Deep roots:
125 years of KWS Ukraine

It ought to be a reason to celebrate: 125 years have passed since the historic photos were taken, showing a brick storehouse, next to which are men and women in festive attire at the building’s inauguration. The inscription “Rabbethge & Giesecke,” the former name of KWS, is emblazoned on the gable in Cyrillic script. Other photos show further buildings, such as the factory for producing sugarbeet seed. The station was KWS’ first outside Germany. Its location: Vinnytsia, Ukraine – what was then the world’s largest sugarbeet cultivation region. Even though KWS has been active for so long in Ukraine, this is a difficult anniversary for our colleagues due to Russia’s war of aggression.

Another war meant that KWS’ history in Ukraine initially lasted only 15 years, explains Darya Perederiy, Brand and Communication Manager: “In the First World War, the plant was confiscated by the Imperial Russian Government as German property and destroyed. Attempts to restore the seed factory in 1923 and 1944 were unsuccessful.” As a result, KWS did not breed or distribute seed in Ukraine until 1995.

New start in the 1990s

That changed five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union: KWS created a joint venture with the sugarbeet producers association and the factory in Vinnytsia to develop new co-joint varieties with local breeders and started producing, propagating and selling sugarbeet seed. At the beginning of the 2000s, ownership of the factory was transferred to a local company. Since then, KWS has not produced its own sugarbeet seed in Ukraine, but has captured a 65 percent market share by importing it. After the establishment of KWS Ukraine LCC on March 16, 2000, corn, oilseed rape and cereals were added, followed later by sunflowers. “We’re strongly focused on our broad oilseed rape portfolio, and we’re raising awareness of the benefits of sunflowers in crop rotation,” says Darya.

KWS has a presence with these crops at three locations in Ukraine, alongside its headquarters with Customer Service, Product Management, Marketing, Finance and Logistics in Kyiv. Corn, oilseed rape and sugarbeet are bred at Kagarlyk north of the capital, while the breeding station in Dnipro, south of the capital, concentrates on breeding sunflower and sorghum. And in Kamianets-Podilskyi in western Ukraine, a plant for processing and producing corn and sunflower seed, which was inaugurated in 2016, has been additionally supplying EU markets (since the fall of 2021) alongside the local market. By the end of 2023, the plant had been expanded during the war to a capacity of up to 700,000 units – a sign of how important the location is for KWS.

A silent anniversary

Yurii Khamaidiuk is head of the plant in Kamianets-Podilskyi. The decision to build it was made almost 10 years ago because the capacities of a cooperation partner were no longer sufficient. The new building in the same region means KWS benefits from consistent climatic conditions: Due to the nearby mountains on the border to Romania, it rains more frequently here than in the center of the country, for example. In addition, the existing network of growers was also retained at the location.

Kamianets-Podilskyi accounts for 74 of KWS’ total workforce of 195 Ukrainian employees. In autumn and winter, they harvest, process and deliver the seed, while they sow and tend the new basic seed in spring and summer. However, the war is also impacting operations and employees in western Ukraine. “Sometimes we only work half a shift because we have to get to safety out of the way of rockets,” Yurii explains. Another problem is that it is currently not possible to fill all positions or find enough seasonal workers. 125 years of KWS in Ukraine will be commemorated quietly – “out of respect for our 18 colleagues on the war front,” says Darya. But one thing has never changed: KWS continues to invest in agriculture and the country’s independence. |