Why farmers fear losing markets after EU accession and what they propose

The trade agreement signed by Ukraine in October 2025 opens up new opportunities for trade and cooperation with European partners.

However, alongside these new prospects comes an important and complex challenge: implementing EU regulations in crop production and livestock farming by 1 January 2028.

Ukrainian farmers fear that the implementation of EU agricultural standards will make Ukrainian products more expensive, potentially leading to the loss of non-European export markets.

Read more about what needs to be done to ensure that European standards become a tool for development rather than a barrier in the column by Andrii Dykun of the All-Ukrainian agrarian council: Joining EU without killing the agricultural sector: how Ukraine should implement EU standards.

The author emphasises that Ukraine is currently in a unique position: it has effectively become the first country in many years to join the European Union with a well-functioning and competitive agricultural sector already in place.

According to him, during a full-scale war, the introduction of regulations that required years of planned preparation in other countries becomes not only a technological but also an economic challenge for Ukraine.

"According to assessments by independent analytical centers, including a study by the All-Ukrainian agrarian council, implementing the regulations without adaptations could lead to losses of more than €2.5 billion per year in the area of plant protection products alone, equivalent to €70–150 per hectare, due to a ban on the use of around 100 active substances in Ukraine. Overall losses for the agricultural sector would be much greater," Andrii Dykun warns.

In his view, this potential burden would hit small and medium-sized producers, the backbone of rural Ukraine, especially hard.

Thus, the key question is how to implement EU standards without harming the sector.

The head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council believes that a model that can be described as "one country, two systems" is critically important for Ukraine. For the European market, Ukraine must fully comply with EU requirements and regulations.

At the same time, for other export destinations, Ukraine should preserve its current production model in order to remain competitive globally.

Therefore, Dykun argues, Ukraine’s task for 2026 is not simply to move toward European integration, but to do so in a way that turns European standards into a tool for development rather than a barrier.

To achieve this, the following are needed: an official economic impact assessment of the implementation of regulations across different segments of the agricultural sector; realistic transition periods comparable to those granted to Central and Eastern European candidate countries; phased implementation, initially for exporters and gradually extending to the domestic market; financial support for adaptation through EU instruments, including within the Ukraine Facility; special conditions for small and medium-sized producers, as well as de-occupied and frontline territories; and the use of modern traceability systems that make it possible to maintain different production regimes for different markets.