The Kanzas company provides independent valuation of biological assets in Ukraine — living animals and plants capable of producing agricultural output. For international agricultural groups, lenders and investors these are working assets of the Ukrainian farming sector: standing crops, livestock herds and perennial plantings that have to be measured for financial reporting, pledged as collateral or transferred in transactions.
Our practice includes the valuation of the future harvest of a well-established Kyiv region farm for a lending transaction, and the revaluation of productive livestock as part of work with the assets of an agricultural holding. Assets of this class are alive and change over time, so the valuation reflects the stage of biological transformation and the output expected from the asset.
What counts as a biological asset
- Current biological assets: sown crops and the standing (future) harvest, animals being raised or fattened;
- Long-term biological assets: productive and working livestock — dairy herds, breeding animals — and perennial plantings: orchards, vineyards, berry fields;
- poultry, bee colonies and other groups of animals in production.
Harvested output that has become saleable produce is no longer a biological asset — it is inventory, valued separately (see grain valuation).
Fair value under IAS 41
The defining feature of this asset class is the measurement basis: biological assets are carried at fair value less costs to sell. That requirement comes from IAS 41 Agriculture, and Ukrainian national accounting rules mirror it, so a group reporting under IFRS and its Ukrainian subsidiary work to the same logic. Determining that fair value is the most frequent engagement on this page: the result feeds the financial statements, supports the audit and underpins lending and management decisions.
When international clients need the valuation
- fair value measurement and periodic remeasurement for IFRS group reporting;
- collateral for agri-lending — herds, plantings and future harvest pledged to banks;
- purchase and sale of herds, plantings or sown areas in Ukrainian farm transactions;
- contribution of biological assets to charter capital;
- group restructuring, exit of a shareholder, partition of assets;
- insurance and quantification of losses from crop failure or livestock mortality.
Valuation approaches
The valuation follows the Ukrainian national standards, methodologically consistent with the International Valuation Standards (IVS):
- Sales comparison approach — market prices for comparable assets: per head of livestock, per hectare of crops or plantings;
- Income approach — capitalization or discounting of the income from expected output: the future harvest, offspring, milk yield or the produce of perennial plantings (discounted cash flow method);
- Cost approach — the cost of establishing and growing the asset to its current stage (direct reproduction method); applied to young plantings and assets with no active market.
Field inspection and documents
Ukrainian valuation law makes inspection a mandatory stage: the valuer visits the field, farm or holding to survey and identify the crops, herd or plantings. We coordinate the visit with the farm's management on site — the client's presence in Ukraine is not required.
Typical document set:
- biological asset records: numbers, age, breed or variety composition;
- data on areas, yields and herd productivity;
- title and land use documents;
- book value data for the assets.
Send the asset schedule and the purpose of the valuation to [email protected] — we will quote a fixed fee and timeline. Over 20 years of work with agricultural assets in Ukraine stand behind reports that hold up before auditors and banks.
Questions and answers
How much does a biological asset valuation in Ukraine cost? The fee and timeline are quoted once you send the asset list with characteristics — type, headcount, age, area, productivity — and the purpose of the valuation. Scope and a fixed price are agreed before the engagement is signed.
Where is the line between a biological asset and inventory? A biological asset is a living organism in the process of growth or production — a sown field, a herd, an orchard — measured at fair value with its future output in view. Once the output is harvested or obtained (grain, milk, meat), it becomes inventory and is valued under inventory rules. Keeping that boundary clean matters for both the audit and the collateral file.
How is a standing crop valued before harvest? A standing crop is a current biological asset. Its value is determined primarily under the income approach — the discounted income from the expected harvest, reflecting the development stage of the plants, the area sown, forecast yields and market prices for the crop.
Related services: Valuation for secured lending · Fixed asset revaluation · War damage assessment
