AR BORYSPIL HOSTS VISITORS WHILE INCREASING AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS DURING THE WAR
On May 14, agricultural exporter AR Boryspil in Kyiv Oblast hosted a tour of their facilities for Mark T. McCord, Senior Director of DAI’s Eastern Europe Regional Portfolio, Daniel Schmidt, DAI’s Deputy Chief Ethics & Integrity Officer, and staff at USAID Economic Resilience Activity (USAID ERA). The visitors had the opportunity to see USAID funded equipment and learn how the company continues to export grain during the war.
AR Boryspil has a full cycle of equipment for receiving, storing, drying, and shipping grain crops. On the tour, the visitors started by seeing how the grain from trucks come into the facility and are analyzed. Analysis is mandatory and shows the quality of grain, its moisture content, waste and grain impurities, and the GMO content. Anastasia Tytarenko, Director of Grain Quality Control, analyzed the incoming corn from the truck in the laboratory which takes up to 20 minutes. The laboratory also forms composite samples for the further transfer to the independent GAFTA laboratory, which determines if heavy metals, pesticides, mycotoxins, toxic elements, radionuclides, etc. are present. All these results allow AR Boryspil to ensure that the grain can be safely exported.
Walking around the facilities, guests saw how grain is stored in elevators and loaded into USAID funded grain wagons for further export. To increase the export capacity of AR Boryspil, USAID ERA purchased 25 grain wagons. USAID’s assistance enabled AR Boryspil to raise its own funds and invest in an additional 15 wagons, bringing their total wagon count to 40 grain wagons.
“Our fleet of 40 grain wagons will allow us to increase exports of grain by at least 60,000 tons per year. The support of international partners is important for our company, and we are ready to jointly invest in new projects to develop Ukraine’s export potential. Today, we evaluate not only investments in logistics, but also other projects—expansion of elevators, oil processing, biogas, and dairy farms.” – says Taras Ivanyshyn, Investments Director of Agro-Region.
Furthermore, USAID provided truck scales which reduce loading and unloading times and ensure accurate cargo weight. About 100 farmers selling grain to AR Boryspil, use these scales free of charge. Recently, USAID ERA delivered two powerful generators, which together with Agro-Region’s existing generators, will help maintain the autonomous operation of the elevator (storing, drying, and shipping) even in blackouts.
AR Boryspil’s biggest challenge now is the military conscription. As of now, 34 workers have joined the military. Woman have filled in some of the gaps and AR Boryspil also invests resources in training additional workers who will be able to replace those mobilized.
By 2022, Agro-Region exported an average of 250,000-300,000 tons of grain per year and is trying to increase the level of exports. Since April 2024, when Agro-Region received 25 wagons from USAID ERA, the cost of logistics decreased by 25% from the market price.
AR Boryspil LLC is part of the Agro-Region Group, a group of 11 companies growing grain and oil crops in Ukraine. Agro-Region is a group of agricultural companies that cultivates 40,000 hectares of agricultural land in Chernihiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv and Zhytomyr oblasts. It has three elevators in Boryspil, Myropol and Zavorychi with a total storage capacity of about 160,000 tons. The company grows corn, wheat, rapeseed, soybeans, barley, sunflower and oats.