The project is executed in 2024 – 2025 with financial support of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands via RVO.nl
The purpose of this project is to set up a tailormade online training on sustainable agriculture practices (under the sustainable food system approach) for students of agricultural educational institutions, farmers, experts in the field and wider interested audience of Ukraine.
PSD Green Education Ukraine
The training will facilitate knowledge transfer from the Dutch experience of introduction of the sustainable agriculture practices in the Netherlands. To ensure compliance of the Ukrainian agricultural sector with today's challenges, it's essential for Ukrainian farmers, students from agricultural universities and consultants to learn how the transition toward more sustainable practices is possible.
The overall purpose of the project
The project will showcase the knowledge and expertise of the Dutch agrifood and horticulture sectors in promoting sustainable food systems and creating social and economic opportunities in Ukraine.
In order to address the local needs, an expert group will be created with the teachers from Agricultural Universities (partners of AgroKebety and its coordinators) and local businesses that are members of UCAB. This expert group will study the cases of EU countries on sustainable agriculture and use them for the development of the “study course + models for Ukraine” which will further be incorporated into the curriculum of the local agricultural institutes.
Through communication with agricultural companies and farmers who are members of UCAB, the group of experts will elaborate the local case studies to include in the teaching materials. Finally, through introduction of the developed modules into the existing curricula at least 10 Ukrainian universities participating at the Agrokebety project, the project will provide to knowledge transfer capacity building in the field of sustainable agriculture in Ukraine and will fill in the gap between priorities of the recently adopted policy and business needs on the way to the integration to the European Union (EU).
PSD Green Education lectures WUR
Results of the first stage
At the first stage Association UCAB and the Wageningen University and Research agreed the structure and content of the new course “Regenerative Agriculture” and made an announcement for students from 12 “green” universities in different regions of Ukraine, primarily learning agronomy and ecology at master programmes.
The lectures were moderated by Alla Kravchenko, Anatoliy Tsyrkun and Oleksandr Radchenko from the Association UCAB under support of Dr. Bert Smit from the WUR side. All lectures were conducted in English with simultaneous translation into Ukrainian language that allowed to offer equal opportunities for all students who were interested in this topic. Through the digital platform ZOOM, they were able to choose language and also to write or ask their questions and opinions during the Q&A sessions. Active discussions helped to consolidate the material presented and adapt it to Ukrainian realities.
For better communication with students we used our Telegram channel “Agrokebety 2024-2025: all students” as well as groups of students at each of the partner universities. Students received announcement of each lecture with its general overview, the link to join as well as very useful pre-reads related to the topic of a lecture.
After announcement of the course 225 participants registered and attended the lectures. The average number of on-line listeners at each lecture was 110 persons.
The novelty and importance of the topic of regenerative agriculture, as well as the high scientific level of the information presented by the professors and researchers of the Wageningen University and Research, attracted also great interest from the academic staff (lecturer) from the “green” universities, who also attended the course lectures. As a follow up, both WUR and Association UCAB received letters of appreciation from some lecturers.
PSD Green Education - on-line lecture
To make the knowledge transfer sustainable and available for all students and academia community in Ukraine and broader, Association UCAB has recorded both English (original) and Ukrainian (simultaneously interpreted) streams of the 10 lectures and together with pre-reads and the presentations from WUR (when it was allowed) designed in an online course uploaded on the digital education platform AgrokebetyPRO. Upon successful completion of the final tests for each of the lectures, the platform offers students the opportunity to obtain a certificate in the relevant language.
The course was complemented by the translation of the documentary film “Planet.Soil” into Ukrainian language with subtitles. The course participants as well as other students at universities and colleges were provided with up to 200 unique codes with one-time access to watch the film. Association UCAB initiated also collecting feedbacks from the students and received 17 unique answers where students shared their impressions of the film, their thoughts on the importance of preserving the soil and life in it, and their opinions on best farming practices that can be used to preserve soil fertility. One of the students wrote: “The film “Planet.Soil” impresses with its visual presentation and depth of scientific approach, revealing the hidden life of the soil. It demonstrates the importance of soil ecosystems for agriculture and climate”.
Second stage of the Project
On July 4, 2025, as part of the project "Green Education for Sustainable Agriculture", implemented with the support of the Dutch entrepreneurship agency RVO and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine, the "Agrokebety" project and the NGO "Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club" held an online roundtable discussion dedicated to the development of the master's course "Renewable Agriculture" for the master's degree program "Agronomy".
he event was attended by more than 50 representatives of agricultural education, science and business. The working group for the development of the course was joined by specialists from 12 leading agricultural universities of Ukraine, as well as representatives of agricultural companies that already have practical experience in implementing sustainable agriculture technologies.
Beeld: © AgroKebety
Today, Ukraine needs not only weapons, but also food. The Ukrainian agricultural sector is facing several challenges at the same time - war, climate change, as well as preparations for accession to the European Union. Therefore, it is important to integrate the principles of sustainable management into agricultural education to ensure that the Ukrainian agricultural sector meets the challenges of the present and the future
- said Carolien Spaans, Agricultural Counsellor of the Embassy in Kyiv in her welcome speech.
The head of the educational project "Agrokebety" Anatoliy Tsyrkun presented the current updates within the project and outlined the key issues for discussion. The focus of the discussion was on the formation of the content of educational modules that will meet the needs of modern agriculture, in particular the needs for restoring soil fertility, preserving biodiversity and reducing environmental impact.
The speakers of the webinar shared their experience in implementing regenerative agriculture practices:
- Dmytro Kyselev, head of the Agrarian Development Center of the Private Enterprise "Zakhidny Bug"
- Taras Kornienko, head of the crop production department of the company "Agrain"
- Frederika Vogel, owner of the company Roseta Agro
- Valeriy Lyashinsky, head of the company Roseta Agro in Ukraine
Aspects of teaching regenerative agriculture in higher education institutions were discussed by:
- Svitlana Kalenska, doctor of agricultural sciences Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Plant Production, NUBIP of Ukraine
- Mykola Kosolap, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Agriculture and Herbology, NUBIP of Ukraine
- Kozar Serhiy, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Senior Researcher, Professor of the Department of Agricultural Technologies and Forestry, NU "Chernihiv Polytechnic"
- Representatives of Sumy NAU, Mykolaiv NAU, Bila Tserkva NAU, Kherson State Agricultural University, Luhansk National University named after T. Shevchenko, East Ukrainian National University named after V. Dal, Poltava State Agricultural University and other agricultural universities of Ukraine.
The event was moderated by Alla Kravchenko, Program Coordinator of the "Agrokebety" project, who emphasized the importance of combining the efforts of the academic community and agribusiness to create relevant and practice-oriented content for higher education students. Alla Kravchenko also noted the special value and importance for the development of the training course of the support and experience of Dutch experts, which was previously studied during the educational mission of representatives of Ukrainian agricultural universities to Dutch "green" educational institutions, as well as during guest lectures by professors and researchers from Wageningen University.
More information about round table (in Ukrainian)
Report: Results of the first stage
At the first stage Association UCAB and the Wageningen University and Research agreed the structure and content of the new course “Regenerative Agriculture” and made an announcement for students from 12 “green” universities in different regions of Ukraine, primarily learning agronomy and ecology at master programmes.