"FROM THE LAND - TO THE FINISHED PRODUCT": THE UNION OF MANUFACTURERS IN THE INTRODUCTION OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING PROCESSING AND ACCESS TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETS WITH NEW PRODUCTS THESE ARE THE WAYS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HORTICULTURAL INDUSTR
26.03.2019, 17:34
More than 200 participants from all part of Ukraine, including 27 Ukrainian and foreign companies manufacturers of instruments, equipment, and machinery have brought together at the IV International Conference for the horticultural and processing Industries "Technologies and Innovations: From Land to the Finished Product". The audience of the event is horticulturists, breeders, nut growers, as well as representatives of processing enterprises, in particular, fruit and berry wines producers and products and beverages based on fruits and berries, honey and nuts.
As was scheduled before by organizers, a two-day event became not only the next step in the development of each farming enterprise but also an important event for the formation of the entire industries, in particular, horticulture, nut growing, processing industry. Understanding the current issue for the development of the country in overall the conference was supported by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, as well as Cherkasy Regional State Administration and the Public association UKRSADVINPROM, with the participation of which was carried out the contest public tasting of directly squeezed juices from Ukrainian farmers and processing enterprises. The main organization partner became company MAIS, which hosted the business tour on March 22. The participants visited the company` orchards, a workshop for the production of directly squeezed juices a complex of sorting and storage, and nut center Zalissya.
It should be noted that many participants visited previous our conferences for the horticulture and processing industries, in 2016 in Lviv, in 2017 in Vinnitsa, last year in Kyiv. Due to climate change, the date of this year`s conference in Cherkassy coincided with the spring preparation for the new season. But, despite an insanely busy schedule, agrarians have found time to take part in the event, understanding its timeliness and importance for development.
"The main idea, which was highlighted by our project "Technologies and Innovations" is modern, high-tech, successful horticulture, viticulture, berry, and nut growing" was noted in the welcoming speech by the co-founder of the conference Kateryna KONEVA. She said the following: "I am very grateful to our partners, in particular, the main organizational partner - the company MAIS, which invited us here and provided all opportunities to show successful production, processing complex, nut center. It will be interesting for you to get acquainted with this experience and borrow something for yourself. Notably, the speakers` speeches and their experience will inspire you. Moreover, the received information helps you move further own business without hesitation."
The newly appointed first deputy of the Cherkasy Regional State Administration Taras VYSOTSK YI has emphasized three things that needed for the success doing of the farm business, in particular, good weather, people and technologies. He said the following: "Looking at the figures of statistics, we have people, the wish of doing farming, but technologies are a key point. So, I`m grateful to the organizers that we are all gathered today and talk about innovative approaches."
"As a Cherkasy company, we are welcoming you on our fertile land, which has a glorious tradition in cultivation" was said by Alexander SAMOILENKO, director of the horticultural department of company MAIS. He said that Cherkasy region was gloried by a powerful figure as Volodymyr Symyrenko, a man who described the etymology of apple trees, which today is taught not only in educational establishments of Ukraine but also throughout Europe. This conference will give us more confidence and experience. By doing so, the future for Ukrainian producers is only in the uniting of efforts and gaining foreign markets.
In the beginning, Viktor KOSTENKO, Head of the Department of Horticulture, Viticulture, and Winemaking of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ukraine told for the participants about the situation in the agrarian industry of Ukraine and Cherkasy region, in particular, about state support for horticulture in 2019.
Victor Kostenko said: " We notice a positive tendency in Ukraine at the domestic and foreign markets. From 2016 to 2018, we almost tripled the export of apples, as well as we exported 80% raspberries, blackberries to Europe. Thus, more than 70% of highbush blueberries exported to Poland, Lithuania, Great Britain, and Holland. In Cherkasy region, this direction of the industry seems as promising one. Today, the fruit-bearing area of the orchards in the region is 5,500 hectares. The total yield is 62 thousand tons, yield - 113 centners per hectare. As for state support of the industry, in 2018, 394 million UAH was used, in particular, compensation for the planting fruit and berry materials for 3.8 thousand hectares as well as for the construction of refrigerators with GDS totaling 14 thousand tons for nine objects of management. Thus, for 2019, the amount of state support will be approximately 400 million UAH, the half for horticultural material for orchards, berries, vineyards, that approximately 3 thousand hectares, the other part for the construction of refrigerators with CSG, and for purchasing of sorting lines. "
One of the main conditions for obtaining state compensation is the strict compliance with legislation during planting plantations with using only exclusively certified seedlings from licensed plant nurseries. Additionally, Anastasia TERZEMAN, an expert of IP and Law firm Pakharenko & Partners, the main Legal Partner of the conference, told about the safe market exchange of seeds and planting material in Ukraine. The speaker paid attention to the acquisition of intellectual property rights for plant varieties and the review of informative resources which are available to entrepreneurs that operating in the field of seed and seedlings during wholesale and retail trade by planting materials. Moreover, she gave tips on the lawful use of plant varieties.
