2026
The crop protection product market is affected by many factors, among which the determining ones are, of course, the war, climate change, as well as the prospects of convergence with the EU agri-market. But each season has its own features and we decided to consider what marked 2025.
Which product groups remain the most in demand? How has demand changed in recent years? With which problems did producers turn most this season?
Serhii Borysov, head of the chemical division and the DEFENDA brand of LNZ Group:
Ukraine this year, from the point of view of weather conditions, "divided" into two parts. One part where there was too much precipitation, and the other part where there was none at all. So the dynamics of demand for certain product categories was accordingly. In regions with increased humidity the need for fungicides grew.
In the southern regions, where heat and drought effectively destroyed many crops, demand for crop protection products decreased significantly. Although earlier, in the spring period, in these regions demand for microelements, growth stimulants, fungicides became active — after all, the problems began back in autumn, so there were many resowings. Later sowings were weakened, and spring frosts were also added. So local farmers tried to save them in this way. Unfortunately, much of what was saved in spring then died in the summer drought.
Instead, in some central regions — Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava — favourable conditions for the spread of pests were observed, which caused an increase in requests for insecticides.
In general, due to the moisture deficit in the early spring period, farmers were forced to begin overly early sowing of corn and sunflower. At the same time, a certain number abandoned the use of soil herbicides, while the weeds were actively vegetating and there were problems with applying post-emergence herbicides, especially on corn and sunflower. A rather important problem is that the range of spread of the quarantine pest the western corn rootworm has already reached the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions, especially where corn is a monoculture. Therefore, in our recommendations an insecticide treatment of corn at the 3-7 leaf phase and the 10-12 leaf phase is mandatory.
If we specify by products from the DEFENDA portfolio, then this year the emphasis was, for example, on such soil herbicides as: Sora-Net, Idaho, Perun; post-emergence herbicides: Musson, Sumaro, Haruma, Piramida, Blade, Banten. Among fungicides, Kamzol Turbo, Ultralin, Stark, Taler, Split Duo are in demand. To fight pests, the insecticides Octant Turbo, Bombardier Duo, Prosens, Kairos, Presto are widely used. I will note that demand is decreasing for chlorine-containing pesticides — due to environmental requirements and EU standards.
How are producers' approaches to the use of crop protection products changing?
The soil and climatic conditions of the spring period of 2025 convinced many producers of the expediency of using soil herbicides on the main crops. More and more farms prefer quality post-patent products, including the Defenda brand.
Demand for the use of drones is increasing, but there are certain problems dictated by the war. To save money, a certain percentage of farms, instead of preventive treatments — this concerns mainly the application of fungicides and insecticides — use these products after the fact, but this is not always the right decision.
