rowing up in Michigan, Roman Fedorowycz learned his ancestral tongue from his Ukrainian-American parents, who spoke Ukrainian around the home. Their gift of language led to his current pursuit – stimulating a comeback in Ukrainian agriculture.

Remarkably, he has assembled one of the world’s largest farms (along with Renaissance Capital), comprising 300,000 hectares, or 750,000 acres. The land is scattered over a wide swath of Ukraine, so for this task he also built a team of land managers across fourteen regions.

That’s quite a twist from the start of Fedorowycz’s professional life as an engineer working on ergonomics for US Army tanks. He then followed the path of his father, an engineer in the auto industry, and along the way picked up experience in the acquisition and marketing of land.

In 1991, curiosity over his ancestors’ country prompted him to roll the dice in Ukraine. He picked up work heading a sales team for Seagrams, then Coca-Cola. As his understanding of the country deepened, he began trading petrochemical products between Ukraine and Europe.

As he traveled throughout Ukraine, Fedorowycz became captivated by the farm land and its deep, rich soil. He started mulling ideas on putting it to better use and started leasing land in 2000. By 2005 he was farming 20,000 acres. That year, he was approached by RenCap, to “add a few zeros” to the size of his existing farm.

Among the Ukraine’s advantages is its proximity not just to Europe, but also to markets like Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat, and to other Middle East and North Africa nations with exploding populations whose needs far exceed their agricultural production. And water is plentiful, says Fedorowyz, with thousands of rivers and aquifers that are full and near the surface.

This is, of course, farming, with all the vagaries of weather and commodities markets. But Fedorowycz estimates average returns at 30 percent. And he expects the legal framework on land to change within a few years, allowing purchase.

Most of the land is owned by an aging population that he believes is more than willing to sell their leased parcels. The upside of the economic crisis is that it lowered the cost of operating a farm by nearly half. As the agriculture industry takes off, farm land prices are predicted to rise substantially, as they have in Europe.

Fedorowycz expects sizable mergers, as well as IPOs and private placements, and notes that at least eight Ukrainian agro holdings have successfully floated their shares on various European exchanges.

Now pursuing his own farming project, Fedorowycz continues to collect land parcels under his company. “Farmers from around the world now come to Ukraine and say they want to be involved. They believe Ukraine to be the next Brazil or Argentina, and the last great agricultural frontier.”