There is an acute shortage of combine operators and drivers. The industry is sounding the alarm, officials are shrugging their shoulders
“Our accountant Svetlana Vladimirovna retrained as an agronomist without having the appropriate diploma. Programmer Slavik got on the combine. All four engineers also joined the harvest - driving combines.” This is not an episode from some television reality show, but a fragment from the real life of an agricultural enterprise in Ukraine. Events unfold in one of the rear regions of Ukraine. A large enterprise, which cultivates about 10 thousand hectares of land and contains six thousand cattle, saves production processes in conditions of a full-scale war and general mobilization.
“Over the past two years, the direction of insemination of animals has dropped significantly, which affects the amount of milk and, in fact, the health of livestock. This is because veterinarians and livestock specialists were mobilized. Now they have to go to universities and look for young specialists,” complains the interlocutor of the agricultural director.
In total, during the invasion, 66 workers were mobilized from the mentioned enterprise, 27% of the total number. The head of the farm clarifies a detail known to every colleague in Ukraine: current legislation allows 50% of those liable for military service to be protected from mobilization.
Last weekend, Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky reported encouraging news for farmers. Firstly, existing reservations are automatically extended for three months without the need to submit any documents. Secondly, the new reservation will be provided for 12 months (previously it was valid for six months). The Cabinet of Ministers indeed reflected the corresponding changes in the new resolution No. 650 dated June 5.
The official also clarified: despite the general reservation rate of up to 50% for some professions, you can submit a petition with justification for increasing this quota. But this part of Vysotsky’s message is now impossible to implement in practice. And this will also be discussed below.
In general, all these cheerful statements, without exaggeration, confused the industry. Profile websites and chats were full of discussions about what exactly the acting leader had in mind. minister and whether what he said will actually be implemented.
We collected questions from farmers and went to the Ministry of Agriculture. What we managed to find out is further in the material...
Explanations from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy
Taras Vysotsky’s subordinates immediately turned out to be unprepared to somehow interpret their boss’s statements. But the excitement that the acting commentary caused. Minister, finally forced the department to react somehow... This happened only on the fourth day. On June 19, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy held a working meeting on the reservation of military personnel for the period of mobilization and during martial law. As the acting head of the department for mobilization work of the ministry, Yulia Babenko, noted in a comment to the “Commander-in-Chief”, the norm that was withdrawn from the government decree of January 27, 2023 No. 76 raised the most questions among those present. It concerned the reservation of enterprise employees liable for military service for mobilization assignments. The body that sets the mobilization task may be the regional military administration.
In addition, the specialist assured, reservations for mobilization assignments are still carried out, in accordance with another government decree No. 45 dated February 4, 2015 (as amended by Cabinet Resolution No. 674 dated June 7, 2024). However, this document is marked “For official use only”. Enterprises, if necessary, can familiarize themselves with this resolution through the body that directly established the mobilization task.
The most controversial part of the acting statement turned out to be. Minister Taras Vysotsky, which concerned the possible reservation of more than 50% for certain types of agricultural professions. According to the head of the department for mobilization work of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the enterprise, in particular, and the agro-industrial complex, before the changes introduced by the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 650 of June 5, 2024 came into force, if there was a justified need, they submitted an initiative to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to increase the reservation quota more than 50% of those liable for military service.
“There have been cases that previously the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine provided positive decisions to increase the percentage of reservations for those liable for military service. Thus, individual enterprises of the agro-industrial complex were granted permission to reserve military personnel at the level of 70-80%,” said Yulia Babenko.
However, in early June everything changed. As the “Commander-in-Chief” learned, after the powers of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to coordinate the reservation lists of those liable for military service were transferred to the Ministry of Defense, the department stopped reserving agricultural workers in certain professions with a volume of more than 50%.
“Punctures” in the Agricultural Ministry: what deputies say
Member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, people's deputy from the Servant of the People Fyodor Venislavsky, in a conversation with the Commander-in-Chief, noted that there is a lack of interaction between central authorities on the issue of booking persons. In particular, officials cannot quickly agree on a list of professions in a particular area, without which the economy will not function.
“This is where imbalances arise when an accountant retrains as an agronomist... That is, the relevant ministry does not respond in a timely manner to the problems of the industry in order to ensure its stable development,” the elected official stated in a comment to the “Commander-in-Chief.”
The pro-government people's deputy said that when making changes to the package of mobilization laws, parliamentarians did not provide for the reservation of workers in specific industries, except for the civil service. At the same time, criteria and approaches for reservation from mobilization were prescribed. In particular, we are talking about enterprises that are critical to the functioning of the economy. Further, the Cabinet of Ministers, at the level of by-laws, determined a list of critical industries, as well as documents required for “reservation”. The lists of people who are reserved from mobilization are directly approved by the Ministry of Economy.
