AgroRegion is among the top three agricultural companies in Ukraine in terms of crop yields and operational efficiency. How does the company manage to stay at the top of the producers’ rankings? And why do other companies struggle to do the same?

It’s Not About Luck…

Predominantly sandy soils, heterogeneous fields… This is how Yurii Lysak, Chief Agronomist at AgroRegion, describes the company’s farmland.

“Sandy soils have been a challenge for me as an agronomist. I come from Vinnytsia Region, where we have excellent chernozem soils. Later, I worked in Kharkiv Region, Lviv Region, and other parts of the country. Every region has its own soil characteristics. The land we farm in Kyiv and Chernihiv regions is predominantly sandy, and the fields are heterogeneous: in some areas, we saw good results, while in others, yields were significantly lower. So we decided to find out why and conducted soil analysis.

Every year, the cost of agricultural production is rising rapidly. Everyone wants to save on fertilizers. But you can’t fool the soil: if you don’t apply as much fertilizer as needed, you won’t get the expected return. Therefore, to reduce costs while maintaining high yields, fertilizers need to be used rationally — applying what is needed, when it is needed, taking into account crop requirements, specific growth stages, soil conditions, and so on. Everything needs to be carefully calculated. Otherwise, it can become very expensive indeed.”

AgroRegion began working with AgriLab in 2017 with a pilot project — agro-diagnostics of 3,000 hectares of the company’s “most problematic” fields, where the greatest yield variability had been observed.

NB! Agro-diagnostics is a method for assessing field potential that combines multiple layers of information, from soil properties to weather and climatic conditions. It includes soil sampling with an automated sampler, with each sampling point precisely georeferenced using GPS. This makes it possible to determine which areas of a field are deficient in specific nutrients and which have sufficient nutrient levels. Soil agrochemical analysis is performed using a comprehensive range of indicators, while weather and climatic factors, field history and crop rotations, soil physical condition, and other limiting factors are also taken into account. Agro-diagnostics makes it possible to determine the natural potential of a field, enabling a farm to generate higher returns while optimizing production costs.

After the agro-diagnostics, AgriLab specialists provided recommendations that sparked considerable discussion at AgroRegion. “It was a full day of debates,” recalls Yurii Lysak. “We gathered with our agronomists and discussed every detail of the recommendations. In the end, we decided to adopt them in full. The answers to our questions were not template responses taken from textbooks, but practical recommendations based on real-world experience, production realities, and, most importantly, economic considerations. For example, after assessing the soil and weather and climatic conditions, limiting factors, and the potential of a particular field, we were advised to apply fertilizer based on a target yield of 8 tonnes of corn rather than the 10 tonnes we had initially planned. This produced a positive economic result and allowed us to save resources.

We had previously worked with another agricultural consulting company. That year, we compared their recommendations with those from AgriLab, looked at the harvest results, and drew some broader conclusions. So we decided to continue working with AgriLab.”

The effectiveness of implementing these innovations is demonstrated by the results.

“We conducted comprehensive agro-diagnostics on our fields in the village of Pyliatyn. The soils there are problematic and very ‘dusty’ — hence the name Pyliatyn. We grew rye on these fields following AgriLab’s recommendations. The fields in Pyliatyn are characterized by a relatively high share of low-productivity areas. We had planned to achieve a yield of 6 tonnes. AgriLab specialists developed a nutrient management system targeting 5 to 6 tonnes, depending on the potential of each field area. In the end, we harvested 5.7 tonnes of rye per hectare. For these fields, that is a good yield.

Moreover, the analysis allowed us to optimize the nutrient management system and, consequently, reduce costs. Laboratory analysis showed that the soils already had sufficient phosphorus levels, so we reduced the use of phosphorus fertilizers. This allowed us to save money, since phosphorus is the most expensive nutrient. We used the savings to purchase the micronutrients we needed and apply defecate. Likewise, based on the soil analysis, we reduced phosphorus fertilizer application on the fields near Boryspil and used the savings to carry out soil deacidification. Thus, soil analysis allowed us to allocate our budget rationally — directing resources precisely where each field needed them.”

The results obtained from agro-diagnostics on the pilot 3,000 hectares proved convincing. Today, comprehensive field assessments have been carried out across almost the entire area farmed by the company. Moreover, precision farming technologies have been implemented on more than 15,000 hectares at AgroRegion.