Situation in Ukraine and in Russia

The war launched in Ukraine by the Russian government in violation of international law has attracted unanimous condemnation to which Limagrain unreservedly subscribes.

Right from the first day, our priority has been to provide assistance to our 110 Ukrainian employees, with whom we have stayed permanently in touch. To date, almost twenty families have been welcomed in neighboring countries thanks to the strong mobilization of their colleagues. In these countries they benefit from health and welfare coverage provided by the Group, and employees have received advanced payment of salaries.

Solidarity has also been expressed through a donation from Limagrain to the International Red Cross and the UN High Commission for Refugees, to which all the Group's employees and members of the Limagrain Cooperative are invited to contribute.

This grave conflict comes in the middle of the annual campaign to deliver seeds to both Ukrainian and Russian farmers. In Ukraine, our teams are working hard to finalize the delivery of seeds to distribution points, despite all the difficulties due to this state of war. Their commitment to this mission is remarkable.

The role of Ukraine and Russia in global agricultural production, and therefore in the food security of many countries whose agriculture is not sufficient to feed their citizens, is underlined by international bodies. The war in Ukraine is already increasing supply pressures in Africa and the Middle East.

Seeds, which are the basis of all food production, are in principle excluded from the scope of international sanctions. This is currently the case for Russia. As a seed group present in 57 countries and a cooperative owned by farmers, Limagrain therefore considers that it is its responsibility not to interrupt, for the present, the flows to producers in Russia for the current campaign.

On the other hand, the project for the construction of a seed factory in Russia, which is part of the multi-annual investment plan, has been suspended.