In order for an enterprise to be identified as critical to the functioning of the economy and the life of the population, it must meet at least three of these criteria, which are defined by government decree No. 76 of January 27, 2023:
- the total amount of taxes, fees and payments paid to the state and local budgets (except for customs duties) and the amount of the single contribution paid for compulsory state social insurance during the reporting tax year exceeds the equivalent of 1.5 million euros, determined at the weighted average rate of the National Bank;
- the amount of receipts in foreign currency, except for credits and borrowings, for the reporting tax year exceeds the equivalent of 32 million euros, determined at the weighted average rate of the National Bank;
- the enterprise is of strategic importance for the economy and security of the state and is included in the list approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 4, 2015 No. 83;
- the enterprise is important for a sector of the national economy or meeting the needs of a territorial community - these criteria are established by the relevant ministries (in the area of management or sector of the national economy) or regional administrations; absence of arrears in payment of a single contribution to compulsory state social insurance;
- the average salary of insured employees at the enterprise for the last calendar quarter is not less than the average salary in the region for the fourth quarter of 2021.
“Indeed, the agricultural sector is strategic for the state in times of war. Considering that most of the country's economy has been destroyed, it is agriculture that provides the influx of foreign currency into Ukraine. On the other hand, it is difficult to compare, for example, an agricultural enterprise and a defense enterprise: which one is more important? Therefore, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and Acting Minister Taras Vysotsky must develop a list of critical professions in the agricultural sector for reservation,” emphasized Fyodor Venislavsky.
A member of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Vadim Ivchenko, in a conversation with “Glavkom”, said: The Ministry of Agrarian Policy or regional military administrations on the ground determine the degree of criticality of farms for the country’s economy. The Ministry of Economy is already making further reservations.
“The land must be cultivated. Accordingly, machine operators, combine operators, storekeepers, and grain truck drivers must be involved. Moreover, the next six months are very important for harvesting,” admits the chosen one.
At the same time, the people’s deputy noted that a consensus has been found at the level of the National Security Committee: while the rebooking of agricultural workers continues (this process drags on for approximately a month), an employee of an agricultural enterprise that has submitted lists of its people receives a special QR code through the “Reserve+” mobile application . This will make it impossible to serve “combat” summonses to specialists liable for military service who confirm the “reservation”. Before the introduction of the “Reserve+” application, as People’s Deputy Ivchenko admitted, many specialists in the agricultural sector were mobilized, despite the fact that they had the right to make reservations.
Lawyer: I have a reservation, but...
In a comment to the “Commander in Chief”, military lawyer Daria Solareva confirms: the procedure for booking farmers is quite painstaking. In order for a person to be booked, he must already be registered with the military, have a military registration document and a current military registration specialty number. There are also problems with this, since changes have been made to the legislation several times.
Reservation of those liable for military service is carried out in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Economy according to the lists of persons liable for military service, which are offered for reservation for the period of mobilization and for wartime, agreed upon by the Ministry of Defense.
“And then the most interesting thing happens: a person with an extract from the order of the Ministry of Economy comes to the TCC and SP, and there an unpleasant surprise may await him - a refusal! Because, for example, the number of the military specialty indicated in the military registration document is outdated. Or, in the decision of the Ministry of Economy on the reservation of a person liable for military service, information about his last name, first name and patronymic, year of birth, military specialty (profile), name of the enterprise is incorrectly indicated - all this may be grounds for refusing to enroll such a person liable for military service for special military registration. Then it turns out that there is a reservation, but they cannot enroll in a special military register (the registration on which those liable for military service who are reserved are placed). While the process of correcting documents continues, a representative of the agricultural sector may be mobilized,” the lawyer explains the reality.
Solareva notes: farmers must be scrupulous in submitting documents for reservation.
As for changes in the reservation of farmers, then, according to the lawyer, as of now, workers in the agricultural sector as a separate profession are not included in the Procedure for the reservation of persons liable for military service during martial law. This means that they are reserved solely according to the criterion of the criticality of the enterprise and no more than 50% of the number of military personnel at this enterprise.
So, all the encouraging statements of the acting. Minister Vysotsky at the moment are nothing more than empty words?
Lack of combine operators and grain truck drivers. What's next?
The All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council confirmed to the “Commander in Chief”: there is now a colossal shortage of personnel due to mobilization. There is an acute shortage of combine operators and truck drivers.
“Now we are actually going through the fifth wave of bookings. And there is practically no one to reserve the 50% of workers that the law allows. We have a paradoxical situation: on the one hand, the agricultural sector fills the state budget, money from which is redistributed to the country’s defense. On the other hand, the lack of qualified agricultural specialists will boomerang on the food security of our country,” says Denis Marchuk, deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council. He noted: today not a single company would risk putting a student behind the wheel of a combine worth $300-400 thousand. It takes at least six months to master the necessary skills and knowledge.
The representative of the Agrarian Council considers the idea of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy to reserve agricultural sector specialists for a year to be justified. He notes: in the current conditions, when agricultural workers work for four months and collect certificates for re-booking for the next two months, this negatively affects the work of enterprises. Plus, there are risks that while the documents are being prepared, workers may be mobilized.
The All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council places great hopes on electronic booking, thanks to which it will be possible to avoid bureaucratic procedures. Let us recall that Deputy Prime Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov announced the introduction of electronic booking for mobilization in the “Diya” application. This feature will become available in July.
