You can't fool the earth - it requires hard work, development and responsibility," - Natalya Yakymenko, deputy head of "Yanush"

Natalya Fedorivna Yakymenko has an absolutely unique personality. Having worked in agriculture all her life, she retired and ... again returned to the agricultural sector. But this time together with her son to start his own farm “Yanush".

"After graduating from the university, I was the deputy head of the state farm for ten years. Later, I moved to work in the Department of Agriculture, where I worked first as a chief, then as first deputy in agriculture until my retirement. All in all, I have a lot of experience in agriculture and decided to pass it on to my son," says Natalya Fedorivna.

Son Yan graduated from Sumy National Agrarian University. At first, his mother did not approve of his choice of future profession: "Of course, I was against him entering an agricultural college, because, in my opinion, agriculture is the most difficult business. This is work without days off, because you can't fool the earth. It must be fed, sown, and harvested. And all this must be done on time. It is necessary to constantly develop yourself, to monitor new trends in the agricultural sector, to study and apply the latest technologies, to use new opportunities to attract funds. That is why we decided to take part in the project to support farmers from the USAID’s Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO)."

On the other hand, Natalya Fedorivna admits that her son had a knack for land and technology from an early age. And in 2016, at a very young age, Yan registered his own farm. He started with a small amount of land - 150 hectares were under cultivation. Then it began to expand - today "Yanush" already cultivates 1,200 hectares. Now they are growing sunflower, rye, oats, and corn. And this year they plan to sow soybeans on 300 hectares.
With the beginning of the war, grain prices dropped significantly and the economy lost the opportunity to sell the harvest at market prices. "When we started, one of our commodities was sold and paid our dividends. And this year it didn't work out that way, because the sunflower was all unprofitable, because we didn't give it the necessary amount of fertilizers compared to previous years," the farmer explains. Accordingly, there was a need for lending.

In 2024, "Yanush" received a commodity loan under the project "Farmer, Loan for you", which is implemented by the company "Agro Arena" with the support of the USAID’s Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO). The farm purchased seed material (corn and sunflower), as well as crop protection products and mineral fertilizers.

"Today, it is extremely difficult for farmers without credit, because almost all the products we grew last year are still in storage in warehouses, because we could not sell them. But thanks to the commodity lending initiative, we received a commodity loan for herbicides, seed material, and fertilizers, so we will be able to carry out sowing, not skimp on fertilizers, and bring the farm to at least a minimum level of profitability. We will pay in the fall both in terms of funds and the harvest, - says Natalya Fedorivna. "We don't live for one day, but constantly develop, work, plan to grow new crops."

To become a participant in the commodity lending project "Farmer, loan for you", submit an application on the website or call the hotline number 0-800-307-001. All details are on the website: www:agro-arena.com.ua.