Decision time for Romanian farmers

By Nigel Cassidy
Business reporter, BBC News, Bucharest

Mr Petcu says bigger dairy farms need to be created

Getting agriculture right in this predominantly rural country is central to reviving its fortunes.

Before World War II, Romania was especially good at growing grain.

But successive land reforms under communist rule left the country's farms in a time-warp, often producing little more than food for individual families.

The EU will pour the equivalent of just under a billion euros into Romanian agriculture next year, with the figure rising fourfold by the end of the decacde.

But not all farmers will benefit.

Romanian dairy farmer and qualified vet Mihai Petcu has 600 cows - and he's a fan of the European Union.

His neat model farm just south of Bucharest is equipped with the latest automated milking and cooling equipment.

It is one of the relatively few farms in the country that already meets Brussels hygiene standards.

From January 2007, whether they like it or not, Romania's estimated four million farmers will be thrown into the path of the multi-billion-euro juggernaut that is the Common Agricultural Policy.

Lots of voices are against farming and regional policy Daniel Daianu, Former Romanian finance minister

If farms are not compliant with the inevitable blizzard of new regulations, they won't even be able to give their milk away.

Mr Petcu also warns that farm support will be paid out in a different way. Those of his compatriots who don't comply simply won't be able to make any claim on a potential 30bn euros (£20bn; $38bn) of new structural funding.

"Before the revolution, Romania had many farms like mine, but after Ceacescu, they were broken up," he says.

"Many families ended up subsisting with maybe only a couple of cows each. We desperately need to create larger farms equipped with modern tools and technology. Yet even now, long after the revolution, people still have a deep-seated fear of collectivism."

'High standards'

A few kilometres away, fellow farmer Piera Tunari has a different story to tell me.

His herd is a similar size and his cows are clean and well kept. But the property is run down with broken roofs and rusty equipment.

Mr Tunari is looking to move away from dairy farming

He's giving up his dairy herd after 25 years and is thinking of producing biodiesel, or selling his land for development.

"I do have mechanical milking and cooling tanks but the new standards are so high, I just wont be able to keep up with the competition," he says.

"I know how to raise calves, but its not worth feeding and milking them. I am going to sell them all by the spring."

Act fast

Agriculture still represents around half of Romania's GDP. Modernising it is at the heart of getting output up to nearer the EU's average.

A former finance minister Daniel Daianu - now a prominent banker - warned me that the EU's entire Common Agricultural Policy and regional policies are under unprecedented scrutiny.

Mr Daianu says the EU's agricultural strategy may be wound down

"Lots of voices are against farming and regional policy," he says.

"So Romania has got to do it in this period from 2007 to 2013 - because later no one knows what's going to happen."

So the Bucharest government, administrators and farmers are going to have to act fast while EU funds are still available to help change the country for the better.