Ukraine: collective representation of Dutch companies at AgroSpring 2022
Under the looming threat of military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, Dutch agriculture and agritech companies sent their Ukrainian representatives to join the Netherlands Pavilion at the international agricultural exhibition AgroSpring 2022. On 16 February, on the National Day of Unity, Ambassador Jennes de Mol visited the largest industrial agricultural exhibition in Ukraine to express his support to the Ukrainian partners.
AgroSpring is the most important annual professional agricultural exhibition in Ukraine, organized by Kyiv International Contract Fair. Traditionally, the Netherlands organizes a collective representation of Dutch companies and Dutch brands at this exhibition in a Netherlands Pavilion. Other important foreign suppliers of agricultural technologies to Ukraine, such as Germany, France, Austria, Denmark and Turkey also have their national pavilions at this exhibition.
The two previous editions saw the exhibition scaled down a bit due to changing travel regulations related to COVID-19, which made it difficult for foreign participants to plan their participation. This year, the threat of a military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, a negative travel advice by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign affairs and subsequent cancellation of flights made it impossible for Dutch, German, and French exhibitors to reach Kyiv and join the exhibition.
Despite these difficult conditions AgroSpring 2022 did take place. In fact, it was quite successful and well attended. Ukrainian representatives and partners of 9 Dutch companies joined the Netherlands pavilion and presented their technologies to the agricultural producers.
The following Dutch brands were presented at the Netherlands pavilion: Kanters, Ottevanger Milling Engineers, Mooij Agro, Denkavit, Host Biogas, Bright Biomethane, CropMax of Holland Farming, Vencomatic Group, VDK Agri. Companies Cehave Korm, Lely Centre “L-Ukraine”, Koudijs Ukraine, and Hunland also joined the exhibition with their separate stands.
Given the difficult geopolitical circumstances that Ukraine is facing at this moment, the presence of the Netherlands Pavilion provided a powerful signal of unity with the Ukrainian agricultural producers, partners and clients. It enabled a continuation of business cooperation and fostered strong personal relations and links between Dutch and Ukrainian business. The visit of our Ambassador Jennes de Mol to the exhibition was very much appreciated by both the participants of Netherlands Pavilion and by the organizers. It was also a gesture of support to those Ukrainians who contribute to effective food production.
For many years the Netherlands pavilion has servedas a bright platform to promote Netherlands Branding and was part of the Farming the Future Campaign. By now these concepts are well-recognized on the Ukrainian agricultural market. Products and technologies that are presented by the Dutch participants all follow the principles of sustainable farming with respect to nature, smart agriculture, and responsible consumption. Companies present solutions that help reduce food waste, minimize use of antibiotics in animal breeding, systems of keeping animals with respect to their welfare, and smart feeding to ensure health, as well as technology of turning waste to energy. To implement the slogan about sustainable consumption in the daily routine, the Dutch embassy cooperated with Ukrainian smart waste sorting company GreenAge in an education project for pavilion members.
On the first day of the exhibition, the Pavilion participants that are active in the field of animal breeding, together with the Ukrainian Association of Agrarian Business, held a seminar for the Ukrainian zootechnicians and veterinarians. The seminar was devoted to health and management of young stock. The companies presented Dutch solutions that enable smart management, feeding and veterinary treatment based on results of modern research. As a follow up, the chief veterinarian of Dutch dairy farm in Ukraine “Rozvolozhzhya” shared practical experience of his work.
After the exhibition was over, pavilion participants shared their positive impressions about the event and the business meetings they had. They are optimistic about their future cooperation with the Ukrainian agricultural producers.