Long-time hemp advocate named president of new international farmers group in Ukraine

Michel Terestchenko, long associated with industrial hemp development in Ukraine, has been named the first president of the newly formed International Farmers’ Association of Ukraine (IFA).

The group, established this month near Kyiv, brings together 63 family-run farms ranging in size from 300 hectares to 22,000 hectares. Combined, the members account for roughly 275,000 hectares of farmland.

“IFA will be able to bring its voice to all negotiations important to Ukrainian farmers, such as those related to Ukraine’s integration into the European Union,” said Terestchenko, the initiator of the MA’RIJANY industrial hemp project, a hub based in the Zhytomyr region. 

Broad coalition

The IFA includes European farmers operating in Ukraine from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Scotland, alongside Ukrainian producers.

The group aims to strengthen coordination among farmers, defend property and business rights, and ensure representation in key policy discussions, particularly those tied to Ukraine’s potential integration into the European Union.

Participants in the founding meeting included representatives of the German agricultural machinery maker HORSCH, Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskiy, and Oleh Khomenko, CEO of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), an industry group representing large-scale agricultural enterprises.

Diplomats from the embassies of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark also attended.

Defense, policy

Organizers said the association is partly a response to ongoing risks faced by farmers, including land disputes, corruption and pressure from so-called “raiders” — actors who attempt to seize agricultural assets through legal or extralegal means.

At the same time, the IFA is positioned as a platform for cooperation, knowledge exchange and alignment with European agricultural standards.

Members also emphasized their role in supporting local communities and Ukraine’s war effort, including humanitarian aid and logistical support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Hemp roots

Terestchenko is widely known in the Ukranian hemp sector for early hemp initiatives and for the more recent development of the MA’RIJANY complex, which aims to establish largest plantation of textile-grade industrial hemp in Europe. The project redeveloped a former flax-processing facility into a modern hemp fiber processing hub, part of a broader push to rebuild Ukraine’s fiber value chain by linking cultivation with primary processing and downstream manufacturing.

A descendant of a historic Ukrainian family with deep ties to agriculture and industry, Terestchenko returned to Ukraine after a career abroad to restore family land and invest in farming and rural development.

His work has focused on rebuilding agricultural infrastructure and promoting sustainable crops, including hemp, as part of Ukraine’s post-Soviet and wartime economic transition.

The formation of the IFA comes as Ukraine’s agricultural sector faces both disruption from war and new opportunities tied to closer alignment with the European Union.