Funding: The ADER 13.1.2/2015 project is funded by order no. 708/23.04.2015 on the approval of the Sectoral Plan for research and development in the agricultural and rural development field of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, for the years 2015-2018, “Agriculture and Rural Development – ADER 2020”
Contract value: 962,850 lei
Project duration: 38 months (01.10.2015 – 20.11.2018)
CONSORTIUM COMPONENTS
Coordinator: Research Institute for Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (ICEADR) – Project Director – Dr. Eng. Ursu Ana
Partners:
1. National Institute for Agricultural Research and Development Fundulea (I.N.C.D.A.) – Project Manager – Dr. Eng. Ion TONCEA
2. National Institute for Potato and Sugar Beet Research and Development Braşov (INCDCSZ) – Project Manager – Dr. Eng. Gheorghe OLTEANU
PROJECT SUMMARY
The project aims to find innovative farm management solutions that allow farmers access to information and knowledge, calculate the cost of agricultural plant products for conventional and organic agriculture, determine analytical results by comparing the cost of products with their selling price; forecast expenses and income by preparing BVCs, etc.
The calculation of the costs of agricultural plant products for conventional and organic agriculture and the budgeting of activities can be included in the support for farms in conversion to organic farming methods, according to art. 68 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 73/2009.
In the methodology used in the project, the starting point will be the preparation of income and expenditure budgets at the crop level, differentiated according to the technologies applied in the conventional and organic system, the level of allocation of production factors, and implicitly by the yields per unit area, corresponding to the economic conditions available in the agricultural area.
The analysis and quantification of technical-economic and financial indicators target the production cost, the market price, labor productivity, profitability, standard gross margin, the break-even point, for conventional and organic agriculture. The project will create scientifically based instruments for regulating the functionality of the agricultural product market and a system of indicators – competitiveness, profitability, etc., which will have an important role in decisions regarding the future development of the agricultural sector. This system of indicators, adapted to the systems already existing at international level, can contribute to the development of a smart, sustainable and inclusive agriculture, become a starting point for future agricultural policies, allow comparative studies with other countries and, last but not least, improve access to information.
The project is correlated with the following requirements:
– compliance with the quality standards imposed by the community regulations;
– protection of the environment;
– reduction of production costs, in the context of applying new technological solutions.
The products for which the specific technical-economic indicators will be estimated are: wheat, barley, corn, sunflower, rapeseed, soybean, sugar beet, rice, hemp, hops, tobacco, potato.
The choice is made to use data and information taken from technical institutes in the field, at the level of the production system and the types of farms existing within the agrozones, as well as the normative elements regarding the allocation of inputs. The project will also evaluate and analyze the effects of organic plant production technologies on the environment, with regard to maintaining and increasing soil fertility, in the long term, as well as preserving the qualitative parameters of the environment (air, water, soil). Thus, in the context of increasing environmental performance through the practice of organic technologies, the conservation of environmental quality and natural resources is ensured and, thereby, the sustainability of commercial farms. The purpose of the project, namely the development of a practical guide with technical and economic solutions, will represent a starting point in terms of transforming subsistence farms into organic family farms, capable of identifying new opportunities for valorizing production. From this point of view, the estimated results of the project are part of the efforts to ensure smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The results obtained within the project, both partial and final, will be widely disseminated in the rural environment.
EXPECTED RESULTS
– SWOT analysis of technical and economic indicators for conventional and organic agriculture;
– information on production costs and market prices for plant products in the two systems, necessary to substantiate some
