- It`s hard to find words to show how I`m happy about our meeting here in Rivne to participate in charitable international scientific and practical conferences. Since 2016, the media group "Technologies and Innovations" has already organized more than 30 conferences and about 10 thousand people attended! Each time, more and more participants attend our events, including foreign members. Today, we were able to bring together about 300 participants, as farmers and producers of frozen products, plant nursery owners, and representatives of technological companies, - noted Kateryna KONYEVA, co-founder of the media group "Technologies and Innovations" in her welcoming speech.

 

 

The co-founder and director of the media group "Technologies and Innovations" Nadiya Yashchuk also wished the conference participants good work and a calm, productive day.

 

The Director of the Department of Agro-Industrial Development of the Rivne Military Administration, Nadiya PEREKHODKO, noted in her welcoming speech about the increasing numbers of newly running businesses in horticultural and berry growing sectors of the Rivne region in recent years.

 

- I would like to note that since our last meeting at the same conference in September, the number of challenges rose essentially for farmers, and especially for berry growers due to wartime. First of all, that is the lack of energy resources. As a result, the agricultural sector needs support not only from the state but also from local budgets. It should be noted that the state program of business support "Affordable Loans 5-7-9%" which provides financial assistance for the development of orchards and greenhouses keeps working in 2023 as well, - noted Nadiya Perekhodko in her speech.

 

 

 

The conference was opened with the discussion panel "Berry Growing in the Condition of Martial Law: Sales on the Domestic Market and for Export". Ihor NITSKEVYCH ("Nikdaria"), Dmytro GONCHARENKO ("Fruitovy Sad AT"), Olena VOROBYOVA ("Grass Avenue"), Ruslan MAZUREVYCH took part in it. The participants of the discussion panel kept in the focus the following issues: state support, grants, loaning, and other ways of supporting the agricultural sector; product quality; certification and export; pricing policy, the impact of the cost of berries on income, etc.

 

At the beginning of the conference, the president of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetable Association, Taras BASHTANNYK outlined the prospects for the development of the Ukrainian berry growing sector in 2023 during wartime and his expectations, forecasts, price analysis, and the export situation. Thus, the expert noted that the year 2022 has gone under the sign of raspberry, and, according to preliminary estimates, the export volume of frozen raspberries reached 30-35 thousand tons. Garden strawberries had a more limited supply due to the lack of supplies from southern Ukraine. Therefore, prices in the fresh market were high, which caused a reduction in processing volumes.

 

New highbush blueberry varieties were presented by the representative of the FALL CREEK company in Ukraine, Zhanna MATVIENKO, and the manager of agronomic support, Marcin VERESHCHUK, our key technological conference partner. The speakers analyzed different highbush blueberry varieties in appropriation to the ripening period, size, density, general storage index, taste, etc.

 

– As an option for customers` cooperation, we offer the Fall Creek® Collection program. It is a new and simply value-added highbush blueberry genetic platform that provides modern technologies and horticultural support to professional commercial blueberry growers worldwide. The goal of this program is simple to give highbush blueberry growers a competitive advantage with the help of varieties of special and new genetics and to create a flexible program that helps each customer to be independent in growing and marketing these varieties. This program helps growers succeed in the cultivation of these varieties by providing a higher level of horticultural support and technical expertise through our advanced research. This program includes different berry varieties, such as Arabella Blue®, Luna Blue®, Loretto Blue®, Peachy Blue®, and some others for different climate zones, with cold climates in priority. All the above-mentioned varieties of the Fall Creek selection are in the berry register of Ukraine, - noted by the speaker.

 

At the beginning and during the berry business development, we always have the same questions about the quality of planting material and the proper selection of berry crop varieties. This important topic was touched upon in his speech by the director of the Ukrainian well-known in vitro nursery "Dolyna-Agro" Oleg BAZYUK, among other things, paying attention to blueberry diseases:

 

- The appearance of especially dangerous bacterial diseases and the spreading of certain forms of plant cancer, anthracnose, and late blight is crucial. The issue around plant diseases arises more and more due to uncontrolled import and irresponsible propagation of planting material. So, not always good "looking" planting material is clean and can be well for planting areas as the disease may appear during the following seasons. Do not use nitric acid for acidification, as it stimulates the development of plant cancer.

 

Serhiy ZMIYCHUK, director of the FruTek company, told us about the range of planting materials for berry crops for organic and conventional technologies and made a review of the most promising and new highbush blueberry varieties garden strawberries, raspberries, red currants, hascap, and blackberries. 

