June is traditionally a busy period for farmers, since it is the start of the harvest season. “A day of harvesting feeds a year,” our ancestors used to say. Continuing this tradition, modern agricultural producers must take care of a wide range of issues to ensure that their work remains profitable, after their products are sold.

Our hero, Vitalii Lupynos, director of LEV agricultural firm LLC in Zaporizhzhia region, has no problem with choosing a partner for the sale of grain. For seven years, he has been working only with NIBULON.

LEV agricultural firm was founded in 2014 as a family business and was named after the youngest son in the family. The head and director of the farm, Vitalii Lupynos, started his activities by cultivating 280 hectares of land. He recalls that things were going well, and he had grand plans, but he had to abandon them due to the full-scale invasion. At present, Vitaliy cultivates 2,000 hectares of land, where he works alongside 18 employees.

In the spring of 2022, the employees of LEV agricultural firm worked in bulletproof vests and helmets to avoid disrupting the sowing campaign. These images spread worldwide. However, Vitalii believes there is no heroism here; they are simply doing their job, as they have to feed their families, soldiers, and the country.

“Our farm is located in the village of Komyshuvakha (Zaporizhzhia district). This is a red zone; the frontline is only 20 km away. Danger has long been a part of our lives, but we are used to working in such conditions. Of course, we would like more understanding from the state and banking institutions, which have stopped lending to us due to high risks. But we hold on, hoping for a good harvest and a decent income.”

This year, as usual, the director plans to sell his products through Khortytsia river branch, located not far from the farm. Cooperation was stopped only once, in 2022, when the branch was not operational due to active hostilities nearby. This season, Vitalii will again transport his grain to NIBULON, which has already started a purchasing campaign.

 

“NIBULON always offered the most favorable purchase prices, and we didn’t want to deal with resellers in the town, we sought serious relations. Moreover, every year we see improvements in service, with additional opportunities and services offered by the agricultural company,” Vitalii comments on his decision.

NIBULON appreciates and respects the hard work and efforts of every agricultural producer, maintaining price levels despite the lack of river navigation and the blocked Mykolaiv port hub, which increases logistics costs. International partners help to optimize the economics of grain transportation.

In 2023, the USAID Economic Resilience Activity bought fifty modern hopper wagons, each capable of transporting 70 tons of grain, for NIBULON. In 2024, it purchased thirteen grain trailers with a carrying capacity of 25.5 tons Іt is expected that each trailer will work up to 140,000 ton-kilometers per month, positively affecting the cost of grain transportation, as the cost of grain transportation using the company’s own vehicles is 20% lower than the services of external operators.

According to Mykhailo Rizak, NIBULON’s Director of Government Relations, the receipt of new grain trailers from USAID is another step towards reducing logistics costs and preserving 592 jobs at the river ports on the Dnipro and the Southern Buh, which have been blocked due to the Russian invasion.

“Our blocked river ports pay taxes to fund budgets of the communities, particularly in the frontline zone. Last year alone, they paid about UAH 70 million in taxes to the budgets, of which 30 million went to local budgets, which is a significant support for the territories. On the other hand, our ports are critically important for those agricultural producers who do not have their own storage facilities. In 2023/24, 1,400 farmers used the services of the blocked river elevators,” emphasized the speaker.

According to Mykhailo, since August 2023, when NIBULON received the first hopper wagons from USAID, they have transported almost 73,000 tons of Ukrainian grain to ensure global food security.

Thank you, partners! Feeding the world together!