Representatives of the German Embassy and the "German-Ukrainian Cooperation on Organic Agriculture" visited two organic farms in the west of Kyiv / 560,000 euros donation were collected / this helped 170 organic farms throughout Ukraine.

The outbreak of the Russian war has also affected organic farms in Ukraine, where around 400 farms manage about 460,000 hectares of agricultural land organically. Some of these farms were located in areas temporarily occupied by the Russian army, many were housing refugees, sales decreased or there was no money to pay for the certification of their farms. To help here, the project "German-Ukrainian Cooperation Organic Agriculture", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, took the initiative to initiate a fundraising campaign for these organic farms a few days after the war began.

At the end of March, the fundraising campaign was launched by the German "Future Foundation for Agriculture". So far, about 560,000 euros in donations have been collected, successfully helping more than 170 organic farms in Ukraine. Around 200 farms had submitted applications for emergency aid, the selection of which was decided by a 6-member panel with representatives from Ukraine, the German project and the Future Foundation. The aid was then paid out to the 170 farms via the Organic Federation of Ukraine. 

In order to get an idea of organic farms that were particularly affected by the Russian attack, the Chargé d'Affaires of the German Embassy, Dr. Bertram von Moltke and other representatives of the German Embassy, the German project and the Organic Federation of Ukraine recently visited the organic berry farm "Yahidky" and an organic hotel "Maison Blnache Berezivka" in western Kiev. 

Svitlana Shchokina, who participated in the visit on behalf of the German project, noted at the end of the visit: "Our project is very pleased that with this assistance it was possible to help many organic farms to repair damage, take over lost wages, provide for refugees or pay for their certificate".

Photos: the visitors got a picture of the organic berry farm, which was occupied by the Russian army for weeks, as well as the destruction at the organic hotel.