Oh, yeah, it’s very confusing. I guess that the confusionwas the main objective of the government that must be held responsible for the Commerce Code of Ukraine (2003). Otherwise, I do not understand why you need to have "100 words for snow". A snow is a snow. A farm is a farm.A sole proprietorship is a sole proprietorship. And a producer cooperative is a cooperative. No. It’s too easy for Ukraine’s government. 100 words for snow are much more fun. It is even more funwhen you take the same word for snow used by the rest of the world and you give it a new meaning. Now, we are really having fun!

Please, keep in mind that the source of confusion is a fusion of various legal traditions (e.g. Ukrainian and Western). Yes, I used the term fusion as in the food fusion. What is the food fusion? The fusion food is usually a food item that fuses elements of various culinary cultures (e.g. French and Chinese). The objective of the fusion food is a culinary confusion. In other words, you are surprised and confused by what you are eating. Overall, the food fusion is a pleasant gastronomic experience. I have recently gone to the fusion restaurant where I ate a frog spring roll. It was a very tasty example of the food fusion. I wish I could leave a positive feedback about the legal fusion in the Ukrainian agriculture.

Anyways, if you travel to rural Ukraine, please, follow a simple guide to the most common farm names. You can thank me later. You will be just fine, if you can remember the most common forms of farm organization in Ukraine: TOV, FG, PSP, PP, AF, and SVK. In general,a partnership or individual farm is the most common legal form of farm organization in Ukraine.

First, partnership (ukr. Tovarishestvo)is abbreviated as TOV (e.g. TOVUkraine). Sometimes TOV can be replaced by three variations: STOV (ukr. Selskogodpodarske Tovarishestvo), TOV AF (ukr. Tovarishestvo Agro Firma), and TOV SP (ukr. Tovarishestvo Selskogodpodarske Pidpriemstvo). AF means agricultural firm(ukr. Agro Firma) and SP stands for agricultural enterprise (ukr.Selskogodpodarske Pidpriemstvo). Thus, SP and AF is pretty much the same. While STOV stands for an agricultural partnership, TOV AF stands for an agricultural partnership-firm and TOV SP is an abbreviation of an agricultural partnership-enterprise. Thus, TOV, STOV,TOV AF, or TOV SPis the same form of farm organization – partnership.

Second, individual farm has many different forms, including family farm, peasant farm, lease farm, etc. It is really confusing. You need to know thatif you see FG, PP,PSP, and PAFin the name of the farm, then the farm operates as a sole proprietorship. FG stands for a private farm (ukr. Fermerske Gospodarstvo). PP is an abbreviation of a private enterprise (ukr. Privatne Pidpriemstvo ). PSP stands for a private agricultural enterprise (ukr. Privatne Selskogodpodarske Pidpriemstvo) and PAF is a short for a private agricultural firm (ukr. Privatna Agro Firma). Do you still remember thata partnership can alsobe an agricultural firm or agricultural enterprise (i.e. TOV AF and TOV SP)? Don’t worry, we are almost done.
Finally, ifyou drive by a farm that has SVK in its official name, then it is an employee-owned corporate farm. SVK stands for an agricultural producer cooperative (ukr. Selskogodpodarske Virobnichy Cooperative). The codebook of the legal fusion is complete.

Congratulations! You are an expert in the Ukrainian fusion of the legal forms of farm organization. Here is your prize: two fun facts about farm names in Ukraine. Fact # 1: Most farms have the same names. The most common names are: Druzhba (en. Friendship), Nadiya (eng. Hope), or Mriya (eng. Dream). For example, you can often find SVK Druzhba, TOV Druzhba, and PSP Druzhba not only in the same province but also in the same county. Fact # 2: FG usually has a last name of FG’s owner (e.g. FG Krasnozhon). This fact is actually very useful because the farm’s name tells you the last name of the farmer. At least here you cannot be confused.

Leo A. Krasnozhon is a visiting assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is also a fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana, and Institute for Humane Studies in Arlington, Virginia. His blog can be found
here.