Restoring ports will not return profitability to farmers, — Chaykivskyi

In addition to the actual blockade of exports, the margin is being pressured by the rise in the price of resources and competition for land lease.

The normalization of the operation of the ports of Great Odesa will make logistics cheaper, but in itself will not return the previous profits in crop production to farmers. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Latifundist by People’s Deputy, founder of Agroprodservice Ivan Chaykivsky.

“I would not advise expecting that the ports will open and farmers will again earn the previous $300–500 per hectare. It will become easier, but there will be no miracles,” he said.

In addition to logistics, profitability is affected by the rise in the price of seeds, fertilizers, plant protection products and equipment. According to Chaykivsky, this problem does not apply only to Ukraine.

Another factor, he called competition for land and the increase in rent.

“When you see a rent of 30 thousand UAH per hectare, the question arises: what should be grown there to cover such a rent cost together with other expenses? People who work on the land understand that this is absurd,” the deputy noted.

He sees the solution differently for farms of different sizes. Smaller ones will look for opportunities in cooperation, in particular, they will combine purchases in order to go directly to producers and keep the distributor’s margin. Larger ones will develop processing, in particular in livestock.

Let us recall that, according to ASAP Agri’s calculations, the volume of Ukrainian exports of grain and oilseeds in the 2026/27 season may range from 13.8 million to 45.8 million tons, depending on how the ports of Great Odesa and the Danube operate.

Meanwhile, the USDA has lowered the forecast for Ukrainian wheat and corn exports by 3 million tons.