Ukraine's Continental Farmers finishes spring planting

MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - Continental Farmers Group (CFG), a Saudi-owned agribusiness group that operates in western Ukraine, has completed planting of spring crops and potatoes, for which it allocated over 104,000 hectares and 2,000 hectares, respectively, the company said in a press release.

"This year's sowing campaign had its challenges. Due to prolonged rains and low temperatures, the work was carried out intermittently, and the completion of the sowing campaign was slightly delayed. However, the favorable weather forecasted for the near future will allow us to compensate for the shift in the calendar and eventually reach the planned phases of crop development. We are determined to get uniform sprouts on all areas," CFG CEO Georg von Nolcken was quoted as saying in the press release.

CFG said it has planted sunflower, corn, soybeans, rapeseed, sugar beet and buckwheat. It has now moved on to applying plant protection products and inter-row cultivation. The next step will be to prepare for the harvest.

CFG said earlier that it would plant 104,600 hectares this year, the same as in 2022.

CFG cultivates about 200,000 hectares of land in the Ternopol, Lvov, Khmelnitsky, Chernovitsky and Ivano-Frankovsk regions. The company is one of the leading potato producers in Ukraine.

CFG is owned by Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Co. (SALIC). The Saudi company merged agribusiness group Mriya, which it acquired in 2018, into CFG, which it already owned, in 2019.