The remnants of the communist era, which gripped Romania between the 1940s and 1990s, was evident as members of the ITLUS tour made their way through an old farmyard, now rented and used by the Ianca-based agribusiness KC Agro.
Farming near Braila, KC Agro covers some 3,000ha of crops including cereals, oilseeds, beet, maize and sunflowers. In true Irish fashion, the arrival of rain confined the group to one of the farm’s grain stores where farm manager Ricardo Luis was on hand to give a thorough run-through of the business.
Like many farms visited during the tour, rain was a welcome sight for the farm’s staff as a period of drought had gripped the region for a number of months. “We’ve never seen such a long period of drought in April and May before,” explains Ricardo.
A wide variety of crops
The rain that was falling would help the soya bean, sugar beet, maize and sunflowers crops but Ricardo feared that it was too late to see any significant benefits for his cereals and oilseed rape. “We had no rain during the grain fill period in wheat and oilseed rape.”
Oilseed rape proved to be the most profitable crop over a five-year period, but yields this year were in the range of 2.2t/ha, down from 3.4t/ha last year. Sugar beet yields were expected to be in the region of 35t/ha to 40t/ha, down from an average yield of 70t/ha. Ricardo explained that earlier in the year the farm had germination issues with beet due to the drought.
Despite the dry weather, he was optimistic about his wheat. The wheat harvest began prior to the arrival of rain. While initial harvest yield data was limited, grain moistures off the combine came in at 13% with an estimated protein content of between 13% and 15%. His sunflower crops were also expected to take a yield hit with anticipated yield in the region of 2t/ha. The farm irrigates around 10% of its crops, pumping water from the river Nuab.
Market rewards
Milling wheat is stored until later in the year and sold once there is an option to capitalise on market movements. A certain amount of the wheat crop is saved for seed. The farm has over 13,000t of storage capacity, consisting of five grain silos totalling 3,000t and a number of grain stores. The price range that the farm sold wheat for in 2017 was from €140/t to €150/t.
The sugar beet is grown on contract to a sugar factory in Moldova, over 300km away. Under the terms of the contract, the factory carries out the harvesting and transport operations. He receives a minimum of €20/t for beet but crops with higher sugar content can receive up €32/t, explains Ricardo.
One of four of KC Agro's combine harvesters.
In addition to the €160/ha basic payment under CAP, there are a number of additional coupled payments available on certain crops. For example, if a grower achieves a yield of over 23t/ha of beet, he/she is eligible to receive an additional €700/ha. Beet yield is adversely affected this year with 35-40t/ha anticipated versus a norm of 50-70t/ha with irrigation.
Crop insurance
Larger farms in Romania will generally take out crop insurance, explains Ricardo. Crops on his farm are insured against heavy rain, hail, fire, frost and a number of other risks.
Average premiums for the farm are generally in the range of €12/ha but this increases to €15/ha for beet and oilseed rape. Around 60% to 70% of the farm’s crops are insured. Indemnities are paid only when the yield penalty incurred is greater than 10%. An initial crop yield estimate is made by the insurance company at the time the policy is taken out and these estimates are corrected closer to harvest. Ricardo says that a claim may be made in three out of 10 years.
One of KC Agro's grain chasers.
Labour shortages
“Very few young people are now working in agriculture,” Ricardo states as he explains the challenge of finding good staff to work on the farm. General farm operative wages in the area are in the region of €550/month.
Irish Suffolk cross to make new hill breed for Romanian lamb
Alex Stefan is a vet in Prahova county in Romania. But as well as being a vet he is also very interested in farming and livestock production, in particular. So it is hardly surprising that he is involved in farming with a particular emphasis on prime beef and lamb production.
The main reason we visited Alex was because of a link he has with Ireland. A few years ago, he came to Ireland and purchased a number of Suffolk rams to cross with native breeds. He told us that he bought most of them in and around Roscrea.
We had seen a lot of sheep on our travels and all of them seemed to be managed on pastoral-type systems, with a shepherd minding a relatively small flock at all times. The bit that seemed strange was that the sheep appeared to be taken in at night. Alex explained why.
Most sheep in the country are milking breeds so the sheep were taken in for milking. But there is very little sheepmeat production. His interest in the Irish Suffolks was to formally cross them with native breeds to produce a new meat-producing breed.
Alex has many reasons for trying to do this. Not least is the fact that meat consumption in Romania is increasing and this is all supplied by imported meats. Pork and poultry are the traditional meats but there is increasing interest in beef and lamb. In the first year of his project, he reported that the Suffolk ram progeny produced more twins and showed higher growth rates than the local breed.
Alex is farming in the hills north of Ploiesti, so hill breeds have an advantage. Much of the grassland in the area is of poor quality but it could be used by animals that are good scavengers, hence, the hill breed. However, these are not good meat producers, which explains the need for the lowland breed cross. Alex hopes to have a stable new breed in about three years.
His thought process is very much past the animals and towards meat processing and marketing. There are currently no real animal finishing units in the country and very little slaughtering capacity.
As well as working on the new sheep breed, he is trying to develop markets for the meat products. His objective is to build a small, high-quality slaughtering unit to kill 30 to 40 animals per month and to have an aging house to help add premium product status to the produce.
He can get access to EU grants of up to 90% to help with different parts of the project. Part of his objective is to increase his own farming business to have more finishing capacity for animals. Land is not expensive in his locality (approximately €3,000/ha to buy). He is currently leasing about 700ha for about €100/ha.
Read more
A change of scenery and challenges - ITLUS tour
Production heavily influenced by water - ITLUS Romania tour
Potential showing on Romanian farms
ITLUS tour to Romania: southeast corner showing its production capability
The remnants of the communist era, which gripped Romania between the 1940s and 1990s, was evident as members of the ITLUS tour made their way through an old farmyard, now rented and used by the Ianca-based agribusiness KC Agro.
