"Lending for farmers is an additional opportunity to direct funds to increase the land bank," Serhiy Podriz, director of “Agrokor Poltava” LLC

Serhiy Podriz first helped his father cultivate the family shares. And in 2016, the family decided to create Agrokor Poltava LLC, which the son headed. Today, the farm grows corn, wheat, and sunflower. There should also be soybeans this year. "Soy is a fickle crop, and its price has been stable for two years in a row thanks to demand in both the food industry and animal husbandry. Therefore, in my opinion, there will be a shortage of it in the domestic market."

And in the nearest plans of the agricultural economy is the acquisition of land, since lately the owners of shares are selling land allotments more and more often. So if the farmer, who cultivates this land does not buy it, then a large agricultural holding can do it.

"We have our own equipment, completely updated, that's why we decided to focus on the acquisition of land plots," explains Serhiy Andriyovych. — We decided to save a little, not to invest at the beginning of the year for the purchase of fertilizers and seeds, but to postpone the funds, because perhaps one of the shareholders will want to sell the land. That is why we decided to take part in the project to support farmers from the USAID’s Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO) not out of desperation, but in order to save certain funds and invest them in development. Especially now with a war we don't know what will happen tomorrow."

In 2024, "Agrokor Poltava" LLC received a commodity loan under the "Farmer, Loan for you" project from the "Agro Arena" company, which is implemented with the support of the USAID’s Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO). The farm purchased corn and sunflower seeds. And also, as the head of the farm emphasizes, within the framework of this initiative there was an opportunity to receive agronomic consultations from the company's employees, which is a very important help.

"We decided to use commodity lending from Agro Arena, because in recent years the terms of banks often change, and getting a commodity loan for a small farmer is not such an easy thing," says the head of the farm.

It is not easy for agricultural enterprises to work during the war. According to the manager of "Agrokor Poltava", the plan was to employ two tractor drivers, but the boys went to war. Therefore, the question of qualified staff is very acute at the moment. The second point is that with the beginning of the war, the prices of agricultural products collapsed and the economy could not sell the harvest at market prices.

"We were forced to sell part of the crop below market prices, as we had to pay people money for using the land," says Serhiy Andriyovych. - It is difficult to survive now. We are planning the sowing of 2024 at a minimum, without excessive fertilizers, because there is no confidence in tomorrow. It is very important that there are such projects on commodity lending as "Farmer, Loan for you" from "Agro Arena". This is a real support for farming, because we can get everything we need for planting, including seeds, crop protection products from different brands, basic fertilizers, and starting this year, fuel. Moreover, few people lend fertilizers and fuel on the market."

The amount of the loan is up to UAH 500,000 without pledge, for larger farms - from UAH 500,000 in the form of pledge, any type of security of the farmer's choice can be provided.
As an additional advantage, Serhiy Podriz also points out that Agro Arena always provides high-quality consulting support: for example, they advise on what time and density it is advisable to sow this or that crop, in what period to apply drugs, at what rate, which drug will be economically profitable under the given conditions.

"Currently we don't have money for everything, but we are sowing more, in particular, to help the Armed Forces. We hope that our work will bring Ukraine closer to victory, because only together we are a force," sums up the farmer.

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.