Added on May 13, 2019  Sara Swanson

Ukranian “Women in Agriculture” visit Fusilier Family Farms

by Steve Paradiso, Michigan Farm Bureau, reprinted with permission

Six women involved in various areas of agriculture from the Eastern European country of Ukraine visited Fusilier Family Farms in Manchester this week. It was just one of their several stops in Michigan and Ohio over an eight-day period. 

Sponsored by The Open World Leadership Center, an agency of the U.S. Congress, and hosted by The Great Lakes Consortium for International Training and Development (GLC) of Toledo, Ohio, the visit provided an opportunity for the group to attain a better understanding of agricultural practices in the U.S. from both an agronomy and business standpoint — knowledge they can take back and utilize on their family farms or professions.

Olha Romaniv, with her husband and his family, grow apples on roughly 250 acres for the wholesale juice market near the nation’s capital, Kiev. The family also exports apples to the UK, Scandinavian countries, and to the United Arab Emirates. Romaniv, the co-founder of Hot Garlic Co., grows and sells garlic. 

Like her family, she is working to unite farmers to do the same in a cooperative.

“Along with selling our garlic to wholesalers, who will sell to consumers, we also sell garlic plants to other farmers with the hope to create a cooperative of garlic producers,” Romaniv said. “I’m very happy to be on this visit for I think we have a lot to learn from the USA. We visited Michigan State University and met with Dr. Bill Knudson who shared with us how cooperatives are established here in the U.S. 

“This is very important to us — to learn this experience and bring it to Ukraine to help us develop our agricultural business.”

The Fusiliers are a sixth-generation family business, with Mike and Kathy Fusilier managing the 220-acre farm with the help of their four children and their spouses.

Most of the farm is devoted and planted with the highest quality of produce. They also have a large selection of flowers, attend several markets, have two stores open daily, and offer a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) to the community. 

Mike Fusilier, who serves on the Michigan Farm Bureau Board of Directors, is pleased to have the opportunity to share what his farm does with visitors from Ukraine.

“It’s always great to have groups such as this visit our farm… especially with those of other nationalities,” Fusilier said. “We may grow different things, but it all starts in the ground. Anything we can share that they can take back to Ukraine to help them be successful means their visit was worth it. And they seemed very interested in the concept of the Michigan Farm Bureau, indicating it’s an idea they’ll take back and further explore in hopes in helping them with policy (and) maybe with elections. Their democracy is still so new to them, and they have a long way to go in these areas. 

In Ukraine, women produce close to 80% of the country’s vegetable and fruit crops, and 45% of hogs consumed domestically. In 2017, rural household plots had a significant share in the production of labor-intensive agricultural products, including: 

• potatoes – 98% (21282,1 thousand tons)
• vegetables – 86% (8091,6 thousand tons)
• fruits and berries – 82% (1636,8 thousand tons)
• and milk – 74% (7675,9 thousand tons)

Women farmers earn an average of $100 per month on their household plots, with the money being used for expenses in farming, household needs, school needs and personal items. The earnings on the household plots are limited due to the size of plots. 

The need for using best agricultural practices, the lack of coordinated marketing activities, and a unified voice in addressing policies and regulations affecting rural women are all challenges they face.

Tetiana Artiukh is an assistant professor at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences in Kiev, the leading public university in the field of agriculture. She and her husband also raise wheat, onions and tomatoes on their family farm. At the university, Artiukh teaches and encourages her students to benefit a growing agrarian society in Ukraine.

“Our country has a great opportunity for development in agriculture,” Artiukh said. “Because of that, I think it’s good we were able to come to the U.S. and visit farms like the Fusiliers’. And our visit to Michigan State University was very beneficial as well. From both, we learned ideas we can take back to Ukraine. And with our new president, (Volodymyr Zelenskiy), to be in office soon with his great team, we hope to have total support for agriculture in our country.” 

Olga Romaniv has a master’s degree in finance from the National Academy of Management in Kiev, and though she doesn’t grow flowers, she learned some things from the visit to Fusiliers. 

“Mike and Kathy have such a beautiful business,” Romaniv said. “I learned … when all the family works together and do different things, it can be very successful by making unique added-value products. It’s an idea I’ll bring back to Ukraine and hopefully to our business.”

Great Lakes Consortium has worked with more than 20 countries and 1,400 participants for more than 20 years on international visitor and educational programs. The Open World Leadership Center, founded in 1999 by Congress, maintains a vast network of more than 28,000 alumni in strategic countries, including Russia, Ukraine, and others in the Balkans, Caucuses, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. 

Open World supports legislative diplomacy efforts for members of Congress by conducting exchanges that establish lasting professional relationships between emerging leaders and their U.S. counterparts. Program participants are provided with extensive exposure to American politics, accountable governance, and citizen diplomacy. 

To learn more about Open World, visit www.openworld.gov/.