The first 10 generators have been delivered to farmers from the frontline and affected areas to help them operate their farms during blackouts. The assistance was provided by the charity foundation SaveUA with the support of the world-famous chef José Andrés and his Longer Tables Fund, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Agri Council and the Association of Milk Producers.
One of the farms receiving the generator is the farm of Hryhoriy Tkachenko, a farmer from Chernihiv region. The farm had survived the occupation at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and was destroyed by the Russians by 70% for helping the population and the Armed Forces.
"60 missiles were fired at the farm. A month under occupation. The enemy destroyed 158 heads of cattle, including 105 cows. The modern grain drying complex and the premises of the newly built office were destroyed. The farm was shelled and almost destroyed because of the help we provided to our Armed Forces. During the occupation, we milked 3,000 liters of milk a day, of which 500 liters were distributed to people from the surrounding villages who needed help, and 2,500 liters were sent daily to the semi-blockaded city of Chernihiv. The situation at the plant is still difficult. There are periods in a day when we have more time without electricity than we do. And you can't explain to a cow that there is an attack with drones or missiles. It needs to be milked both in the morning and in the evening,” says Hryhoriy Tkachenko.
His colleague from Cherkasy region, farmer Mykhailo Kotko, says that although he is far from the front line, the problem of blackouts also arises at his enterprise due to enemy shelling of infrastructure.
“We have already seen the consequences of blackouts in the summer of 2024, when our farms lost 20-30 percent or even more of their milk yield in some regions. Therefore, the provided generators with a capacity of 80-100 kW will help farmers to prevent this situation this year, so that Ukraine will have milk. And each of them is capable of providing electricity to farms with 200 to 600 cows,” adds Hanna Lavreniuk, CEO of the Association of Milk Producers.
The total cost of this project is $1.5 million. During the spring and summer of 2025, 62 diesel generators will be delivered to Ukraine and provided to farmers to support dairy farms in the regions most affected by the war and power outages.
“Some time ago, our old friend José Andrés visited Ukraine for the Battle of the Agrotitans and promised to support our farmers. And today, as part of the cooperation between our charity foundation and Mr. Andrés' Longer Tables Fund, we have delivered the first generators to dairy farms located in the frontline and aggressor-affected areas. I am very appreciative of the great friend of our country, a dear friend of our team, and the entire American people for continuing to support us in such a difficult period for our country,” said Andrii Dykun, chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council and founder of the SaveUA Foundation.
Video with comments at the link: https://youtu.be/lZtrvreFfAY
The Longer Tables Fund was established in 2023 by Chef José Andrés. This initiative seeks to address urgent issues in food systems, social justice, and education and advocacy, while uplifting communities.
This is the second joint project of the SaveUA charity foundation with José Andrés. With the support of WCK, from the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, another humanitarian headquarters was opened in Uman, Cherkasy region, where our team weekly prepared and distributed 29,000 food packages to Ukrainians in the affected areas. In total, in cooperation with World Central Kitchen (WCK), we have provided 250,000 food parcels, providing the necessary food to about 800,000 people.
