Investing in Ukraine’s Crop Farming Sector in 2025–2026: A Bet on Land Banks, Consolidation and Vertical Integration

Ukraine’s agribusiness sector remains one of the few industries that has retained strategic investment appeal even under full-scale war. Despite security risks, currency restrictions, unstable logistics and volatile global agricultural commodity prices, the crop farming segment became one of the key drivers of Ukraine’s mergers and acquisitions market in 2025–2026.

According to InVenture reserch, 18 M&A transactions were recorded in Ukraine’s crop farming sector in 2025, with an aggregate value of approximately $167 million. In just the first four months of 2026, more than 10 M&A deals were closed with a total value exceeding $525 million. This momentum points not merely to a recovery in deal activity, but to a qualitative shift in demand: investors are increasingly focused on large land banks, operationally efficient agricultural companies and assets integrated with grain storage, logistics or processing infrastructure.

An additional argument in favour of the sector is its role in the country’s foreign-currency earnings. According to the Ukrainian Agricultural Outlook 2025, the agri-food sector accounted for 56.1% of Ukraine’s export revenues in 2025, or around $22.5 billion, significantly above its pre-war share in 2021. This helps explain why agricultural assets remain firmly on the radar of strategic investors even in a wartime economy.

2026: The Market Moves into a Phase of Large-Scale Consolidation

The landmark transaction of 2026 was Kernel’s acquisition of 100% of the Enselco agricultural holding for $348 million. The deal perimeter included an agricultural business with a land bank of 190,000 hectares, a network of elevators, machinery and equipment, and its own fleet of grain railcars.

This transaction is indicative of the broader market. Kernel effectively brought back into its structure part of the assets it had sold in 2022–2023, but in an expanded format, with additional land, elevator and logistics capacity. The deal shows that, for the largest players, a land bank is no longer merely a production resource; it is an instrument of control over the entire value chain, from crop production to storage, transportation, export and processing.

A second important market marker was the sale of Agro-Region agricultural holding to the same Enselco group at an estimated price of around $120 million. At the time of the transaction, Agro-Region operated a land bank of approximately 41,000 hectares across four Ukrainian regions and had nearly 200,000 tonnes of simultaneous grain storage capacity.

It is also worth noting the transfer of ownership rights to a number of agricultural assets in the Rivne, Kirovohrad and Kyiv regions with a combined land bank of approximately 25,000 hectares, which market participants associate with former Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi. According to available market information, the change of control over these assets was driven by the need to restructure debt obligations.

Top 10 Largest Agribusiness M&A Deals in Ukraine in 2026 (January-April)

Top 10 Largest Agribusiness M&A Deals in Ukraine in 2025

* Some of the transaction values have not been officially disclosed and are based on InVenture’s expert estimates, market assumptions and available information on the perimeter of the assets.

Why Investors Are Buying Agricultural Assets Again

The main reason behind the renewed M&A activity is a reappraisal of the role of land banks in agricultural business models. While buyers previously tended to value assets primarily through the lens of current operating profitability, in 2025–2026 strategic control over a high-quality leased land base became increasingly important. A land bank is becoming a scarce asset that is difficult to build organically at speed, especially in Ukraine’s central and western regions.

Another important factor has been the stabilisation of maritime logistics. According to the Council of the European Union, in March 2026 around 80% of grain, oilseed and related agricultural product exports were shipped through the Black Sea corridor. For agricultural holdings, this materially improved the predictability of the export model and, in turn, increased their readiness to invest in land bank expansion.

At the same time, the opening of the second stage of Ukraine’s agricultural land market to Ukrainian legal entities strengthened interest in control over land arrays. According to the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, as of 3 March 2026 the cumulative volume of agricultural land purchase and sale transactions since the launch of the market exceeded 1 million hectares, while the average price per hectare at the beginning of 2026 stood at UAH 64,631, or approximately $1,501.

However, M&A in crop farming and the direct purchase and sale of farmland are not the same process. Most large agribusiness transactions continue to be structured around corporate control over companies that hold long-term lease agreements, production infrastructure, teams, machinery, grain elevators, logistics and established operating processes.

Regional Structure: A Premium for Safer Regions

One of the defining features of 2025–2026 was a sharp regional differentiation in demand. Assets in frontline and near-frontline regions, including Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and, to some extent, Mykolaiv regions, were sold at higher discounts or required a significantly longer negotiation process. For some owners, the decision to sell was driven by shelling risks, landmine contamination, labour shortages, difficulty financing sowing campaigns and rising logistics costs.

