Since August this year, Ukrainian farmers and processors have been able to obtain certification under the Ukrainian law on organic farming. The first Ukrainian companies have already been certified according to this law. There are more every day.

The consumer protection authorities of the Ukrainian oblasts play an important role in controlling these organic farms. In order to support the representatives of the consumer protection authorities in this task, the “German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Organic Farming” project carried out a practical training course lasting several days on organic farms in the last week of September. The project is financed by the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture. For safety reasons, the training was carried out in eastern Poland. Representatives from 13 oblasts of the consumer protection authority from all over Ukraine and one person from the headquarter in Kyiv traveled to the event.

The group was trained by a team of experts from Ukraine and Germany. All of these trainers have many years of experience in certification and control in organic farming worldwide. An organic farm and a processor of organic fruit who have been running their businesses organically for many years were also recruited for the practical training. Practical control was presented and practiced using examples.

"I am very pleased that this training was carried out so successfully," said Dr. Stefan Dreesmann, head of the “German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Organic Agriculture” project. "There are very intensive days behind us in which the understanding of what organic farming means, what advantages it has and what should be taken into account by the Ukrainian authorities when carrying out inspections has grown. A good basis for all, to build on the obtained knowledge and continue on this path together. I would like to thank all participants in this training: the two organic companies that opened their doors wide to us, the trainers, the entire project team, the translators and especially the participants from the consumer protection authorities from the Ukrainian oblasts, who, based on their great expertise, contributed greatly to the success of this training," said Dr. Dreesmann.