The hottest nut conference in Ukraine took place!

Not much time separates us from the closing of the All-Ukrainian nut conference, but now, looking back, you already feel the lack of that collective spirit, nut unity, the unparalleled luxury of communication with like-minded nut growers who gathered from different parts of Ukraine to participate in the largest nut event in the country this year .

For a fundamental conversation about further ways of development of the Ukrainian nut industry, about the nut strategy, which concerns all gardeners today, regardless of the area of their gardens, about processing and sales issues that are causing "headaches" to our nut growers already today, for the exchange of advanced practical experience with farmers and gardeners from different parts of our country came to the All-Ukrainian Nut Conference.

161 participants took part in the conference, which was held in the city of Tetiyev, Kyiv region, on the grounds of the hazelnut garden of the agricultural holding "GALS AGRO" - one of the largest hazelnut gardens in the country. Horticulture gardeners, farmers, managers of agrarian horticultural and processing enterprises, specialists of scientific institutions, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Oleksandr Haydu, First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotskyi, Director of the State University

"Business Development and Export Office" Andriy Remizov, General Director of the powerful association "UKAB" Roman Slastyon - all participants of this large-scale event were united by a practical vision of the biggest challenges and needs of the development of Ukrainian nut farming.

Despite the state of war in the country, foreign partners from Italy came to participate in the conference: Elio Ressia and Francesco Funaro

The unique location of the garden as a single plot of land on an area of 400 hectares with improved technology of industrial hazelnut cultivation allows the application of the most modern technologies for processing and maintenance of the garden.

The garden was planted in the autumn of 2018 with planting material of Italian origin, which make up the forts of the traditional Italian assortment: 'Tonda Di Giffoni', 'Tonda Romana', 'Tonda Gentile Trilobata', including 'Barcelona' as a pollinator.

The practical part of the visit to the garden consisted of 4 demonstration inspection stops along the agreed route of the buses with the participants. All stops were planned according to the following main topics, where the participants were expected by relevant specialists.

FIRST STOP: Overview, at which Yevhen Lighter, the garden's chief agronomist, familiarized all participants with the structure of the industrial garden, the selection of varieties and pollinators, the scheme of technological treatments and the formation of young trees, the use of inter-row space, etc.

SECOND STOP: Specialists of the "ProfPolyv" company, who designed, created and currently maintain one of the most modern (in their opinion) drip irrigation and fertigation systems, told about "smart" drip irrigation and its infrastructure.

THIRD STOP: Technological processing of the garden was carried out by specialists of the company "EFT Group". They showed the necessary list of maintenance garden equipment, talked about the advantages and disadvantages of various sets of equipment for the garden.

FOURTH STOP: A test drive of the "Flying Garden Tractor" program was provided by experts from the well-known company "DRONAGRONOM", who demonstrated the practical possibilities and advantages of gardening with agricultural drones.

A well-planned scheme of bus routes, which immediately left for various stops and then stopped at each according to the traffic scheme, gave all groups of participants the opportunity to visit each thematic stop "without a rush".

The plenary part of the All-Ukrainian Walnut Conference consisted of two discussion panels: Strategic and Technological.

In order to create a powerful industry platform for communication, exchange of opinions and experiences, demonstration of practical developments, innovative nut technologies and innovative agricultural methods, the most famous speakers of the country gathered to participate in the Plenary.

The core of the activity of each of them is PROFESSIONALISM of the highest professional level, which successfully combines the active life position of the LEADER along with modern agronomic solutions, daily diligence in creating a high-tech hazelnut cultivation culture along with perseverance to obtain results, painstaking work of thorough research along with transparent openness to transfer of own experience.

This is the General technological partner of the conference - FILBERT company (director M. Sheiko).

