Call to Revise the Criteria for Designating Critically Important Agricultural Enterprises
Anatoliy Hayvoronsky, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Farmers' Association, is urging authorities to overhaul the criteria used to classify agricultural businesses as critically important. Currently, these criteria are tied to land bank size. He proposes replacing that metric with economic indicators, specifically an annual turnover of at least 500,000 hryvnias and an average monthly wage of 25,000–26,000 hryvnias. Hayvoronsky warns that the new rules could strip 60–70% of Ukrainian farmers of their reservation status, which grants draft exemptions for key workers.
Hayvoronsky argues that linking criticality to land area is ineffective.
“Farmers in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and those in Zakarpattia Oblast are the same. We oppose tying these criteria to land bank size at all. Why 100 hectares? What if someone has 99 hectares? And what about berry growers or vegetable farmers who only have five hectares?”He stressed that any farmer operating officially and meeting the proposed economic benchmarks should be recognized as critical, regardless of their acreage.
Criteria Overhaul and Risks for Small Farms
Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky assured that no final decisions will be made without consulting relevant public organizations, including farmers. In late May, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 692, which launched a broad review of criticality criteria for businesses. All current criticality designations will remain valid no later than September 1, 2026.
The criticality criteria being developed by regional military administrations (RMAs) include:
- land area,
- number of employees,
- annual revenue,
- taxes paid per hectare.
Draft updated criteria from the RMAs must be approved by the national government. Dmytro Solomchuk, a lawmaker from the Servant of the People party and a member of the parliamentary committee on agrarian and land policy, expressed concern that the new criteria could become too burdensome for small farms.
“If all farmers are taken away, who will work the land? Probably large holding companies. Maybe these criteria are being adopted in their favor,”added Hayvoronsky, highlighting the risks that the new rules could create.
These legislative changes could significantly reshape farming in Ukraine, as the revised criteria for critical enterprises may reduce the number of small-scale farmers. This has sparked alarm among agricultural producers, who fear the new rules will primarily benefit large agribusinesses, potentially threatening the country's food security. It is crucial that the process of setting new criteria takes into account the needs of all players in the agricultural market to ensure fairness and support for small and medium-sized farms.
As the government considers new criteria for defining critical agricultural enterprises, it is important to note the recent changes to employee reservation rules. These adjustments, which focus on salary and regional factors, may further impact farmers seeking draft exemptions. For a deeper understanding of how these adjustments could affect the agricultural sector, read more about the tightening of employee reservation requirements.