UaAgriDialog

Tensions between agriculture and society are not new to Germany, the EU, and many other industrialized countries. These tensions arise in various segments of the public domain: Between agricultural producers and climate and environmental activists, farms and public authorities, landowners and land users, farmers and rural communities, between conventional and organic farming.

Public discourse on agriculture is intensifying in Ukraine too. One of the issues is e.g. the expansion of large corporate export-oriented farms, also known as agroholdings, which are often associated with detrimental societal effects such as dispossession and distributional injustice in rural areas. There is an increasing conflict between large agribusinesses and the rural community, about the exploitation of rural resources and infrastructure, about negative ecological consequences of intensive soil cultivation without cultivation without any adequate compensation from agribusinesses for rural development. Furthermore, there is a conflict of interest between large and small farms over land distribution and land use. This is exacerbated by the increasing concentration of soil in "One Hand” and non-regulatory land markets. Due to ongoing political, structural and institutional change and the resulting challenges for agriculture and society, conflict situations are becoming more frequent and stronger.

The aim of the planned project is to expand knowledge about the tensions in Ukrainian agriculture, to enable dialogue between representatives of science, practice, politics and civil society on socially highly relevant questions of sustainable development in agriculture and to develop approaches and concepts for problem solving and prevention.

The project includes:

1) 3-days workshop at the ZhNAEU premises, Zhytomyr, Ukraine
2) Research stays of scientists from Ukraine at IAMO, Germany

The project is financially supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funds of the German Foreign Office (AA).

• Zhytomyr National Agroecological University (ZNAU), Ukraine
• Ukrainian association of Young farmers, Zhytomyr, Ukraine

• German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)