Partners of the conference: BACF company (expert V. Voevodin), FG "Nuts'N'Garden" (head of FG N. Smirnova), FG "Batkiv Sad" (owner Cybenko I.), company "ProfPolyv" (director V. Boyko) , the company "DRONAGRONOM" (director Fedoryshyn Ya.), a group of companies Tech Exim Group (head I. Berezhnytskyi), FG Stadnytsia-Agro (chairman O. Lazaruk), FOP Rogoza P., FOP Burov V., a group of companies " EFT GROUP" (head R. Lovnychii), "VikaSad" (head S. Kuchugurnyi), LLC "Orient Way" (director K. Nakchebia), LLC "TD "BTU-CENTR" (director V. Bolohovskyi).

In the speech of the Chairman of the Agrarian Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksandr Haydu, he spoke about state support for the nut industry and the introduction of a grant system to help horticulture, for which UAH 997 million has been allocated. In general, the country's nut growers have received about 40% of the funds allocated to horticulture in recent years.

Nut horticulture, which is a segment of the country's horticultural industry, is dynamically developing in Ukraine. The area of commercial walnut orchards is constantly increasing. For the sixth year in a row, the share of industrial nut orchards is almost half of the area of all orchards in the country planted with the help of state support (2018-2023 - 5,602 hectares of nut orchards, or 41% of the total area of all orchards in the country planted with the help of programs state support).

Moreover, in the last four years (2020-2023), the trend of planting hazelnut orchards has increased significantly and, in general, during this period it is 85% of the area of newly planted nut orchards. As noted by the President of the Ukrainian Nut Association, Hennadiy Yudin, more than 7,000 hectares of hazelnut orchards have already been planted in the country, and their area continues to grow rapidly.

Modern innovative technologies and agricultural techniques for garden protection, unique unmanned technologies in horticulture, real examples of increasing yields due to artificial pollination, smart drip irrigation and fertigation management systems, optimal processing technologies, practical opportunities for obtaining grant funds for the development of gardens - these topics did not leave anyone indifferent. from the participants of the future nut forum.

It is very good that with horticultural enterprises, the practical vision of the biggest challenges and future ways of growth of industrial nut growing brought together experts from scientific institutions: the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Sciences, NUBIP, the Institute of Climate- Oriented Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences at the nut forum.

A number of scientists and producers were presented with awards by the association for their contribution to the development of nut farming. The highest industry award - the "LEADER OF THE WALNUT INDUSTRY" gold badge was awarded to: V.A. Sobol (Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), International expert of the BACF company V.V. Voevodin, owner of the nursery "Batkiv Sad" I.V. Tsybenko, owner of FG " Tyasmin" Sahaida V.I.

The owners of the hazelnut garden - the management and specialists - carried out a huge amount of work on the organization of the large-scale nut event, on ensuring a convenient format for its holding agricultural holding "GALS AGRO".

Therefore, on behalf of the nut community, I express my sincere gratitude to the head of horticultural projects of the agricultural holding "GALS AGRO" Yury STRELETS and the agronomist of the agricultural holding Yevhen Leiter, and for the comfortable conditions and delicious food - to the energetic director of the enterprise "ELITA" of the agricultural holding "GALS AGRO" Lesya MOSTOVIY.

But the significance of this nutty event lies primarily in the level of high professional competence, amazing efficiency and endless potential of life-affirming optimism of the general director of the agricultural holding "GALS AGRO" Kravchuk Serhiy Dmytrovych.

So, the conference made certain conclusions and outlined further steps in the development of the domestic nut industry, its transfer to industrial rails. Varietal culture based on adapted high-quality varieties and high-quality certified planting material combined with modern intensive technologies for growing, collecting and processing nuts for added value is the right way to develop the industry.

It was a really cool opportunity to spend the day with famous nut PROS.

...There is an ancient and wise saying - "The road will be overcome by the one who walks."

The participants of the nut forum confirmed the effectiveness of the wise guide - LET'S GO TOGETHER!

President of the Ukrainian Nut Association G. Yudin