Agriculture in Romania

Agriculture in Romania is an important part of the economy of Romania, with almost 13.5 million hectares (ha) being used for agriculture. Farming is a common occupation in the rural areas of the country, and the majority of the farms in Romania are small farms of less than 5 hectares.

Romania is the biggest producer of sunflower seeds, honey and plums in the European Union as of 2023. In 2022, Romania was the world's second producer of plums, and was among the world's top 20 biggest producers of sunflower seeds, rapeseed, cherry, maize, wheat, barley and soybean.

Agriculture summed up about 4.3% of GDP in 2019, down from 12.6% in 2004. In 2023, 23% of the Romanian labour force were employed in agriculture, the highest percentage in the European Union.

Agricultural mechanization is relatively poor compared to Western Europe. In some regions of the country, farmers still use horse-drawn agriculture tools and rely on animal power. In 2009, while in Western Europe tractors were replaced after 3,000-4,000 hours of use, in Romania they sometimes lasted up to 12,000 hours.

The main problems encountered by Romanian agriculturists are a lack of major investments in agriculture, due to difficulty in accessing available funds, fragmentation and erosion of soil, property-related lawsuits and obsolete technology. Several major companies have entered the Romanian market, including Smithfield Foods, Cargill, Bunge, Glencore, Lactalis, and Meggle AG. These companies have since invested hundreds of millions of euros in Romania.