Farming near Braila, KC Agro covers some 3,000ha of crops including cereals, oilseeds, beet, maize and sunflowers. In true Irish fashion, the arrival of rain confined the group to one of the farm’s grain stores where farm manager Ricardo Luis was on hand to give a thorough run-through of the business.
Like many farms visited during the tour, rain was a welcome sight for the farm’s staff as a period of drought had gripped the region for a number of months. “We’ve never seen such a long period of drought in April and May before,” explains Ricardo.
A wide variety of crops
The rain that was falling would help the soya bean, sugar beet, maize and sunflowers crops but Ricardo feared that it was too late to see any significant benefits for his cereals and oilseed rape. “We had no rain during the grain fill period in wheat and oilseed rape.”
Oilseed rape proved to be the most profitable crop over a five-year period, but yields this year were in the range of 2.2t/ha, down from 3.4t/ha last year. Sugar beet yields were expected to be in the region of 35t/ha to 40t/ha, down from an average yield of 70t/ha. Ricardo explained that earlier in the year the farm had germination issues with beet due to the drought.
Despite the dry weather, he was optimistic about his wheat. The wheat harvest began prior to the arrival of rain. While initial harvest yield data was limited, grain moistures off the combine came in at 13% with an estimated protein content of between 13% and 15%. His sunflower crops were also expected to take a yield hit with anticipated yield in the region of 2t/ha. The farm irrigates around 10% of its crops, pumping water from the river Nuab.
Market rewards
Milling wheat is stored until later in the year and sold once there is an option to capitalise on market movements. A certain amount of the wheat crop is saved for seed. The farm has over 13,000t of storage capacity, consisting of five grain silos totalling 3,000t and a number of grain stores. The price range that the farm sold wheat for in 2017 was from €140/t to €150/t.
The sugar beet is grown on contract to a sugar factory in Moldova, over 300km away. Under the terms of the contract, the factory carries out the harvesting and transport operations. He receives a minimum of €20/t for beet but crops with higher sugar content can receive up €32/t, explains Ricardo.
One of four of KC Agro's combine harvesters.
In addition to the €160/ha basic payment under CAP, there are a number of additional coupled payments available on certain crops. For example, if a grower achieves a yield of over 23t/ha of beet, he/she is eligible to receive an additional €700/ha. Beet yield is adversely affected this year with 35-40t/ha anticipated versus a norm of 50-70t/ha with irrigation.
Crop insurance
Larger farms in Romania will generally take out crop insurance, explains Ricardo. Crops on his farm are insured against heavy rain, hail, fire, frost and a number of other risks.
Average premiums for the farm are generally in the range of €12/ha but this increases to €15/ha for beet and oilseed rape. Around 60% to 70% of the farm’s crops are insured. Indemnities are paid only when the yield penalty incurred is greater than 10%. An initial crop yield estimate is made by the insurance company at the time the policy is taken out and these estimates are corrected closer to harvest. Ricardo says that a claim may be made in three out of 10 years.
One of KC Agro's grain chasers.
Labour shortages
“Very few young people are now working in agriculture,” Ricardo states as he explains the challenge of finding good staff to work on the farm. General farm operative wages in the area are in the region of €550/month.
Irish Suffolk cross to make new hill breed for Romanian lamb
Alex Stefan is a vet in Prahova county in Romania. But as well as being a vet he is also very interested in farming and livestock production, in particular. So it is hardly surprising that he is involved in farming with a particular emphasis on prime beef and lamb production.
The main reason we visited Alex was because of a link he has with Ireland. A few years ago, he came to Ireland and purchased a number of Suffolk rams to cross with native breeds. He told us that he bought most of them in and around Roscrea.
We had seen a lot of sheep on our travels and all of them seemed to be managed on pastoral-type systems, with a shepherd minding a relatively small flock at all times. The bit that seemed strange was that the sheep appeared to be taken in at night. Alex explained why.
Most sheep in the country are milking breeds so the sheep were taken in for milking. But there is very little sheepmeat production. His interest in the Irish Suffolks was to formally cross them with native breeds to produce a new meat-producing breed.
Alex has many reasons for trying to do this. Not least is the fact that meat consumption in Romania is increasing and this is all supplied by imported meats. Pork and poultry are the traditional meats but there is increasing interest in beef and lamb. In the first year of his project, he reported that the Suffolk ram progeny produced more twins and showed higher growth rates than the local breed.
Alex is farming in the hills north of Ploiesti, so hill breeds have an advantage. Much of the grassland in the area is of poor quality but it could be used by animals that are good scavengers, hence, the hill breed. However, these are not good meat producers, which explains the need for the lowland breed cross. Alex hopes to have a stable new breed in about three years.
His thought process is very much past the animals and towards meat processing and marketing. There are currently no real animal finishing units in the country and very little slaughtering capacity.
As well as working on the new sheep breed, he is trying to develop markets for the meat products. His objective is to build a small, high-quality slaughtering unit to kill 30 to 40 animals per month and to have an aging house to help add premium product status to the produce.
He can get access to EU grants of up to 90% to help with different parts of the project. Part of his objective is to increase his own farming business to have more finishing capacity for animals. Land is not expensive in his locality (approximately €3,000/ha to buy). He is currently leasing about 700ha for about €100/ha.
Read more
A change of scenery and challenges - ITLUS tour
Production heavily influenced by water - ITLUS Romania tour
Potential showing on Romanian farms
ITLUS tour to Romania: southeast corner showing its production capability
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