By contrast, demand in Ukraine’s central and western regions remained consistently strong. Investors were prepared to pay a premium for compact land banks, a sound structure of lease agreements, a high share of cultivated land, predictable yields, elevator infrastructure and lower security risks.

In Ukraine’s western regions, the price of agricultural land lease rights in quality transactions could approach $3,000 per hectare. In the black-soil regions of central and western Ukraine, most deals were closed within a range of $1,500–2,500 per hectare, depending on the quality of the asset, lease maturity profile, land bank structure, financial condition of the company and availability of infrastructure.

Which Assets Command a Valuation Premium

The most liquid assets in 2025–2026 were agricultural companies that offered not merely a land bank, but a fully functioning operating platform. Buyers placed the highest value on assets with compact land locations, transparent legal structures, a controlled lease base, no critical litigation, modern machinery, elevator infrastructure and a clear yield history.

A separate valuation premium was attached to assets that could be integrated into the existing model of a large agricultural holding. For such buyers, synergies may arise not only at the EBITDA level, but also through logistics optimisation, centralised procurement, use of proprietary elevators, higher utilisation of processing capacity and a stronger export position.

Risks Holding Back Deal Closings

Despite strong demand, the market remains complex and selective. As InVenture’s practice shows, a significant share of negotiations does not reach final closing because of a gap in expectations between sellers and buyers. Sellers often anchor their expectations to pre-war multiples or the replacement value of the asset, while buyers incorporate wartime risks, financing constraints, currency barriers, potential crop losses, logistics disruptions and liquidity discounts into their valuation models.

A telling example is the potential transaction between Kernel and IMC. In May 2025, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted Kernel approval to acquire control over IMC, but the negotiations were subsequently put on hold. This case illustrates that even regulatory clearance does not guarantee deal completion if the parties fail to agree on economics, strategic terms or the future vision for the asset.

Another constraining factor is the structure of settlement payments. Some sellers seek to receive funds outside Ukraine or use foreign jurisdictions for final closing. For buyers, this creates additional compliance risks, currency restrictions and legal structuring complexity.

InVenture’s Role in Ukraine’s Agricultural M&A Market

According to InVenture’s observations, demand for the acquisition of agricultural companies with land banks increased substantially in 2026. Since the beginning of the year, InVenture has already closed four M&A transactions in the crop farming sector involving land banks in the Kirovohrad, Rivne, Volyn and Cherkasy regions, with several additional deals currently in preparation.

This activity confirms that the market is not limited to large public transactions. In parallel, a sizeable segment of mid-market deals is emerging, involving land banks ranging from several thousand to several tens of thousands of hectares. This segment may become the backbone of Ukraine’s agricultural M&A market in the coming years, as it is accessible to a broader range of Ukrainian strategic investors, regional agricultural groups and non-core buyers.

Outlook: What Will Shape the Market in 2026–2027

In the medium term, agricultural M&A in Ukraine will be shaped by five key factors: the security situation, the stability of export logistics, access to financing, global grain and oilseed price dynamics, and the quality of land banks and lease agreements.

The strongest demand will remain concentrated on agricultural companies in relatively safer regions with compact land arrays, transparent ownership structures, stable teams and proprietary infrastructure. Assets with elevators, logistics capacity or potential for integration into processing will command an additional valuation premium.

At the same time, the market will remain pragmatic. Investors are prepared to pay for quality, but they are not willing to ignore military, legal and operational risks. This means that successful deal closing will increasingly depend not only on the size of the land bank, but also on the quality of pre-sale preparation: transparent financial reporting, a land bank audit, legal clarity, a comprehensible ownership structure and realistic price expectations on the seller’s side.

Conclusion

Ukraine’s agribusiness M&A market in 2025–2026 has demonstrated resilience and a gradual transition into a new phase of consolidation. While investors were largely cautious during the first years of the full-scale war, large strategic transactions returned to the market in 2026, driven by the pursuit of control over land banks, logistics and production capacity.

Agribusiness remains one of the few sectors of the Ukrainian economy where major transactions, strategic investments and long-term consolidation remain possible even during wartime. However, the market is becoming increasingly selective: capital is concentrating around high-quality assets, while poorly prepared or overvalued opportunities are being left outside buyers’ focus.