Fertile soil is something Ukraine has always been known for. But wind and water erosion are causing a soil loss of approximately 15 tons per hectare every year. Today we’re joined by Oleksandr, a farmer in the Kiev Region of Ukraine, and Syngenta’s Valeriy Dubrovin to discuss how farmers are advancing regenerative practices even in this current challenging time for the country. 

“ In the Ukraine, with the (most fertile) soils in the world, this topic should be number one in agriculture to keep our soil health to give these soils for (future) generations.” - Valeriy Dubrovin 

This is a fascinating discussion about how they’re using practices and technology to improve soil health. 

Oleksandr farms about three thousand hectares in the Kiev region of Ukraine. He grows sunflower, corn, barley, wheat, beans, sugarbeet and quite a bit of livestock on his operation. He’s been farming since 1995 and has implemented reduced tillage practices and incorporated manure on his operation to try to fight erosion and improve his soil health. 

And also joining us is Valeriy Dubrovin. Valeriy is the soil health and carbon farming manager at Syngenta located in Ukraine. He’s been with the company 11 years now and his role is to improve services and perform training for farmers like Oleksandr on soil health. And one really cool program he’s working on uses INTERRA© Scan Technology. 

Valeriy and Oleksandr also speak candidly about what’s happening in Ukraine today and what it has been like to try to farm and build healthier soils during such a challenging time for the country. They join us via an interpreter, Kseniia. 

This Week on Soil Sense: 

• Meet Oleksandr, a large-scale farmer in Ukraine

• Discover some of the soil health challenges in the Ukraine, and what farmers are doing to deal with those

• Hear how tools like INTERRA© Scan Technology are helping farmers improve soil health

• Understand how farmers and their advisors are continuing to operate their farms and build their soil health during extremely difficult times for the country

Listen to the full season here: https://www.syngenta.com/agriculture/sustainable-agriculture/soil-health/soil-sense-podcast 

This season of the Soil Sense podcast is brought to you by Syngenta. If you are interested in what soil health looks like in practice and on the farm, please subscribe and follow this show on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a rating and review while you’re there!

The  Soil Sense podcast is for those that believe building healthier soils is not just a prescription, but rather a pursuit. On this show, we unpack the way farmers collaborate to build healthier soils and adapt systems to work on their farm for both sustainability and profitability.