Volyn-Zerno-Product launches new seed plant
Photo by: Latifundist.com
Volyn-Zerno-Product (TM VILIA) has commissioned a new seed processing plant with a capacity of up to 12 tons per hour.
According to Liubov Kyrychuk, Head of the company's Seed Production Unit, the decision to build the new facility was driven by the need to improve seed processing quality and increase production capacity. The previous plant could process between 6 and 10 tons per hour depending on the crop, while the new facility delivers up to 12 tons per hour across the entire processing cycle.
A key feature of the new plant is its modular operating system. The facility can perform up to five technological operations simultaneously, with each machine operating independently. This enables flexible configuration of the processing line, allowing operators to skip individual stages when necessary or complete the full cycle of cleaning, grading, optical sorting, and seed treatment. The plant will process wheat, barley, and soybean seeds.
The facility is equipped with grain storage hoppers manufactured by U.S.-based Sukup, conveying systems from Simatek and Perry, seed cleaning equipment from Denmark's Westrup, a Japanese-made Satake optical sorter, and a Noro Gard seed treater.
According to Yaroslav Mazurenko, Head of the Agricultural Production Department, the company opted to build a new facility rather than modernise the existing plant. The previous complex no longer met the company's technological and seed processing quality requirements, lacking modern equipment such as an optical sorter and the flexibility to efficiently process different crops.
"We decided not to reconstruct the old plant but to build a completely new facility using the latest technologies and the best available equipment to achieve impeccable product quality," he said.
The new plant will fully meet the company's internal seed requirements for its approximately 65,000 hectares of farmland while also supplying seed to farmers across western Ukraine.
"This plant will cover 100% of our own needs and supply farmers within a radius of around 200 kilometres across the western region," Mazurenko said.
After meeting its own demand, the company expects to produce a similar volume of seed for the commercial market. The potential is even greater for soybeans due to their longer processing season.
Mazurenko also noted that western Ukraine offers favourable climatic conditions for grain seed production. In particular, the region is well suited for producing high-quality wheat seed, whereas imported European seed often contains barley impurities due to crop rotation practices.
"Fields in Europe are often contaminated with volunteer barley, so even certified seed may contain barley impurities. We thoroughly clean our seed material and produce a higher-quality product that meets the standards Ukrainian farmers have come to expect," he explained.
The company is already cooperating with international plant breeding company DSV by multiplying seed material for breeders. Once its own requirements are fully covered, Volyn-Zerno-Produkt plans to expand cooperation with additional partners and supply seed to Ukrainian farmers.