The concept of “High Nature Value farming” developed in the early 1990s from a growing recognition that the conservation of biodiversity in Europe depends on the continuation of low-intensity farming systems across large areas of countryside (see Beaufoy et al., 1994; Bignal et al., 1994; Bignal & McCracken, 1996; 2000)....

information about the prospects of the cooperative sector as a means to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants in the rural environment, to ensure the increase in the producers’ revenues, to consolidate the economic role of the producers’ occupational entities, to improve and develop the activity in the agricultural...

Family farming is the most common operational farming model in Europe – representing 97 % of the European Union’s (EU) 12 million farms. Thus it is of great importance in the EU. It covers a diverse range of situations, including farms of all sizes. While there are obvious differences across...

Analyzing the current situation of the agriculture in Romania, we can observe a fragmentation of the landed property, so that, the subsistence and the semi-subsistence farms hold 60% of the total agricultural areas utilized (13.2 million ha of agricultural land), and the commercial farms 40%. Concerning the number of farms,...

12 million farms, 172 million hectares of agricultural land, 25 million people involved in agricultural production – these are some of the key data for the EU farming sector in 2010; but what about the situation of individual farms and how do things differ between Member States and as compared...

Small farmers always represented a characteristic of the Romanian rural milieu, playing a determinant part in maintaining the local vivacity, in developing the regional economy and, most important, in keeping traditions and a unique ethno cultural specificity. The communist era represented a profound destructive experience, when villages vanished as communities...

The Art of Dar combines the highest quality Transylvanian foods and crafts. It has successfully used a news story, provoking media interest, to raise the profile of Transylvanian products in general and it was created as an innovative way of found raising.  The product line was launched at the SIAL global...

Being the most common operational farming model, family farming has ensured the growth of Europe’s agricultural sector for centuries. Today’s ambitious European Union (EU) policy  framework is designed to take account of the different models of agriculture existing in the EU, including the diverse types of family farming. It focuses...

Domestic and donor-driven development agendas for African agriculture are spurring smallholder family farming as a catalyst for food security and poverty reduction. Family farms are also the backbone of agriculture in the European Union, although the process of concentration has gone further than in Africa. European agricultural policy reforms now...

The concept of family farming is the recipient of much high-level political capital right now...  The United Nations has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming, the primary aim of which is to promote, develop and strengthen all types of familyoriented agriculture - from horticulture and livestock to fisheries and forestry - as a socially...

All businesses need to innovate if they are to thrive, and family farms are no exception. By thinking ahead and developing new approaches, farmers can increase output, develop new and improved products, diversify and tap into new income streams, and remain environmentally sustainable. Innovative farms are more likely to weather...

Most of world’s rural population depend on livestock for their livelihood, especially in the Mediterranean, African and many Asian countries. To reduce poverty, fight hunger and ensure global food security, there is an urgent need to increase livestock production in sustainable ways. However, livestock production systems in those areas are...

ARC2020 is organising a 10 day EU-wide Speakers’ Tour on land grabbing in Romania. It will take place from 21-30 April 2013. Mr Attila Szocs who monitors large scale agricultural land purchases in Romania, and Mr Dan Cismas a biodynamic farmer and co-president of the EcoRuralis peasant association, will tour European capitals...

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 smallsale farmed landscapes are of significant economic importance. For example, the 1 million holdings between 1-10 ha (3.1 m ha, 20% of Romania’s...

In 2013, Fundația ADEPT began a long term partnership with operation Wallacea. OpWall carries out a worlwide programme in which schoolchildren and university students gather information about the changes in and threats to globally important areas of biodiversity. Tarnava Mare is the chosen European hotspot

The business is owned by a family which has been involved in cereal cultivation since 1996. Their income prior to the implementation of the project came exclusively from crop production and grants. The son of the family, who is an alumnus of the Agronomic Institute of Bucharest, had the idea...

Leonard-Alin Plesea is a young farmer from the Jirlau Commune, famous across the country for its bountiful vegetable production. Eager to continue his family’s traditions, he attended a vegetable farming course and acquired practical experience at his family’s farm. In 2009 he leased 4 hectares of agricultural land from his...

A short Video about local partnerships between consumers and small-scale farmers

After communism Romania launched capitalist reforms in its huge agricultural sector

In this UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), it is timely to celebrate the exceptional biodiversity of the hay meadows of Transylvania and the living rural communities that created and manage them. But we should also consider why – after surviving for a thousand years during a turbulent history of invasions,...