 

Agnieszka Ozhel, the representative of the Polish nursery Niwa and the company Dr.Berry Sp.z o.o., told us about the successes in the Polish selection of raspberries and blackberries. The speaker paid attention to yellow and black varieties of raspberries and analyzed the features of such varieties as Delniwa, HUSARIA, Glorniwa, etc. For example, the Delniwa variety has an early ripening period and includes advantages such as high hardness and long post-harvest stability of 8-9 days, at the same time, after mechanical harvesting, the berries keep shine and firmness.

 

Speaker told us the following: "If you want to grow the Delniwa raspberry variety, you need to limit the row width to 50 cm, the number of seedlings up to 12-15 per meter, and leave at least 4m between rows. At the same time, there were recommendations for using Didymella aplanata, Botritis cinerea, Leptosphaeria, and Phragmidium rubi-idaei for reducing fading plants. Highly important to use treatments of systemic protection from the early phase of plant growth."

 

No less important themes of plant protection and nutrition for berry crops because every season brings certain problems for farmers with which they have to fight. Thus, representatives of the following companies told about the way of effective berry protection and nutrition: "Agritema", "Rodonite Agro", "Biochem Agro", BTU-CENTER, "VITERA UKRAINE", "Summit-Agro Ukraine", and "EKOORGANIC". It should be noted that this year the main focus was on eco-technologies, giving preference to methods of biological protection of plants.

 

Agronomist of the company "Biochim Agro" Artur SIZHUK presented products for berry growing - CaTs® - calcium thiosulfate - a unique novelty for fruit nutrition which has some advantages, including helping to wash away harmful salts, soil conditioning by chemical colloids, risk-free of clogging of fertigation systems, a wide range of temperatures for storage, etc.

 

Nataliya BELIKHINA, a consultant on drip irrigation technology, company "Eucalypt P" told on effective, and at the same time, economical irrigation systems. The conference participants also learned from Olga POVARKOVA, the representative of the Farmer.ua company, why agrochemical research is necessary for growing highbush blueberries and how it helps to build a successful business. 

 

 

The conference was attended by managers and chief agronomists of berry farms from all over Ukraine. Most of them managed to build a successful business in the cultivation of highbush blueberries, garden strawberries, raspberries, and niche crops to develop it further. Among farms are: "Yagidne MC", "Berry Paradise", "Yagidnf Poliana", "Berry Side of Life", and others. It`s interesting fact that some many new companies and farmers that decided to visit this event for the first time. These are "Agro Time", "Pylypovyts’ Farm", "Podilskyi Kolos", "Harberry", "Rovy Agro", "Orient Way", "Mineralis Ukraine", Frios, Vital Plast, "Farm in a Smartphone", "Volyn Berry", "Zakarpattia Berries", "Agro Berry", and "Agroresurs Trading", etc.

 

The thematic palette of the conference 2023 was extremely extensive because speakers shared their unique experience in growing highbush blueberries, garden strawberries, raspberries, aslo currants, blackberries, hascap, etc.

 

So, the deputy director for scientific work, the plant breeder of the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleksandr Yareshchenko, during his speech, answered on the most common questions concerning all pros and cons in the growing currants and opened new varieties, market challenges and the potential of this popular crop. According to the scientist, the total area of currant plantations in Ukraine is approximately 4,100 hectares, at the same time, only about 1,300 hectares are occupied by plantations for commercial production. Oleksandr Yareshchenko gave much attention to such main agricultural methods in feeding, irrigation and plant protection against diseases, some peculiarities in currant planting for manual and mechanized harvesting.

 

Vitaliy ISHMURAT, the founder of the farm "Berries of Volun" told participants how to create a stable, successful berry cluster and the advantages and disadvantages of working in the berry cluster format. The speaker named advantages, such as joining material and non-material assets, the territorial closeness of enterprises, a single raw material base, and ensuring the employment of the local people. So, among the disadvantages, there were mentioned, the results depend on only the whole cluster`s work, and at the same time, the efficiency also depends on the activities of each participant, consolidated decision-making, etc.

 

 

Pavel VAVRYSCHUK, the representative of the Polish company Polska Borowka, gave practical advice for organic business from his own experience:

- High-temperature drops at night block the adopting potassium during fruit growth that caused stopping the growing berries in weight. The consequence of potassium deficiency leads to a lack of calcium and magnesium, which is associated with the loss of fruit integrity and a decrease in resistance to atmospheric conditions. Plants that are grown with enough amount of silicon do not lose weight and even increase it. Due to the silicon effect, better conditions are made for plant growth overall. Thanks to this, plants also improve the taking of calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, which is responsible for the water balance.

