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FMC Corp to help rebuild Ukrainian ag sector

A global ag science company has agreed to provide producers in Ukraine with resources to help restore the country’s agriculture sector.

Shawn Whitman, vice president of government affairs with FMC Corporation says they will assist non-profit, The Halo Trust, to help clear fields of explosives. “Farmers are so desperate to get out there to contribute to feed their countryman and the economy going and they were getting killed and severely injured as they were driving out there in their tractors and hitting these ordinances.”

He says demining is one of the top priorities. “For every month of armed conflict, it takes one year to demine.  If the war started in February 2022 and it’s July 2023, you’re looking at nearly 20 years of demining.”  

FMC Corporation and its subsidiary, FMC Ukraine, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation last month with by Yulia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Sebastià Pons, FMC vice president and president Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Whitman tells Brownfield that maximizing cropland, which may have areas of explosives, will help increase productivity. “If we could go in and say “we know very securely that 600 acres don’t have any mines in it and that farmer can get going on those 600 acres going right now. The other 400 acres we have more questions about.  Why not parcel those off?”

He says precision agriculture technology is also needed. “Smartphone apps and other advanced technologies to get crop protection elements out in the field.”  

And, he says, Ukraine has agreed to ensure that products can enter safely into the country and allow FMC Corporation to review any regulatory concerns.

Shawn Whitman, vice president of government affairs with FMC Corporation: