The revenue of the Ukrainian agricultural sector in 2024 reached almost $24.7 billion, which is the second highest figure in the entire history of Ukraine. As stated by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval at the beginning of 2025, last year Ukrainian farmers were able to provide 59% of foreign exchange earnings in the country. "400 million people depend on Ukrainian food. And by unlocking the potential, this figure can be increased to 600 million. This requires a lot of work, effort and synergy," the minister noted.
Agrotechnology or AgriTech is a set of technological methods in crop production and cultivation of agricultural crops, which are aimed at increasing yield, product quality and economic efficiency of production, taking into account the requirements of environmental safety. In essence, it is about the use of special modern equipment and information technologies in agriculture. We decided to find out what is happening in the global AgriTech sphere, and also talked with specialists about Ukrainian problems and trends in the industry.
How are agricultural technologies developing in the world?
Analysts believe that in the near future, the development of advanced technologies, the need for automation and robotics, and the implementation of environmental solutions will contribute to the growth of the global AgriTech market. Experts include the following modern agricultural technologies:
▪️agricultural use of unmanned aerial vehicles;
▪️satellite photography of agro-industrial land fund;
▪️monitoring crop growth through IoT sensors;
▪️tracking the growth phases of agricultural crops using machine vision;
▪️using AI to analyze the intensity of crop growth;
▪️use of micrometeorology, which takes into account accurate weather forecasting;
▪️automated irrigation and computer-controlled watering systems;
▪️light and heat management in closed spaces and greenhouses;
▪️intelligent software analysis for predicting plant diseases;
▪️use of biotechnology;
▪️hydroponics is a method of growing plants in artificial environments without soil;
▪️using machine learning to analyze the efficiency of agricultural production.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine presented the AgriTech development strategy in February 2025. As indicated in the document, thanks to state support for innovation and cooperation with the private sector, the AgriTech market is currently dominated by North America - 43% of the global market in 2023. As for expectations, experts note that in the near future the AgriTech market will develop at the fastest pace in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to government initiatives and financial assistance for the development of the industry.
The document includes the following key types of technologies in the global AgriTech market: automated equipment and robots, agrifinance and commerce, drones, technologies for increasing yields, technologies for animal husbandry, and precision farming.
But the well-known international company McKinsey & Company surveyed about 4,400 farmers in Europe, India, Latin America, and North America in the first quarter of 2024. According to the survey, rising commodity prices remain the main problem for farmers, with extreme weather events coming in second place.
As the study says, the main problems in the development of the AgriTech industry worldwide are unclear return on investment and high costs of implementation and maintenance. Yes, in North America, 53% of farmers said that they are very concerned about return on investment. But in America, there is Donald Trump👨🏻🦰, who also promises "mountains of gold" to farmers. So, on March 5, 2025, during a speech to Congress, he said the following: "Our new trade policy will also be great for the American farmer — I love the farmer — who will now be selling into our home market, the U.S.A., because nobody is going to be able to compete with you."
Regarding AgriTech trends for 2025, experts from the Singaporean company FJDynamics (focuses on digitalization, automation, new energy; is a global provider of precision farming solutions) identified the following 7 trends:
▪️IoT devices are revolutionizing crop management;
▪️AI will be used for sustainable agricultural development;
▪️data analytics will be actively developed in agriculture;
▪️autonomous agricultural machinery will be used;
▪️new biotechnologies and smart irrigation systems will appear;
▪️blockchain will be used for supply chain transparency;
▪️Agriculturalists will use digital twins — they create virtual copies of farms, which allows them to simulate and control operations online.
It is worth noting that the growth of the world's population is essentially the main engine for the development of the agricultural market. Regardless of the political situation on the world stage or social changes in society, the demand for agricultural products, especially food products, will grow steadily. Therefore, it is obvious that the AgriTech market will also gradually gain momentum.
How is the AgriTech market developing in Ukraine?
In addition to the challenges to agricultural production caused by the war, climate change is also becoming increasingly felt by Ukrainian farmers. Here are some of the main problems that agriculture is currently facing:
▪️droughts and lack of water for irrigation;
▪️change in temperature regimes, which affects plant vegetation;
▪️increase in the number of pests and plant diseases;
▪️soil erosion and reduced fertility.
These and other factors force farmers to seek new approaches to farming, introduce innovations, and adapt to new conditions.
Ukraine’s AgriTech sector is already making a positive contribution to the country’s GDP, but is at a lower level of development compared to the global one. This industry added almost 3% to Ukraine’s GDP in 2023. Ukrainian AgriTech is the most developed in the areas of delivery, restaurant software, and satellite imaging technologies.
Recall that on the night of January 22, 2025, unknown hackers carried out a large-scale cyberattack on the MHP agricultural holding of businessman Yuriy Kosyuk. The holding is the largest producer of chicken in Ukraine. At that time, part of the company's IT infrastructure was not working, and the hacker attack was the largest in the entire history of the holding. It seems that cybersecurity will now become an important component for the agricultural sector as well.
We spoke with Ukrainian experts in the AgriTech sphere, as well as representatives of agricultural holdings, about innovations, trends, problems, and consequences of the war.
Ukrainian entrepreneur, co-founder and managing partner of the DroneUA group of companies and AgriTech specialist Valeriy Yakovenko told us that his company is faced with issues of agricultural efficiency in the context of the challenges and problems facing humanity in general.
"This does not apply only to Ukraine, these are general problems. Agrotechnological innovations are currently solving the issue of making technological operations in the field more economically efficient, expedient, using a lower level of human resources. So, first of all, the innovations that we are introducing are the use of robotics in the fields in order to increase the efficiency of agricultural operations," Valeriy Yakovenko noted.
According to him, drones, ground robotics, automation, predictive models — all of this is the subject of investment, development, and bringing new products to the market.
"Ukraine holds a leading position in the use of robotics in agriculture and our goal is to maintain and strengthen these positions. Farmfleet, an expanded distribution network of agricultural drones and technical support, our own solutions and platforms are a huge cluster of work that our team is doing today," the specialist said. He noted that the main problem in AgriTech is the lack of specialists.
"The main problem in agro today is people; it is very difficult to find technical specialists to do the work. We also have crazy trends in the urbanization of the population. This means that in the regions that should support the agricultural industry, there is physically no one to work. We use technology because professions that combine agro and IT are more attractive to young people. In our example, we see how a young audience perceives knowledge of new areas with greater encouragement and joins in work in the regions," explained entrepreneur Valeriy Yakovenko to us.
The specialist said the following about the large-scale cyberattack on the MHP agricultural holding: "Agriculture is a strategic sector of the Ukrainian economy, absolutely all players in the market suffered losses or were the subjects of various attacks."
Reference: DroneUA is a Ukrainian group of companies, an international system integrator of unmanned solutions, robotics and energy independence systems, creating ecosystems in new areas of development. The founders of the group of companies are Valery Yakovenko and Fevzi Ametov. DroneUA provides services in the field of geodesy and topography, energy, infrastructure, security, real estate and mining. In the agricultural sector, the company provides services to the international market: it has deep expertise and works on data processing for foreign companies.
As for trends, Yuriy Petruk, AgriTech Evangelist and founder of the AgTech Ukraine association, told us that demining technologies are currently very important for Ukraine. "Solutions for land bank management and land purchase and sale are also being developed quite actively. Many farmers are thinking about the possibilities of introducing irrigation and diversification by growing vegetables. And here the use of weather stations and software for calculating the risks of disease and pest development is very relevant. In general, the development of the domestic market for technologies has slowed down significantly," the expert noted.
AgriTech Evangelist also highlighted the following current global trends:
▪️robotic systems - garden sprayers, universal platforms for mounted equipment, drones;
▪️weed control technologies based on computer vision - mechanical claws, laser, current, point application of herbicides;
▪️updating the functionality of old equipment — retrofit equipment in various directions;
▪️a new wave of development of CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) and vertical farming with a focus on business models instead of technologies.
"It has become difficult to use drones for filming and spraying due to problems with flight permits and the lack of pilots. The shortage of personnel greatly complicates the work. It is difficult to hire new people and everyone needs to be trained. Hardware technologies are entering Ukraine with a significant delay. Companies see that the market has shrunk and the risks have increased. For example, new products from John Deere will become available for order only in 2 years," - this is how Yuriy Petruk described the problems in AgriTech caused by the war.
Commenting on the cyberattack on the MHP agroholding, he noted that now all large businesses must protect themselves from cyberattacks, think through the correct architecture of IT solutions, business processes, and pay a lot of attention to staff training, because this is often the most vulnerable link. "In the case of MHP and other large holdings, their data is often much more valuable than data from state registers," the expert concluded.
But the head of the IT department of the VITAGRO group of companies, Serhiy Bilichenko, told us that his team is currently implementing the following precision farming technologies: agrochemical soil analysis; use of precise positioning systems to automate equipment management; use of smart sensors to analyze soil density to adjust the operation of equipment in real time; use of equipment that allows you to automatically change seed sowing rates and fertilizer application in different parts of the field; use of satellite technologies to obtain the NDVI index, which helps to identify crop problems in a timely manner.
"These technologies allow us to reduce costs and increase yields. For example, differentiated fertilizer application based on soil analysis allows us to save up to 15% of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. We plan to continue implementing innovations, in particular, expanding the use of artificial intelligence technologies for data analysis and yield forecasting. We plan to continue implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) to collect data in real time and increase efficiency," the specialist said.
According to the head of the IT department of the VITAGRO group of companies, the following current trends in the AgriTech sector can be distinguished:
▪️artificial intelligence — used for scientific research, information analysis, drawing conclusions for effective land cultivation and pest control; AI also has a significant impact on optimizing supply chains;
▪️Internet of Things (IoT) — provides real-time data collection and transmission, allowing you to track climate changes, soil conditions, machinery and equipment, and analyze the yield of each individual field or crop;
▪️RTK systems (Real-Time Kinematic) - provide accuracy of field operations down to a centimeter, which is the basis for precision agriculture;
▪️Robotics and autonomous equipment are used for spraying plants, sowing and harvesting, which increases efficiency.
"In 2022, many projects were stopped, and resources were redirected to maintaining the operational capacity of companies. The main goal was to conduct the sowing campaign, harvest and export the crop. Among the main problems, I would highlight: budget optimization - reduced investment in technological projects due to economic instability; logistical difficulties - in some places the impossibility of selling grown products; personnel shortage - loss of qualified employees due to mobilization and migration; for example, currently more than 800 employees of the group of companies are serving in the army - this is almost a fifth of our personnel," Serhiy Bilichenko told us.
According to him, in 2023, the implementation of technologies resumed and, based on the results of 2025, VITAGRO plans to reach the pre-war level of their implementation.
Reference: VITAGRO is one of the largest industrial groups in Ukraine with assets in the agricultural, energy, processing, construction and chemical industries. It was founded and has been operating since 1998. The group owns enterprises in Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv regions. It cultivates about 90,000 hectares of land, and is also engaged in animal husbandry, horticulture, renewable energy, production of fertilizers and compound feed, construction and production of building materials. Even during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the group built and launched 5 processing enterprises. The head office of VITAGRO is located in Khmelnytskyi. People's Deputy from the For the Future group Serhiy Labazyuk is the owner of the VITAGRO group of companies. In 2023, Labazyuk became a defendant in a criminal case. He is suspected of attempting to bribe top officials in the field of restoration. VITAGRO became the first supplier of biomethane to Europe. The company built the plant in 2022-2024, and the production of biomethane from manure started in September 2024. The annual production volume is expected to reach 30,000 MWh, which is equivalent to the gas consumption of 2,000 German households.
Andriy Pishy, IT Director at Kernel Group of Companies, told us that his team's priority remains solutions that help increase yields and save resources. "We continue to develop Digital AgriBusiness - our farm management system, which allows you to collect, analyze and accumulate information about the field and production technology and, accordingly, about yield results. We are also working on optimizing logistics and automating production. We already have the TransitHub system - our own development, which helps in communication with carriers, regulates queues at elevators, factories or port infrastructure. As for the plans, we are deepening the integration of AI-based solutions," the specialist said.
In his opinion, global trends in agriculture coincide with Ukrainian ones, and the difference is that climatic factors are taken into account rather than security factors.
"The trend is AI. Among other things, the development of artificial intelligence systems that allow predicting climate change and adapting agriculture to new conditions will become important in the world. Solutions for automating agricultural processes are also becoming increasingly popular: robots, tractors, and combines that work without human intervention," noted the IT director at the Kernel group of companies.
According to the specialist, the first year of the full-scale invasion, for obvious reasons, put the active phase of implementing AgriTech solutions on hold. "Over time, we resumed our projects. The war forced us to adjust our focus and even accelerated certain processes of reforming the industry, which, perhaps, would have waited for the right time. For example, we are talking about calculating CO2 emissions and introducing e-TTN. The war also showed the importance of technological innovations for maintaining stability in the agricultural sector. During this period, it became obvious that automation and digitalization of agribusiness allow us to reduce dependence on the human factor, which became an important aspect during the war. Among the problems are the threat of shelling, damage to equipment, and lack of electricity," Andriy Pishy concluded.
Reference: Kernel — before the full-scale war, the agricultural holding ranked first in the world in the production of sunflower oil (approximately 7% of global production) and its exports (approximately 12%). The company was also the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. In addition, Kernel was engaged in the cultivation of other agricultural products and their sale. The largest co-owner of Kernel through Namsen Ltd. is Ukrainian businessman Andriy Verevsky. The holding company received a net profit of $299 million in the 2023 fiscal year compared to a loss of $41 million for the same period in the previous fiscal year. The agricultural holding is the largest donor to the Armed Forces of Ukraine from agribusiness, it provided support for over UAH 3.1 billion.
Our request was also answered by the agricultural holding MHP, a businessman Yuriy Kosyuk, who is the largest producer of chicken in Ukraine. MHP is an international company in the field of food and agrotechnology and introduces innovations in all areas of business: production, logistics, retail and agriculture. "We develop all areas of business comprehensively, because unified infrastructure and process end-to-end solutions form a holistic business ecosystem and increase management efficiency. Digitalization is not separate initiatives, but a continuous process that changes approaches to work, optimizes resources and creates new opportunities. If we talk about the agricultural sector, then in 2024 we reached a new level - 266,000 hectares of high-quality yield maps. And we also reached 93% of high-quality data from the total mapping area," Taras Goshovsky, Director of Information and Digital Technologies at MHP, told us.
According to him, the accumulation of yield mapping data makes it possible to accurately determine the productivity of each field area, ensure rational use of resources, and optimize technology: we are talking about +10% yield in highly productive areas, and -25% fertilizer in less productive areas without crop losses. The holding is also developing an automated AI-based system that automatically forms the structure of sown areas, determines the optimal cultivation technology, allows you to take into account actual data at any time as of the update date and predict the impact of key factors on yield.
Among AgriTech trends, Taras Goshovsky highlighted the following areas:
▪️ Big Data and AI analytics — using large data sets to find new opportunities: AI analytics to optimize growing technology, ML modeling to predict yield with a high level of confidence — based on data on the nature and degree of influence of factors on yield;
▪️ Precision farming — understanding the variability of productivity of each field, working with each individual field plot, which has unique characteristics (physicochemical, physical, agrochemical), and involving AI in the formation of task maps for all elements of the technology.
"The war had a great impact on the implementation of AgriTech solutions in Ukraine, and speaking of MHP, it can be noted that it not only did not stop, but also accelerated the processes of digital transformation. Due to challenges with personnel, changes in logistics routes, difficulties with export opportunities and other factors, the processing of agricultural producers underwent radical changes, which, in turn, forced companies to accelerate innovation and automation. These changes became somewhat forced, since it was necessary to quickly find ways to optimize and increase efficiency," the specialist said. He also noted that the risk of cyberattacks was added to all the challenges.
"In January, the largest cyberattack in history was carried out on MHP. This will cause certain changes in our internal processes, which we will not talk about publicly. But I can honestly say: this incident confirmed the effectiveness of our approach to monitoring. Many years of work on developing security policies and procedures have yielded results. Today, we are improving this system — adding new tools to expand our perimeter monitoring and strengthening backup procedures. We are constantly striving for improvement, understanding that this path has no end point," Taras Goshovsky concluded.
Reference: MHP is one of the largest agricultural holdings in Ukraine, an international company in the field of food and agrotechnology and retail with headquarters in Kyiv. The holding has production facilities in Ukraine and the Balkans (Perutnina Ptuj Group). MHP subsidiaries operate in the UK, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the Balkan Peninsula and other EU countries. The holding's Ukrainian land bank reaches 370,000 hectares. The founder, majority shareholder and chairman of the board of MHP is Ukrainian businessman Yuriy Kosyuk. According to Forbes, the agricultural holding is among the top 10 employers in Ukraine and employs more than 32,000 employees in Ukraine and abroad. The geography of exports covers more than 70 countries. As a culinary company, MHP develops more than 15 food brands, including "Nasha Ryaba", "Apetitna", "Super Fileo", "Legko!", "Bashchinsky", Skott Smeat, etc. According to data for 2024, the company retains the status of the largest poultry producer in Europe and ranks 8th in the world according to the WATT Poultry International rating. The holding has an IT division with its own centers of expertise - architecture, big data, SAP, and a project office, which allows MHP to compete with many specialized IT companies. This IT division employs almost 350 people. In 2024, MHP was the first in Ukraine to receive international ISO 22301 certification. "This indicates that we have a systematic approach to risk management and ensure stable operation of all systems and services. We are open to exchanging experience with other companies. In the conditions of war, which also continues in cyberspace, it is necessary to join forces and share knowledge to increase the resilience of Ukrainian business," said MHP IT Director Taras Goshovsky.