 

Dmytro BRYTSOV, the chief agronomist of the company "Deddens Agro" shared his exclusive experience in growing organic raspberries. He paid attention to the ground selection planting material, soil preparation, as well as the protection and nutrition for the organic raspberry field.   

 

Hanna LUTSKO, an international expert in berry growing and agronomist-consultant, also introduced the state-of-the-art technology in growing garden strawberries on the tables and in block tunnels. Thus, among the advantages in growing garden strawberries in block tunnels on the tables are high yield (over 50 t/ha or over 1 kg per bush), high quality of harvested products, high yield of first-class berries (90%), eco-friendly, and high price for berry. 

 

The speech of agronomist-consultant Iryna KOBRYNETS caused a lot of emotions in the participants because it was dedicated to working on mistakes that berry growers make during plant care. (The full version of this speech will be published in the "Berry - Field " journal - next issue.).

 

Iryna BARZO, co-founder of the initiative "Berry Side of Life" emphasized how to reduce the percentage of manual labor in the field. For this, according to Iryna Barzo, it is not necessary to save on the basic materials but to create conditions for a clean field, and maximally mechanize and automate work processes in the field. The speaker presented a tested solution - an individual electric vehicle designed to relieve and increase labor productivity and product quality while growing strawberries, asparagus, and other crops - SEM 1.

 

Yulia HORBATYUK, the founder of the farm "Yagidna Polyana", shared her experience in the successful processing of highbush blueberries into jams, pastilles, marmalades, wine, mulled wine, and brandy.

 

The emotional speech was from the founders of TM FAMBERRY, Serhiy, and Nataliya OLSHANSKY, who created a unique business based on growing cornelian cherry (Cornus mas). Since 2013, the owners of this company have been growing the largest organic cornelian cherry orchard in Europe. Unfortunately, this orchard is currently under occupation, and they were unable to get last year`s harvest. The war took away the dearest person from the family Olshansky – their son. Nevertheless, the family believes in the victory and is currently building and equipping its processing complex in Zaporizhzhia to set up processing cornelian cherry at its production capacities. The product range that the family Olshansky was able to bring at the exhibition in Rivne is impressive: juices, compotes, purees, jams, sauces, sublimated drops, pastilla, tea, berry powder, etc. So, conference participants kindly met this family and wished them big success in their berry business. (Read the full version of the article about Olshansky`s berry business in the journal "Berry - Field ")

 

 

About 40 partner companies were presented at the conference "Berry Growing and Processing in the Condition of Martial Law: We Learn How Not to Give Up!". It should be noted that advanced technologies and equipment for berry growing and farming were presented by the following companies: Fall Creek, EFT PLUS, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine, Vodovid, Modern refrigeration technologies, Summit-Agro Ukraine, Van Dyke Techniques, 4 elements, SmartAgro, Rosana, Elifab solutions SL, MAS Systems, FARMER.UA, Makita Ukraine, Fruit Orchard AT, Agritema, Rodonite Agro, Vitera Ukraine, Insortex, Eucalypt P, Dolyna Agro, Ekoorganik, NOVOSAD, "Insolar-Holod", Berry side of life. The rule of food partners belongs to the following producers: Hobanwine, Shikarden, Yagidna Polyana, Vitamin 2015, and Goshchanska Dolyna of Cheeses.

 

Conference speakers and partners sharing their impressions of the event emphasized the importance of carrying out such events as it`s an opportunity not only to share their own experiences but a chance to get new knowledge.

- Winter is the most successful time for gaining new experiences, making acquaintances, and finding new friends because, at other times of the year, that is not easy through constant business on the fields or orchards. Such events inspire us with new ideas and give us knowledge. Yes, we go home with completely written-off notebooks and already know what we will be doing soon. At the conferences organized by the media group "Technologies and Innovations," there is such an atmosphere that people do not compete with each other but want to assist. And this is even more inspiring to work and do what you love. We are already looking forward to the next meeting because I know that after then we will have even more questions, to which we will get answers, - told Mykola OSTROVSKY, a member of the "Berry Paradise" cooperative.

 

Year after year, Hryhoriy SHAMBOROVSKY, the founder of the farm "Chance" Lviv region, visits our conference. He grows hascap, sea buckthorn, and hazelnuts wishing to start growing highbush blueberry and currant. According to Hryhori Shamborovskyi, he likes visiting our conference to obtain new knowledge and experience in the surrounding of professional people.

