Ukraine - no decrease in greenhouse production?

Greenhouse farmer Igor Sachno from Kherson region (Ukraine) is convinced that despite rising costs of fuel, fertilizers, protective equipment, film, drip tape and other consumables, greenhouse vegetable production will not decrease. It is not easy to switch to other technologies, he says.

He wrote about this in his column on the AgroTimes portal. "There is a lot of talk now that vegetable growers will have to switch to other crops this season or cut down their operations altogether, especially greenhouse ones, because the prices of heating, fertilizers, protection equipment, film, drip tape, etc. have risen. There may be some who are ready for cardinal changes, but among my acquaintances, everyone is still growing what they used to. They prepare seedlings, which are already harvesting tomatoes, and depending on the weather conditions, somewhere in March, they will plant the plants permanently in foil greenhouses. So everything is going according to the annual plan," - he wrote. In addition, the farmer noted that the current winter is quite warm, so there have been no particular problems in preparing the soil for sowing.

According to the producer, these farmers do not intend to give up their business.

"Every year there is uncertainty and many problems: coronavirus, military aggression from neighbours or incomprehensible legislative changes. We are not used to this," he said.

As for the increase in cultivation costs, the situation for greenhouse producers is not even as critical as for field or industrial crops. After all, greenhouses do not have such a large scale of production.

"All this is difficult, but not catastrophic. We will look for opportunities to recover the costs incurred" - assured Igor Sachno.