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In Romania, huge farms are attracting farmers more and more to attract foreign farmers. In 2017, the country ranked 8th among the largest agricultural powers in Europe. In the face of this growing development, "small" farmers are also quietly reaping successes. Reportage.
From our special correspondent in Romania,
Transylvania is not only the country of Dracula, bears, Tatar and Mongol invasions. In the midst of immense coniferous forests, mountains with snowy peaks, stands a multitude of small villages far from being deserted from their population. If Romanian is the official language of the country, here Hungarian is the everyday language.
In the country of Sicule, in the east of the region, the municipality of Frumaosa can be proud of having brought home two young people of theirs. " We are today 3,633 inhabitants in the four villages of the commune, " Mayor Ferencz M'Bor proudly explains.
In Bârzava, Andre and Lajos Eross are ghosts. Originally from the village, they left Romania to continue their studies in Australia where they each started a family. But for the past two years, they have been spending the summer in the parental farm looking after their new cranberry farm.
On three hectares, thanks to funding from the European Union, they have aligned fruit tree seedlings, a product presented by the EU as a very attractive trade. Indeed, the kilo of this great North Atlantic cowberry sells for 2.5 €. And within a year, the two brothers hope to harvest 40 tonnes, which they will sell locally in the region, or they will export if they have the opportunity.
If Transylvania is the coldest region in Romania (the average annual temperature is around 6 degrees and frosts remain legion even in August), it is nonetheless fertile. As cranberries grow in the peat bogs of the cold regions, the ultra-modernized operation of Andre and Lajos Eross is located in an ideal location.
A flourishing reconversion
In the neighboring village, Fekete Endre has been standing since 4am despite a long festive night and watered with his friends from the village cooperative. He works seven days a week to produce local charcuterie. Between cold rooms, oven and cutting room, this former livestock engineer who worked on the farm of the Communist Party tells how he reconverted through equity and benefited from a European program that paid him 50% of its budget.
The conditions imposed by the EU to obtain funding are very strict, but Fekete Endre prefers to submit to work with its 14 employees on state-of-the-art machines. And its products have nothing to envy the deli meats of large factories. Test in support, they are of incomparable quality. Sausages, bacon, pâté, sausages, etc. are sold locally, directly to the customer (schools, restaurants, small shops, private individuals).
The trade is therefore very profitable (Fekete Endre buys 20 tons of pork a month from the neighboring department) and is likely to develop further. The boss of Zoo end com says he has submitted a new dossier to the EU to buy solar panels and a refrigerated truck.
Szépvizi, a company created to help dairy farmers
Not far from the volutes of roasted pig smoke, a smell of cheese spreads in the air. Near the church of Frumoasa proudly displays the sign Szépvizi . In 2011, to help dairy farmers in the region who sold their milk at a low price, Gai Zoltan decided to create this cheese cooperative. Between the tanks of thousands of liters of milk, the manager details the secrets of his production that he makes thanks to eight employees. Every day some 300 kilograms of cheese and yogurts come out of the factory to delight the taste buds of local customers, including scengo, a unique hard cheese that is second to none.
" We are very proud because Szépvizi is a unique project in the municipality, " says Gai Zoltan. An adventure that could be achieved through aid from the municipality, the government and, of course, the EU (indirect funding related to pastures).
Today Szépvizi is self-financing, but as in the region ambitions abound, Gai Zoltan has, like his colleagues, filed a new application for aid to Europe to create a laboratory for milk analysis within his factory to avoid sending his milk samples to Cluj (Transylvania's non-official capital). A project accepted by the EU which paid him € 100,000.
Better yet: in a few weeks, Szépvizi may receive another € 500,000 from Brussels to set up a production plant for ... Camembert.
Brothers Andre and Lajos Eross.
Anne Bernas / RFIThe cranberry farm covers three hectares.
Anne Bernas / RFIFekete Endre in front of her charcuterie company.
Anne Bernas / RFIThe conditions imposed by the EU to obtain funding are very strict, but Fekete Endre prefers to submit and thus to work with its 14 employees on state-of-the-art machines.
Anne Bernas / RFIFekete Endre buys 20 tonnes of pork a month from the neighboring department.
Anne Bernas / RFISausages, bacon, pâté, sausages, etc. are sold locally, directly to the customer.
Anne Bernas / RFIThe company Szépvizi, in Frumoasa.
Anne Bernas / RFIBetween the vats of thousands of liters of milk, Gai Zoltan details the secrets of his production that he makes thanks to eight employees.
Anne Bernas / RFIEvery day some 300 kilograms of cheese come out of the factory to delight the taste buds of customers.
Anne Bernas / RFIFor 20 years, Ferencz M'Bor is mayor of the municipality of Frumoasa.
Anne Bernas / RFIThe municipality of Frumaosa seen from the sky, with the four villages Bârzava, Frumoasa, Făgeţel and Nicoleşti.
Anne Bernas / RFILocal products of Transylvania, pleasure of evenings in the municipality of Frumoasa.
Anne Bernas / RFI
■ Gabriel Diaconu, a self-taught farmer with a passion for ecology
A two-hour drive from the bustling and wriggling Bucharest, the landscape is changing. The department of Prahova, in Wallachia, is located between the Great Romanian plain and the Carpathians. Between the rivers, the villages follow one another, offering the visitor landscapes sumptuously bucolic. Below a pristine church, the young Gabriel Diaconu is busy with the task. Here, no gigantic exploitation, the region is hilly and mainly occupied by orchards on a human scale.
Gabriel Diaconu, in his twenties, returned from England three years ago to set up his farm with the help of a Moldovan partner still living in Austria. Former student in sport, he decided to use his passion for the environment and the planet: on a surface of 15 hectares abandoned for sixteen years, he launched. Ecokult is born. The young man uses permaculture, a method inspired by natural ecology and respecting the biodiversity of the ecosystem.
Currently in its eleven greenhouses built with his own hands succeeds cabbage, broccoli, salads, tomatoes, etc. Gabriel Diaconu sells all his products directly to consumers and small traders in the region, via his latest website, but also by Facebook, etc.
If " everything is fine ", in a few weeks its exploitation will boast of having the eco-bio label. An essential certification for the young farmer who will then be able to obtain EU funds to increase his production. So far, his ambitious project financed only by own funds earns him just enough to pay his employees.
Today, the farm employs between three and eight people on the land, a delivery driver, an accountant and an engineer. " I work by conviction, " says the self-taught, who, despite the difficulties and loneliness, admits having never had a single regret to have embarked on this unusual adventure.
Gabriel Diaconu in one of his eleven greenhouses.
Anne Bernas / RFIToday, the exploitation of Gabriel Diaconu makes work between three and eight people on the ground.
Anne Bernas / RFIGabriel Diaconu in the shed where he stores fertilizer.
Anne Bernas / RFIGabriel Diaconu presents his future local vegetable packaging.
Anne Bernas / RFIIf "everything is fine", in a few weeks the exploitation of Gabriel Diaconu can boast of having the eco-bio label.
Anne Bernas / RFIPartial view of the exploitation of Gabriel Diaconu.
Anne Bernas / RFI