2026 Roads to integration: Mapping the economic and environmental future of Ukrainian agriculture

Professor Dr. Alfons Balmann has been Director at IAMO and Head of the Department Structural Change since 2002. He studied Agricultural Economics at the University of Göttingen, Germany, where he also earned his doctoral degree. Afterwards he joined the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, where he received his Habilitation in 2000. Further affiliations were substitute professorships at University of Applied Sciences Neubrandenburg, Germany, and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Germany. In 2003 he received a joint appointment as full professor at the Faculty of Natural Science III of the MLU. He also is co-opted professor at the Law and Economics Faculty of the MLU.

In addition, Prof. Dr. Alfons Balmann is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, Food and Consumer Health Protection at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Within the framework of the DLG (German Agricultural Society), he is involved as Chairperson of the Rural Development Committee, a member of the Country Working Group for Eastern Europe and the General Committee.

Born on April 10, 1974, in Drohobych, Lviv region, Ukraine, Vsevolod Chentsov graduated with a degree in Law from the prestigious Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in 1996, launching a distinguished career in Ukrainian diplomacy and international law that spans nearly three decades.

He began his diplomatic career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, serving in the Legal Department from 1996 to 1997. He then spent five years at the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Turkey (1997–2002), progressing through the ranks from Third to First Secretary. Returning to Kyiv, he served as Head of the Treaties Unit and subsequently Deputy Director of the Legal Department, before being appointed Deputy Director of the Legal Division of the MFA of Ukraine by 2005.

In 2006, he moved into a senior diplomatic posting as Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Poland, before taking up the role of Deputy Head of Mission of Ukraine to the European Union (2007–2011). He then served as Director of the EU Department of the MFA of Ukraine from 2011 to 2017, cementing his expertise in European affairs.

From 2017 to 2021, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, concurrently representing Ukraine at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Since January 2017, he has also served as Co-Agent of Ukraine before the International Court of Justice in the landmark case concerning the application of international conventions on the suppression of terrorism financing and racial discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation).

On 25 August 2021, he was appointed Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community.

Andrii Dykun is Chairman of the Public Union “Ukrainian Agri Council” (UAC), Ukraine’s leading agricultural associations representing small and medium-sized farmers. He also serves as President of the Association of Milk Producers of Ukraine.

Following the Revolution of Dignity, in 2014 Mr. Dykun served as Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, contributing to the implementation of key reforms in the agricultural sector. Since leaving public office, he has focused on strengthening Ukraine’s agricultural community through professional associations, advocacy, and farmer support initiatives.

Mr. Dykun is the founder of several educational initiatives aimed at developing the next generation of agricultural leaders, including the Ukrainian Agrarian Lyceum, the youth organisation “Future Farmers of Ukraine”, and the Ukrainian Children’s Academy. He also founded the international charitable foundation SaveUA, which since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion has supported Ukraine’s Defence Forces and coordinated humanitarian assistance across the agricultural sector.

He holds an MBA from the Baltic Business School at the University of Kalmar and a Master’s degree in Management from Uman State Agrarian University.

Dr. Taras Gagalyuk is a Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) and holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. His research lies at the intersection of agricultural science, economics, policy analysis, and strategic management, with a focus on enterprise-level decisions and strategies, and their interactions with society, policies, markets, and the environment. The geographical focus of his research is primarily on countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is a co-founder of the International Research Group Ukraine at IAMO, a Team Leader at the International Competence Center on Large-Scale Agriculture (funded by the Leibniz Association), and a co-editor of Ukraine Analysen | Länder Analysen. His publication record includes more than 30 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and around 60 publications in policy- and practice-oriented periodicals. Since 2016, Dr. Gagalyuk has secured approximately €1.5 million in third-party project funding. Previously, he served as Head of the Analytical Department at the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club in Kyiv, a long-term expert for the German-Ukrainian Agricultural Policy Dialogue, and a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, DC, USA. Dr. Gagalyuk is a member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists and the European Association of Agricultural Economists.

Oleh Nivievskyi is a  Professor of Economics at the Kyiv School of Economics and a policy advisor with more than 20 years of experience. His research and policy work focus on agri-food and transportation markets, local governance and decentralization reform, the economics of conflict, and Ukraine’s European integration. He has contributed to several landmark reforms in Ukraine, including the liberalization of the agricultural land market. Oleh earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and Applied Statistics from the University of Göttingen.

Dr Janez Potočnik graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. After a successful career starting in 1989 in Slovenia as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research, Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (1994), he was appointed Head of the Negotiating Team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU (1998). He was also Director of Government Office for European Affairs (2000), Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister (2001) and Minister responsible for European Affairs (2002). In 2004 he joined the European Commission, first as "shadow Commissioner for Enlargement and then as Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. In 2010 Dr Potočnik became Commissioner for Environment. His term ended in November 2014 and he was appointed as a Co-Chair of UN Environment International Resource Panel and was also appointed as a Chairman of The Forum for the Future of Agriculture and RISE Foundation and a Member of the European Policy Centre's Advisory Council. From April 2016 he is also the Partner in SYSTEMIQ. More information Twitter – @JanezPotocnik22 Facebook – potocnikjanez LinkedIn - janez-potocnik-872470a7

Elsa Régnier is a research fellow at IDRRI working on the political and budgetary dynamics specific to the European agricultural sector. Prior to joining IDDRI, Elsa worked as a research assistant at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and at the University of Paris 2. Elsa holds a master from the Paris School of International Affairs (Sciences Po Paris) and a master's degree in environmental studies from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).