A Current Topic – Processing
The plenary part of the conference was opened by a roundtable on the theme of "Ukrainian Horticulture: Processing as a Prospective Area for the Development of the Industry." The moderator was Volodymyr PECHKO, chairman of the public union Ukrsadvinprom. It should be noted that the conference is organized by the publishing project "Technologies and Innovations" with the support of the public union Ukrsadvinprom and their members shared own experience in growing and processing fruit and berry products, producing juices and alcoholic beverages based on fruits, nuts, honey.
Volodymyr Pechko has started the meaningful discussion by using following words: "The processing of fruit- berry products has many prospective directions today, such as fruit and berry wines, fruit chips, beverages, juices, jams, confitures, compotes, jellies, pastilles, fruits, and berries grind with sugar. These are examples, how we can get value-added products. Personally, my choice belongs to fruit-and-berry wines. Lawmakers gave green light to producers as excise tax was reduced to 1coins and the licensing procedure was simplified. Today, we have everything to do this. Among the participants, while discussions are beverage producers and their products are as a delay-action bomb. For example, two weeks ago at the exhibition in Japan, Austrian wine caused a furor as it was on the basis of red currant. Unfortunately, there are no Ukrainian fruit and berry wines on the store shelves. But this is a real prospect in the coming future. We are talking about a product that can be in demand in our market, and not only. Let`s listen to speakers who have such experience, very valuable and effective."
The owners and managers of horticultural farms and processing enterprises took part in the discussion, in particular, Oleg KUSHCH, producer of fruit and berry liquors, Kostyantyn KUZMENKO, director of the company Fruktona-VN, Alexander SAMOYLENKO, director of the department horticultural company MAIS, Oleksiy RUDENKO, director of the company Eco Chipsy, Anton SKOROBAGATOV, deputy chief of sales department of company Dobrodia Foods.
Kostyantyn Kuzmenko has noted the following: "First of all, I want to thank the organizers of the conference for such an urgent and necessary event today. The season of field works has started however we have found spare time to come here to share own experience and discuss the existing problems, to find a solution. We are talking about crazy overproduction of fresh products, for example, the situation with raspberries in recent years and with the apple of last season. And the figures tell us that the situation will not change in the nearest future. In my opinion, all that is in trend is not always good. "
As an example of successful processing, producers presented their products during product tasting in particular juices and jams from the enterprise Sady Karlivshchyny, wines from AGRO HOUS FLESH ROYAL, juices, candied fruits, apple chips from the enterprise Fruits of Poltava Region, and ciders from the company Rogatyi Zayats.
Oleg Kushch said the following: "Today, I have brought 6 kinds of products at the conference. I invite everyone to try and estimate the proper product qualities. I am interested to know your opinion and look at the reaction of people. I always see their surprised look during the tasting. As a rule, consumers emphasize on how these products are original, useful. Such beverages can be made technologically without chemistry, concentrates, and colorants. Our berries, which are grown by farmers, give the color and the aroma for wine including the taste qualities. By doing so, these beverages can be aged for 4-5 years, as quality becomes only better. "
About more detailed discussion of the topic during a roundtable, you can read in the next issue of the magazine Horticulture and Viticulture. Technologies and Innovations.
Advanced Technology of Intensive Horticulture
The thematic of the speeches and exhibitions covered all branches of the horticultural business, from the orchard creation to sales, marketing and export. The first section was devoted to the theme "Modern technologies of growing fruits. New varieties are a guarantee of successful sales in domestic and foreign markets. " The technology of plant protection with ensured guaranteed quality was presented by FMC Agricultural Solutions, which was a General Conference Partner. New agricultural solutions of the company FMC have a wider range of leading brands, a deep conveyor of new technologies, global scale, as well as world-class research and development.
