By Chris McCullough

A group of Ukrainian farmers, who farm over one million hectares between them, have visited one of the UK’s best known machinery manufacturers on a research mission.

Taking time out from the hostilities of the conflict that has besieged their country, the group including farmers and agri-business owners, visited Claydon in the east of England to check out its latest arable equipment.

This was the first-ever visit by customers from Ukraine, who enjoyed a four-day trip touring Claydon’s factory in Suffolk to learn more about the company’s Opti-Till crop establishment system and see the company’s range of machinery being manufactured.

They also toured the Claydon family’s arable farm and visited other leading agri-businesses which successfully use this approach to establish agricultural crops.

The group included Volodymyr Husiev, key account manager for Technotorg LLC, Claydon’s sole distributor in Ukraine.

Owned by Yuriy Kalyuzhnyy, it is the country’s largest agricultural machinery sales company.

Due to the ongoing conflict this was the first time that Claydon’s national territory manager for Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Anatoliy Penzin, had visited his employer since being appointed in August 2020.

Claydon’s export sales manager, Simon Revell said: “The onerous travel restrictions which apply in Ukraine meant that this visit took months to organise but was highly successful.

“Like their counterparts throughout the world, they are also having to deal with the agronomic and fiscal impact of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and more stringent environmental legislation, together with greater economic pressures due to rising input costs and static commodity prices.”

Ukraine has a mostly temperate climate with sufficient sunshine, year-round rainfall, and very productive soil, making it one of the world’s top arable producers.  

Opti-Till provides farmers with a way to transition from slow, energy-intensive traditional methods to a much faster, highly efficient, more financially and ecologically sustainable approach which fits perfectly with the ongoing transition to regenerative agricultural practices.

Enabling any seeds that can be air-sown, from herbs and grasses to cereals and maize, to be drilled at the right time, in the right conditions and ultimately produce high yields, Opti-Till reportedly dramatically reduces the time, cost, machinery and labour required to establish agricultural crops.

Farm director at Viktoriya Farm in Ukraine, Viktor Serhiyovych said: “High-quality crop establishment is the key to farming successfully. Without it you cannot expect to achieve high yields.

“Sowing seed at the correct depth, rate and distribution are vital. With our previous drill we had to compensate for low germination due to the lack of seedbed moisture by increasing the standard seed rate for winter wheat from 160kg/ha to 250kg/ha, wasting tonnes of seed every season. That made us reconsider our approach.