or Canada Organic Regime (COR). Other organic standards used in Ukraine include: Bio Suisse (Switzerland), Bioland and Naturland (Germany), JAS (Japan) and KRAV (Sweden).

Highly Competitive Pricing

Due to its geographical position between Europe and Asia, and access to deep water ports in the Black Sea, Ukraine can ship goods nearly anywhere extremely competitively. Ukraine is highly competitive with its premium quality organic food products due to optimal costs of resources, energy and labour.