Conventionalized Organics: How Global Capital Shaped Ukraine’s Organic Agriculture (1998–2021)

This study presents the first comprehensive and historically grounded analysis of the development of certified organic agriculture in Ukraine from the late 1990s to 2021 within the framework of the conventionalization debate. It demonstrates that organic production in Ukraine emerged not as an autonomous ecological alternative, but as a sector rapidly integrated into global capitalist value chains. The export-oriented model of certified organic production has shaped specific patterns of sectoral development, including regional differentiation of land use, a structural bias toward crop production, highly mechanized monocultural specialization, and the persistent marginalization of domestic consumption. These dynamics unfolded in the absence of sustained state financial support, while public authorities for nearly two decades delayed the legal legitimation of organic agriculture. At the same time, export orientation has stimulated the gradual formation of a domestic market and small business development, either through cooperation with large producers or through collective attempts to access domestic consumers.