The Polish experience of planting a profitable apple orchard with new varieties was presented by a well-known horticulturist and breeder, president of the Association of Polish Nurseries Maciej LIPETSKI. Other representatives of the Association have also joined the conference. Variety innovations were presented by the plant nursery of the enterprise Holland Plant Ukraine.
The topic "Technology of Accurate Irrigation in Horticulture" was presented by the company Eucalypt R. Moreover, st the same time, the theme concerning biotechnology in horticulture was introduced by BTU-Center company. The modern methodology of thin out and improvement of fruit quality and the peculiarities of using preparations of the company Globachem was presented by EFT Group. Experts from HAYGROVE have shared their experience on how to increase and improve the yield by the method of growing under cover.
Creating Added Value
One of the main conference topics was the storage and sorting of fruit products, as an integral part of the competitiveness of the world market. Also, the direction of processing fruits and berries in juices, alcoholic beverages, jams, puree, drying, fillers was widely presented.
The direction "Modern European Fruit Processing Technologies: Juice and Cider Production" was presented by EFT Group - Kreuzmayr. These types of equipment for loading products, washing, pressing, pasteurizing and bottling with a wide functionality for small, medium and large businesses.
Innovative technologies in cooling, freezing and storage of products from the leading European manufacturers Van Amerongen, Greefa, Salco, Thermofin were introduced by an expert №1 in Ukraine in cooling technologies, company Insolar-Kholod, which is the main Technology Partner of the conference. At the same time, the company Pak-Trade has got acquainted participants with the peculiarities of the packaging process and logistics.
Today the market is requiring fruits of high quality. Understanding these requirements, the conference organizers traditionally hold a large-scale exhibition of technology and related materials. It is always a productive collaboration, positive feedback from farms, new acquaintances and contracts! Thus, 27 companies have been presented by their products and propositions from Ukraine, Poland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, USA, in particular, Insolar-Kholod, FMC, BTU-Center, LINE FORCE UKRAINE, Agrostar, Holland Plant Ukraine, LIPECKI, EFT Group, Rusbana Engineering, Cubo Blanco, Eucalypt R, Haygrove, PTB, DONATOR, WBWE, MaxiMarin, Your Nut, Borovitsa, ZALISSYA, Alfainterplast, Smart Agro, M.A.S Systems, PIGO, Voloshyn, Agritema, Incools Engineering, Pak-Trade, Agros Agency.
These are innovative technologies for planting orchard, irrigation, care, and plant protection, crop storage, seedlings, equipment, packaging materials for pre-sale of fresh product, and for processing.
We should admit that products presented on the stands, first of all, demonstrated the quick industry development and that all forces are directed not only to the fruit quality but also to their shape and color. The thing is that marketing games lead to constantly growing the number of players coming out on the market; as a consequence, the consumer becomes more demanding in product choice. So, for example, the latest trends are fruits in the shape of heart, square, star.
Nut Growing Is a Promising Direction for Ukrainian Horticulturists
Within the framework of the conference "Technologies and Innovations: From Land - to the Finished Product", a section dedicated to the cultivation and processing of nut crops with the participation of leading scientists and practitioners was carried out. This section on the theme of from seedlings to the industrial orchard was detailed introduced by the head of the Nut Center Zalessya of the company MAIS, the candidate of agricultural sciences Mykola KUCHER.
Valentyn VASILENKO, director of the project institute SAD PROEKT, presented the theme on how to make the planning of nut orchard. Moreover, the farmer Ivan YUKAL, the owner of the farm Efrem, told about major mistakes during planting nut orchard from own experience.
Important questions were raised at the presentation of the company Agrostar on the theme of "Professional Equipment for a Nut Orchard" because a modern industrial orchard is impossible to have without an irrigation system and mechanized processing. Additionally, Petro SCRYPCHUK, professor of the National University of Water Management and Nature Resources Use, presented the theme "Selection of Walnut in the Northern Forest-Steppe and the Polissya Zone of Ukraine."
A Public Tasting of Directly Squeezed Juices
Within a framework of the conference, a public tasting of directly squeezed juices took place that aimed to pay attention to the quality of natural products based on fruits and berries from domestic producers, as well as popularizes among consumers the consumption of directly squeezed juices and focus on the broad opportunities of this branch for business.
The organizers of the contest were the project "Technologies and Innovations" in collaboration with public union Ukrsadvinprom. The technological partner of the Public Tasting was the company EFT Group, a representative of the equipment for the making juices and wines Kreuzmayr.