 

 

In parallel with the conference, the II All-Ukrainian Congress on Freezing, Processing and Cold Logistics was held in another hall of the hotel-restaurant complex "Aivengo" during which participants discussed the development of the frozen berry market, and vector changes during the season 2023, successful export frozen products, and information about proper selecting of refrigerating equipment, management on freezing enterprises in the condition of wartime and power outage.

 

 

At the beginning of the freezing congress, took place a discussion panel on "Freezing and other types of berry processing: practitioners` experience. Export. Work in the realities of martial law". The discussion panel participants discussed issues related to the sale of frozen berries, the price forecast for this year, exports, etc. Andriy LOMEIKO ("Smilyanska Khodnya"), Iryna PAVLENKO ("Frau Marta"), Serhiy SUKHINA ("Artika plus"), Olena VOROBYOVA ("Grass Avenue"), Oleksiy GLADYSHEV (Levada Trace), Kostyantyn KUZMENKO took part in the discussion panel.

The head of the company "Fruktona-VN" Kostyantyn KUZMENKO, told us about the freezing and processing business in today`s conditions, the main challenges and ways to overcome them, the price policy, and how to keep the company during power outages. 

 

 

Commercial Director of the company "Van Dijk Technieks" Andriy MARUSCHAK introduced innovations for berry growing and how to keep berries fresh until the new year. The specialist analyzed the peculiarities of storage in today`s realities during scheduled and unscheduled power outages.

 

The head of the technical department of the company "Insolar-Holod" Vitaliy SALASENKO, analyzed the details concerning choosing refrigeration equipment and the mistakes which we should   avoid in the future.  

Oleg CHYKALYUK, co-owner of the Renamax group of companies, told the congress participants about the organization and service of the truck fleet of refrigerated trucks. 

 

The owner of Malyn Factory Ivan KOTYASH, shared with participants about the investment vision of the freezing warehouse construction and today`s berry processing. According to Ivan Kotyash, the global cold storage market was valued at USD 138.97 billion in 2022 and expecting to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2% from 2023 to 2030. 

 

Oleksandr SHEIKO, director of the company "4 Elements", gave recommendations for selecting refrigeration equipment and answers to popular questions. Anton RYABKO, director of the RMC company, told us about refrigeration equipment using the natural refrigerant CO2 for storing berries. And the topic of intensive precooling and hydro cooling for fruit and berry products was revealed by Vladyslav PERMINOV, the deputy director of the company "MAC Systems".

 

Eventually, congress participants came up to the conclusion that even living in such difficult times for us, it`s possible to work, produce quality products and support the economy.

 

 

At the end of the conference, a charitable lottery with the support of the "Strong and Free" Charitable Foundation took place. Raffled lots - products of partner companies: "EFT Plus", Fall Creek, "EKOORGANIC", "Makita Ukraine", Hobanwine, Shikarden, SOK "Berry Paradise", "Yagidna Polyana", "Vitera Ukraine", "IF Berry", "Hani Badger", BTU-CENTER, "Korets Sad", "Summit-Agro Ukraine". In addition, during the charitable auction, certificates for subscription to a set of journals of the media group "Technologies and Innovations" were raffled off.

 

During the auction, we fundraised about 23,800 UAH, and together with previous donations, all funds were for buying the power station, the price of 30,800 UAH, for defenders with military unit 7047. We want to thank everyone, the companies, and the participants who participated in the charity auction and significantly contributed to the joint fight against the invaders.

 

 

 

On the second day of the conference, February 17, the participants visited the well-known "Grass Avenue" farm in Zhytomyr Oblast. The owners of the farm, Oleg and Olena VOROBYOVY, hospitably welcomed everyone.

 

First, the participants visited highbush blueberry plantations, where Olena Vorobyova talked to us about the nuances of growing highbush blueberries of different varieties demonstrating plantings of different ages, including a new plantation planted with seedlings from the Fall Creek company.

 

A master class on pruning highbush blueberries using an innovative knapsack secateurs from the Makita Ukraine company, which made the pruning process much easier, was carried out. The participants of the business tour also visited the refrigerating complex, built in cooperation with the "4 Elements" company, a state-of-the-art sorting and packing complex with sorting equipment from Elifab and packaging equipment from Mat Exakta. Olena Vorobyova told us in detail about the equipment operation and the peculiarities of the organization of work at the enterprise in whole.