FORMATION OF AGRO-FOOD SPECIALIZATION OF UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN INVESTMENT PROCESSES

Abstract

The influence of global food demand has become the main driver of the formation of specialization of the agro-food complex of Ukraine. Increasing the production and export of grain and oilseed crops has allowed farmers to improve their financial situation and create a basis for recovery processes. The deepening of such specialization intensified with the advent of large capital in agriculture, including non-agricultural and foreign. Over a long period of time, there has been an intensive increase in capital investment in agriculture, which has become one of the important factors in creating the basis for the formation of large farms with a significant bank of land and updated material and technical resources. Foreign investment also grew. It was carried out mainly by companies owned by foreign residents and those controlled by foreign companies resident in Ukraine and, in fact, are Ukrainian capital previously withdrawn from the country, as well as international financial institutions. Currently, the greatest interest for foreign and domestic investors in the domestic agricultural sector is financing the production of grain and oilseed crops with more than half of all FDI and more than two thirds of domestic investment. Data from the Land Matrix, an independent land monitoring initiative, show a broad presence in Ukraine's agricultural land use of both foreign capital and capital that positions itself as Ukrainian but has foreign registration. The most typical schemes of land use agreements are also highlighted. Emphasis is placed on the inclusion in the agreements of requirements for the issuance of permits for special use of water resources and the use of irrigation infrastructure, which poses threats to water degradation. The consequences of increasing the presence of large capital in agricultural land use are revealed. Emphasis is placed on the need to regulate large investments in agriculture to ensure sustainable, structurally balanced and ecologically balanced functioning of the domestic agro-food complex.