All conference participants were able to participate in the tasting to choose the best juices. Indeed, it was important to get a national product evaluation from the consumer`s point of view. The contest included in three categories, in particular, apple juice, two-component juice, and three- or more component juice.
10 Ukrainian producers of directly squeezed juices presented their products at the competition including their 20 declared samples. Unfortunately, not all producers have dared to check the quality of their product during the blind tasting, when people have no idea what juice they taste because, neither brand name nor producer couldn`t be pointed.
Now, we are ready to announce the winners! TOV Najsik won in the nomination apple juice, the second place took TOV Dnipro, and the third - TM Prymosik. An apple- pear juice by TOV SADY KARLIVSHCHYNY won the gold in the category two-component juice, the silver went to the apple-pumpkin juice by TOV Najsik, and bronze took apple - pear juice by TM "Eco Kray."
Thus, multifruit juice by TM Pryamo Sik has got gold in the nomination three- or more component juice, by doing so, silver and bronze got to TOV Najsik for apple-carrot-pumpkin-beetroot juice and apple-carrot-pumpkin.
The contest organizers prepared for the winners memorable diplomas and special gold, silver and bronze medals. As noted by Volodymyr SLEPTSOV, the director of the TOV SADY KARLIVSHCHYNY that this award, above all, is recognition of the whole team and personally a technologist, his great organizational achievements.
He also added: "Our enterprise is young. We planted our first orchard in 2009 and for the second year, we have been processing on Kreuzmayr line. Oleksandr Kuptsov, a representative of the EFT Group, has done a great job in setting up, installing this line. The equipment operates uninterruptedly. And today we produce about 56 kinds of juices and jams. The victory in the contest is extremely enjoyable, that is a great success! We will be following by the leader as we have learned a lot for ourselves today! "
The Business Tour Covered the Topics of Horticulture, Nut Growing and Processing
One of the highlights of the conference was the venue. Agro industrial enterprise MAIS for over 20 years is the leading player on the agrarian market of Ukraine. The orchards of Mais are well thought-out and well-coordinated technological process and centralized management and control system. The enterprise has 170 hectares of an apple orchard with applying drip irrigation system, berry plantations. The agronomist of the company carried out for participants a master class for pruning apple trees.
The complex for storage and sorting for the company MAIS was built by the Ukrainian company Insolar-Kholod. Moreover, company Mais possesses 27 refrigerated chambers with a regulated gas environment for fruit storage. The Dutch sorting line GREEFA with a total capacity of 5 tons of apples per hour has been installed. Separately, a specific refrigerator was created and equipped with ultrasonic humidifiers and 9 tiers of storage.
The direct-pressed juice under the trademark Najsik produces on the equipment of the Austrian company Kreuzmayr moreover all processes are automated. Enterprise is engaged in bottling ready-made juices, such as apple-carrot, apple-pumpkin, apple-beet root, as well as juices with adding raspberry, blackberry, pear in Bag in Box and in a bottle.
The company Mais has its nutty center "Zalissya" including 100 hectares of walnut and hazelnut garden, winter vaccination laboratory, greenhouse for hardening of planting material, and cutting garden for walnuts with an area of 10 hectares including a collection of 13 varieties of nut crops, and plant nursery with an area of 10 hectares with irrigation system.
The horticulturist from the Kiev region, Viktor BATSULA emphasized the following:" It was very interesting for me to be at the conference and business tour, as there were many speakers and much useful information. Moreover, we had opportunities to communicate with each other and directly put questions about what concern you. To attend such events is very important for doing business. After all, beforehand doing something, invest, we must think carefully and update our knowledge in this field. The amendment of mistakes much more expensive, it is eventually worth from the very beginning to do everything right."
The conference is supported by the Public Union Ukrsadvinprom
Main Organizational Partner - agroindustrial company "MAIS"
Main Technological Partner - company Insolar
The main partner among plant protection products - company FMC
General Legal Partner - Patent & Law Firm Pakharenko & Partners
Main online partner - KURKUL.COM
Main industrial information partners: magazines "Horticulture and Viticulture. Technologies and Innovations", "Gorishnyk ", "Jadognik"
Information Partners - newspaper Agrobusiness Today, Agro industry magazine, Vodka redactor, IA Interfax-Ukraine, TRK "VIKKA"