At the edge of a vast barley field on a farm in Prundu, 30 miles from the Romanian capital Bucharest, Catalin Corvair picked a pointed flower head from a stem, rolled it with both hands and planted seeds. Mouth and bit down.
“Another 10 days to two weeks,” he said, explaining how long it took for the crop to be harvested.
A farmer for nearly 30 years, Corvair rarely experiences such a season. The bloody sneaking of Russians into Ukraine, the world’s breadbasket, has caused turmoil in the global grain market. The coastal blockade has trapped millions of tonnes of wheat and corn in Ukraine.When famine Stalking elsewhere in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, a fierce battle for new suppliers and alternative transportation routes is underway.
“Because of the war, Romanian farmers have an opportunity this year,” Corvair said through an interpreter.
The question is whether Romania can take advantage of it by expanding its agricultural sector while helping to close the food inequality left by the landlocked Ukraine.
Romania is in a good position in many respects. The port of Constanta on the west coast of the Black Sea has provided an important (albeit small) transit point for Ukrainian grain since the beginning of the war. Romania’s own farm production is lower than that of Ukraine, but it is one of the largest grain exporters in the European Union. Last year, 60% of wheat was sent abroad, mainly to Egypt and the rest of the Middle East. This year, the government has allocated € 500 million ($ 527 million) to support agriculture and maintain production.
Still, this Eastern European country faces many challenges. The farmer is dealing with the soaring costs of diesel, pesticides and fertilizers while benefiting from higher prices. Transportation infrastructure throughout the country and at its ports is ignored, obsolete, delaying the passage of its exports and hampering Romania’s efforts to help Ukraine avoid Russia’s blockade.
But even before the war, the world’s food system was under stress. Supply chain blockages associated with Covid-19 have increased fuel and fertilizer prices, and brutal dry spells and unseasonal floods have reduced yields.
Since the beginning of the war, about 20 countries, including India, have sought to increase their food supply by restricting exports, which has exacerbated the global shortage. This year, droughts in the corners of Europe, the United States, North Africa and Africa all make additional sacrifices to harvest. In Italy, water was distributed on the Po Valley, which produces farms, after the river was sufficiently low and water was revealed. Sinking barge Second World War.
In Prundu, it didn’t rain as much as Corvair wanted, but the timing was right when it did. He bent over and picked up a handful of dark, moist soil and caressed it. “This is the perfect land,” he said.
Thunderstorms are expected, but this morning, under the cloudless Cerulean sky, seemingly endless barley hair flutters.
The farm is a family relationship, involving Mr. Corvair’s two sons and his brother. They cultivate about 12,355 acres and grow rapeseed, corn, wheat, sunflowers, soybeans and barley. Throughout Romania, yields are not expected to match record 29 million metric tonnes of grain production from 2021, but crop outlook remains good and there is ample exports.
Corvair slips into the driver’s seat of the white Toyota Land Cruiser and drives Prundu to visit the cornfields that are harvested in the fall. He has been the mayor of this 3,500 town for 14 years, waving to all the passing cars and pedestrians. Her mother is standing cruising in front of her house. The red and pink rose bushes and splashes on every street are planted and cared for by Mr. Corvair and his workers.
He said he hired 50 people and generated annual sales of 10 million euros. In recent years, farms have invested heavily in technology and irrigation.
In a row of lush green cones, a long center pivot irrigation system perches like a giant skeletal pterosaur with spread wings.
Corbea said he expects revenue to increase by € 5 million, or 50%, in 2022 due to higher prices and higher productivity of installed water supplies.
The costs of diesel, pesticides and fertilizers have doubled or tripled, but at least for now, the prices Corbea said they could get for grain more than offset these rises. It was a thing.
However, prices are volatile and farmers need to make sure that future income will cover their investment in the long run, he said.
Calculus has benefited other large companies in this sector. Ghita Pinca, General Manager of Agricover, a Romanian agribusiness company, said: Relying on increased farmers’ investment in irrigation systems, storage facilities and technology, he said, there is great potential for further growth.
Some smallholders like Chipaila Mircea have had more difficult times. Milsea grows 1,975 acres of barley, corn and wheat in Poalta Alba, along the canal connecting the Black Sea and the Donau River, about 150 miles from Prundu near the southeastern tip of Romania.
Dry weather means that his production will be down from last year. He also said he expects profits to fall as fertilizer and fuel prices soar. Ukrainian exporters have lowered prices, putting pressure on what he sells.
Mirusia’s farm is about 15 miles from the Port of Constanta. Normally a major grain and trade center, this port connects the Central and Southeastern European countries of landlocked countries such as Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Austria with the Central and East Asia and the Caucasus region.Last year, the port 67.5 million tons of cargo, More than one-third of that is grain. Due to the closure of the port of Odesa, some Ukrainian exports are currently passing through the Constanta complex.
A railroad car engraved with “grain” on the side spilled Ukrainian corn on an underground conveyor belt and last week sent a cloud of dust swirling to a terminal run by American food giant Cargill. At the wharf operated by COFCO, China’s largest food and agricultural processor, grain was loaded onto cargo ships from one of the giant silos lined up in the docks. At the COFCO entrance gate, trucks with Ukrainian blue and yellow striped flags on their license plates waited for grain cargo to be inspected before unloading.
During a visit to Kieu last week, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said more than one million tons of Ukrainian grain had passed through Constanta and reached locations around the world since the invasion began.
However, due to logistical issues, more grains cannot travel. The gauge of Ukraine is wider than anywhere else in Europe. Cargo must be transported to Romanian trains at the border or lifted from the Ukrainian infrastructure and wheels to what can be used on Romanian railroad tracks.
Ukrainian truck traffic is slowing due to gas shortages, road damage, and back-up at border crossings (sometimes lasting days). Russia is targeting export routes, according to the British Ministry of Defense.
Romania has its own transportation problems. High-speed rail is rare and the country lacks a large highway system. Infrastructure in and around Constanta has also suffered decades of underinvestment.
Over the past few months, the Romanian government has invested money to clean up hundreds of rusty wagons and refurbish railroad tracks that were abandoned when the communist regime collapsed in 1989.
Still, trucks entering and exiting the harbor from the highway must share a single-lane road. The attendant operates the gate. The gate must be lifted for each vehicle.
Congestion will be significantly exacerbated when most of the Romanian harvest begins to arrive at the terminal in the next few weeks. Cristian Taranu, general manager of the terminal operated by Romanian port operator Umex, says 3,000 to 5,000 trucks arrive daily and back up miles on the highway leading to Constanta.
Mr. Milsea’s farm is within a 30-minute drive from Constanta. But “during the busiest times, my truck is waiting for a couple of days,” he said through an interpreter, allowing him to enter and unload the harbor complex.
That’s one of the reasons he’s less optimistic than Mr Corvair, because Romania’s ability to take advantage of agricultural and export opportunities.
“Port Constanta is not prepared for such an opportunity,” Mircea said. “They don’t have the infrastructure.”
