Romania grows nearly eight million hectares of crops, slightly more than the total area of the island of Ireland. It has something over 3.5 million land owners and many of these do little with their land. Some farm their individual strips while others sell or rent them and this enables bigger and more efficient land units to evolve.

During the recent ITLUS tour to Romania, Gabriela Rizescu, who is the director of marketing with ALCEDO SRL, took us to visit farms and showed us the company’s new loading terminal on the Danube. Alcedo is the biggest input distribution company in the country.

Gabriela explained that the country has very many small farms of 0.5 to 2.5ha and the majority of these are managed extensively. There are also quite a number of medium sized farms which range from 500 to 1,000ha in size and these are generally showing increasing productivity. There are also some much bigger farms and we later visited a 57,600ha farm, which is the biggest farm in the EU where all of the land is joined up.

Gabriela explained that 2017 was a great year for crop production in Romania but 2018 had been much more difficult as drought hit hard in the early part of the season. As a result many of those we met on our travels predicted that yields would be 15-20% lower than last season. And that is the way it seems to be unfolding, judging by recent comments from some of those we met on tour.

This is no longer a low yield country with extensive management where a tonne an acre might be realistic. Gabriela told us that yields have been greatly helped by the use of inputs like lime and fertilisers, as well as other plant protection products, which are now widely used. As a result she puts modern wheat yields at 8-12 t/ha with oilseed rape now around 3-4 t/ha.

Port at Oltenita

Gabriela told us a number of things of interest about her company, Alcedo. Firstly over half of the workforce are female, especially those working directly with farmers. Inputs are sold on the basis of payment at harvest, without interest, but farmers are obliged to sign a promissory note that they will deliver the crop to the company at harvest.

Loading a barge with oilseed rape at the Alcedo facility in Oltenita on the Danube with Bulgaria visible across the river. This cargo is to be transported upstream to Germany.

Because the company takes in crops it needs to have access to markets. Three years Alcedo purchased an existing facility, including grain bins, from a farmer at Oltenita on the banks of the Danube. The day we visited the facility was receiving and loading oilseed rape onto a barge for transport up river to Germany.

Barges can vary from 800 to 2,000 tonne capacity and they can travel up or down the river. The Danube exits onto the Black Sea but the bulk of its traffic does not follow the river out to its end. This is because a 40 mile long canal was built to carry river traffic out through Constanta port and this shortens the journey by about 250 miles.

Tipping rape delivered directly from farm to be transferred to barge for transport on the Danube.

Construction initially began in 1949, was halted in 1953 and resumed again in 1975. Depending on the size of the barges, one tug can bring between one and three units and travel up or down the 1,770 mile stretch of navigable river.

Rape was arriving by truck directly off farm and tested on site before being unloaded. Moisture levels were 7-8%, with relatively clean samples. There is a new quality lab at the weighbridge and loads not suited for cargo would be re-routed to other intakes where dryers were available. There was some cleaning done during the loading process but, in the main, the seed flowed from the intake hopper to the elevators, to the barge.

On the day we visited the rape price was €330/t delivered and this had already been sold fob ex Oltenita.

Seed producer

Jonel Gheorghe farms 600ha about 70km east of Bucharest. His main crops are maize and wheat, along with some peas and oilseed rape. He began farming with 12 owned hectares in 2004 and he is now farming 600ha, with 150ha owned.

The land base is in different farms and different areas have different land values. The land which is mainly in rotation costs around €7,000/ha and Jonel told me that this land is subject to drought. On another farm, where he grows mainly maize, the land cost is closer to €12,000/ha but the water table is little more than four meters deep here compared with 27m on the previously mentioned farm. And with maize yield up to 13.6 t/ha in 2017, water availability is of huge value. Normal maize yields range form 11-12 t/ha. There are 87ha on this particular farm, of which 47ha are owned, plus the farmyard.

Stubble cultivation post harvest in Romania to help encourage weed growth between crops.

The farm had a look of prosperity without being extravagant. Like most other farms, the machine pool was a mix of new and second hand. There are significant grants available for machinery purchase and other infrastructure but the application process and associated red tape are onerous and many farmers do not avail of them.

Land rental for good ground costs around €250/ha on a 10-year lease. Jonel said that the farmer using the land has first refusal if the owner is contemplating selling and often times land is purchased without anyone knowing.

He did avail of some grants to modernise his facilities and to purchase land. His entitlement value is just under €200/ha. He said that some lease arrangements see the owner holding onto the entitlements but most of the time they remain with the grower.

Harvest had begun when we visited but he had been rained off of wheat. The farmyard that we visited was part of a farm he bought two years ago as it contained an amount of crop storage capacity. One of the stores had feed wheat present and this was 12.3% moisture off the combine with 79-80KPH.

In late June he valued this wheat at €150/t and this price was proportionally lower the further we moved away from Constanta. The bulk of Jonel’s crops are sold as seed, cleaned and dressed. This is sold for €490/t off the farm following dressing, cleaning, royalties etc. Rates apply on buildings etc.

He said that an amount of his plant protection spraying was done at night time because of the high daytime temperatures. Septoria, rusts and fusarium are all real concerns.

The wheat that he had cut when we visited had yielded 9.6 t/ha.

Brome grasses had become a big problem and new weeds are still appearing. To help address this problem it was very obvious that all land in this region had the straw chopped and the land was cultivated almost immediately post harvest. Weeds were then allowed to grow and were sprayed off prior to seedbed preparation. Jonel is doing some min-till establishment.

He is using an amount of GPS and precision farming technology, including auto steer, to help add efficiency to his operations. This is important when working 24 hours per day at harvest time.

Key points

  • There are around eight million hectares of crops in Romania.
  • It has become a significant producer and exporter of wheat and maize in recent years.
  • It is a huge producer of sunflowers.
  • Yield potential is being improved through increased use of fertilisers and plant protection products.