Deep Roots

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Image: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania

The beauty of Romanian rural landscape, where the land is rich in resources for agriculture

farm agriculture system not only enables better environmental

and sustainable agroproduction, it also helps to solve severe

social issues.

When food is processed in the production area with smaller

food processing systems and products are transported for

shorter distances, they offer fresher products to the final

consumer, compared to the industrial food chain that offers

mostly processed food and intensive agricultural practices and

uses large quantities of energy and fuel throughout the trans-

port, storage, packing and freezing process. There is increased

interest in society in eating better, healthier local food. Family

farms are the ones able to fulfil this demand.

Statistics show that, if in the 1990s the migration was from

villages to cities, nowadays, past the economic crisis, more

people are turning their faces towards sustainable living in the

countryside. As we know, family farming is the most common

operational farming model in Europe and thus of great impor-

tance in the EU. Romania now has hundreds of thousands of

families who want to live well in the countryside, ready to

fight the poverty flagella, ready to bring back to life lost tradi-

tions, crafts and knowledge.

Romania’s rural area is an asset that has recently been

brought back to attention. The landscape is beautiful, the

land is rich in resources for agriculture and the remote

villages have kept their local vibe in a way that is attract-

ing more and more visitors. Large-scale tourism, most of

the time, damages the environment and produces huge

amounts of food waste, another main focus of attention

this year. Rural tourism is sustainable, helps people gain

an extra income, keeps traditions alive and does not waste

food, especially because it uses food produced locally, with

home-style cooking practices.

In Romania agriculture employs most rural inhabitants,

and most farms are under five hectares. There are 3.9 million

farm holdings in Romania, the majority of which are family

farms of extensive semi-natural grassland pastoral systems

and mixed farming systems. These semi-natural small-scale

farmed landscapes are of significant economic importance.

For example, the 1 million holdings between 1 and 10

hectares (3.1 million hectares, 20 per cent of Romania’s

agricultural area) are classified as semi-subsistence farms

producing for home consumption, local sales and for their

extended families. Yet these farms are estimated to produce

25-30 per cent of national food consumption. They also

provide rural vitality, compared to the largest farms which

are associated with rural poverty.

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