New reservation criteria for employees pose a challenge for small and medium-sized farming operations.

From January 1, 2026, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Economy have changed the rules for reserving military-duty employees for agribusinesses. Now, to obtain the status of a critically important enterprise, a farm must cultivate at least 1000 hectares of land (previously 500 hectares) and have an annual income of 40 million UAH (twice as much as last year). At the same time, the number of employees that can be reserved remains unchanged - up to 50%. In Kirovohrad region, 2761 agribusinesses cannot obtain a reservation due to the new requirements. This is reported by Suspilne. In total, 3009 farms in the region grow grains and industrial crops. Out of the thousand hectares, 248 of them are cultivated. The rest do not meet the updated January criteria for criticality. At the same time, small and medium producers can apply to the regional military administration - simplified criteria apply to them. In the farm of the village of Krasnosillia, Oleksandrivska ...