Nataliya Sudarkina from Patriot said that her company has started offering support to by consulting other growers on better growing practices; by advising on which types of garlic to cultivate, defining planting schemes for farms, along with the option to rent the necessary equipment.
"We started building a storage and production area two months ago to accommodate 1000 tons of garlic per season, which will be ready by harvest in July. I think that this season will be rather interesting because we will have a lot of domestic garlic on the market. The increased supply does mean that prices should be lower," shared Nataliya.
"A lot of associations of garlic producers were started last year, with around 7 to 8 conferences last year. Growers are coming together for cooperation, with the hopes that Ukraine can become a bigger player in the garlic world. Many farmers have also started to use drip irrigation across the board, so our quality is much better than 2-3 years ago."
Patriot starts planting its garlic in October, on 300 acres, and will harvest in the coming two to three weeks this year (4-15 July). About 70% of the company's production will be sold on the local market and the remaining 30% will be sent to Canada and countries in Europe.
"We had a good amount of rainy and sunny days this year, so we are expecting a really good crop. Of course, the frosts from last month also hit our area, but it's not an issue for Ukrainian garlic varieties, where temperatures can get as low as -20/-25 Celsius without any damage," said Nataliya.
"Along with being hearty, our Ukrainian garlic has a strong aroma and more intense flavour than the garlic typically imported from other countries." asserted Nataliya.
For more information:
Nataliya Sudarkina
Patriot
Tel: +38 067 488 6402
Email: natasudarkina@gmail.com
www.chesnok.in.ua