The New Year is associated with new opportunities and prospects for most of us. However, without knowing our past achievements, it's challenging to plan for the future. The year 2024 has already begun. We want to reflect. We want to share with you how we experienced 2023 and what common victories we achieved.
In 2023, experts from the Advisory Center of AMP (AC AMP) provided over 300 visits. Today, our team has over 6,000 forage livestock on the technical support, 1,000 forage livestock - on the feed support , and over 4,500 forage livestock - on the management support.
The Veterinary Service Center (VSC) serves 117 farms with over 47,000 heads of milking cows.
The main value of the Advisory Center is OUR PEOPLE: employees, clients, partners. Today, more than 85 experts in the field of dairy farming continue to work at the Advisory Center of AMP. We take pride in having colleagues who made the decision to defend our homeland on the front lines.
For our specialists, PROFESSIONALISM and continuous improvement are crucial. Therefore, we don't stop in our development and study the best global practices to integrate them into the reality of the Ukrainian agricultural sector. Throughout this year, we:
- Became the official acquirer of the "Reference Model of a Dairy Farm in Ukraine" , the tools and Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) of which are used in providing consultations and support for the Advisory Center clients. They are partially available on the milk.ua website: Reference Model of a Dairy Farm (milkua.info). This model was developed as part of the "Ukraine dairy supply chain development" project in collaboration with the Association of Milk Producers, the International Finance Corporation IFC, and Pöttinger Ukraine LLC;
- Successfully completed the course "Dairy Production in a Low-Carbon Future" at the International Agricultural Training Center MASHAV (Israel);
- Received training from FAO expert Vitaliy Bashynskyi on preparing dairy farms to comply with European standards for quality and safety;
- Obtained support from Land O'Lakes Venture37 and implemented an educational co-project, including webinars from U.S. experts for consultants and dairy farm specialists in Ukraine.
By enhancing their qualifications, our experts share acquired knowledge with Ukrainian milk producers and implement it within support projects for their clients. For us CLIENT-ORIENTATION is the right of the client to receive quality and professional service. Throughout the year, the Advisory Center of AMP conducted both offline and online training courses and seminars for specialists from Ukraine and abroad. All educational video materials are available on the Advisory Center's YouTube channel: Консультаційний центр АВМ - YouTube.
Considering the current realities of a full-scale invasion, the Advisory Center of AMP remains actively involved, demonstrating maximum DEDICATION TO THE CAUSE and helping raw milk producers restore, support and improve their activities, for which we receive gratitude and recognition from partners:
- Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Advisory Center's experts, together with IFC, have developed a series of informational and educational materials distributed among the members of Association of milk producers of Ukraine (AMP) and posted on AMP information portals: For farms in war conditions (avm-ua.org);
- As part of cooperation with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland), Advisory Center's experts visited and provided practical consultations to 141 dairy farms in Chernihiv, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson regions (over 49,000 heads of cattle);
- In collaboration with USAID, under the project "Supporting SMEs in the Dairy Sector (Milk Production) in Ensuring Food Security in Ukraine," the Advisory Center's experts provided consultations to over 220 SMEs, conducted practical seminars at veterinary drug distribution hubs, and held online educational webinars;
- The implementation of the VSC and UmanLabs project, supported by SAFOSO AG (Switzerland), has begun: "Increasing knowledge and consulting small and medium-sized milk producers on approaches to diagnosing mastitis pathogens, preventing disease, and hygiene requirements for milk." The project includes practical visits by VSC's service veterinarians to identify the causes of cow mastitis, laboratory examination of milk samples from mastitic cows, and the selection of effective treatment regimens.
The year 2023 was also marked by the revival of key events in the Ukrainian dairy industry - the National Farm Day and the International Dairy Congress, where Advisory Center's experts acted as moderators, speakers, and co-organizers.
Despite all the challenges of current life and work in Ukraine, we do not give up and continue to move forward: the Advisory Center's Back Office doesn't leave its office and continues to operate in Uman; VSC's service veterinarians continue to serve 8 regions of Ukraine, including the dangerous eastern region; Advisory Center's experts become "universal soldiers" to be able to support colleagues who are currently defending us from the enemy.
This year taught us to be strong, resilient, and ready to face any challenges. We realized that nothing can stop us if we believe in ourselves and have the willpower. We turned challenges into OPPORTUNITIES and continue to bring our country closer to VICTORY!
Vitaliy Sidorenko (CVS) delivered semen from Simex Alliance Ukraine LLC to AF Kyseli LLC.
A two-day training for 30 specialists from Dubnomoloko and Kaniv Cheese Factory took place at the office of the Association of Milk Producers upon the order of the largest cheese factories in Ukraine.
Oleksandr Nazarko and Valeriy Lotoskyy - the graduates of the course "Dairy Production in a Low-carbon Future" held at the International Agricultural Training Center MASHAV (Israel).
Experts from the Advisory Center of AMP are undergoing training from FAO expert Vitaliy Bashynskyy to prepare for compliance with European requirements for dairy farms.
CVS's service veterinarian Vitaliy Sidorenko received an award from AF Kyseli LLC for support and professional work.
Kateryna Dudka and Valeriy Lotoskyy at the International Dairy Congress 2023.