Culita Tarata, Adrian Porumboiu, Mihai Anghel, Ioan Niculae, Stefan Poienaru, along with many foreign-held companies own the biggest farming businesses, reveals the ranking of the top 50 farming businesses released by Agentia de Plati si Interventii in Agricultura (Agency for Payments and Interventions in Agriculture-APIA). They own and work land that, amid skyrocketing prices in recent years, is worth almost 1bn euros.
Out of a total of 9.4 million hectares, Romania's arable land, almost 430,000 hectares and around 4% of the total, is farmed by the 50 biggest players in agriculture.
"One must have access to money, to high-performing loans and have a market. Financing ways and how one manages to store and then sell products are important. We are in the early stages as regards agriculture, but strong firms are sure to dominate in the future," stated Viorel Matei, chairman of the National Federation of Romanian Farmers.
Last year, the top 10 farmers asked APIA for subsidies for 200,000 hectares, in light of the fact that they own the biggest areas of land, above 10,000 hectares. The other 40 farmers, who hold between 4,000 and 10,000 hectares, farm the remaining 250,000 hectares. At present, the high price at which a hectare of agricultural land is traded (as much as 2,000 euros) takes the value of the area owned by the 50 land owners to almost 1bn euros, but one must also take into account analysts' estimates, who forecast that land prices will reach as much as 6,000 euros per hectare over the next three years.
Most companies that own large areas operate in Timis and are foreign-held. However, the biggest farmer is still Culita Tarata, who runs TCE 3 Brazi and requested subsidies for 55,627 hectares in 2007. His company cultivates wheat on over 20,000 hectares, rapeseed on 16,000 hectares, sunflowers on 12,000 hectares, maize on 8,000 hectares and barley on 6,000 in Insula Mare a Brailei, whilst this year the landowner expects to generate 65.3m-euro in turnover, up 30% year-on-year.
Out of a total of 9.4 million hectares, only three quarters received European subsidies. Specialists say things will change in the future in terms of land management, which will lead to land pooling.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
