General information
RDP Priority
- P2. Competitiveness
RDP Focus Area
- 2A: Farm’s performance, restructuring & modernisation
RDP Measure
- M04: Investments in physical assets
Beneficiary type
- Farmer / land manager
Summary
The Antoduti Com srl dairy farm, which is located in the County of Bistrița-Năsăud, is managed by a father and son team who have worked hard to grow their business over the years. Support from the Romanian Rural Development Programme (RDP) enabled them to significantly expand their production facilities, take even better care of their 280 cows and start testing new products.
Results
- The newly acquired cattle management technologies allow for the continuous monitoring of both the quality of the produce and the health and wellbeing of the animals.
- Thanks to this project, the farm diversified its products and substantially increased its production and delivery capacity, without sacrificing the quality and taste.
- The products of Antoduti Com srl are sold at the farm itself, online, at fairs and in local stores.
- Since 2020, the farm has been delivering milk to the French dairy industry ‘Lactalis’ and directly to consumers through raw milk dispensers.
Promoter
SC ANTODUTI COM srl
Funding
Total budget: 732 001 (EUR)
EAFRD: 540 371 (EUR)
National/regional: 95 360 (EUR)
Private/own: 96 270 (EUR)
Ressources
Documents
Good Practice Report - Investments for the modernisation of a livestock farm in Orheiu-Bistriței
(PDF – 3.32 Mo)
Context
The Antoduti Com dairy farm in Romania’s Bistrița-Năsăud County is managed by a father and son team, Liviu and Viorel Peica. Their family farm’s herd has grown to 280 cows and the business has undergone several stages of modernisation, including support from the Romanian Rural Development Programme (RDP), to expand their production facilities.
Objectives
The aim of this most recent investment project was to further modernise the holding by expanding its facilities and acquiring new technological equipment to support processing.
Activities
The investment involved the following activities:
- Setting up a 995m2 milking parlour and a milk processing space in an existing cow shed that can host 120 dairy cows.
- Constructing a new shed that can hold 160 cows. This includes a ground floor and a mezzanine level. It is divided into two zones. The first zone includes space for the milking room, the cooling tank, the compressor room, an office, a thermal plant, etc. The second zone includes a milk processing room, a room for churning/drying cheese, a brining room for cheese, a storage space for salt, storage for labels and bags, a cold storage, a delivery area, a returnable packaging filter and a locker room for the employees. There is also space for the offices, an access hall, sanitary facilities and a shower room.
Financing the purchase of a robotic milking system, an automatic feed pushing system, a semi-hermetic milk separator, a trailer, a mechanised cheese processing valve, a cheese scalding valve and a manure cleaning system.
Other features of the building are:
- The milk processing hall is supplied with drinking water from the local water supply network.
- The animal shelter is supplied with water from a drilled well and it is equipped with a hydrophore system. The latter provides the necessary water pressure in the water supply system.
- The water is heated using a wood burning boiler.
- The wastewater is discharged into a drainable concrete basin, with a volume of 13.2m3.
- The waste is transported by a local sanitation operator under contract.
- No toxic or dangerous substances were used during the construction or the operation of the building.
Main results
- The newly acquired cattle management technologies allow for the continuous monitoring of both the quality of the produce and the health and wellbeing of the animals.
- Thanks to this project, the farm diversified its products and substantially increased its production and delivery capacity, without sacrificing the quality and taste (which are specific to the area). The farm produces and sells fresh milk, cream, fresh and matured cheese, kneaded cheese, telemea cheese, etcetera, all of which are certified and labelled as ‘Mountain Products’.
- The products of Antoduti Com srl are sold at the farm itself, at fairs and in local stores. They are also sold online.
Since 2020, the farm has been delivering milk to the French dairy industry ‘Lactalis’ and directly to consumers through raw milk dispensers. Currently, they are testing new processed milk and cheese products that will later be sold under their own brand.
Key lessons
- In the 2015-2018 period, when the project was implemented, the financial allocation to the Sub-measure 4.1 - Investments in agricultural holdings of the Romanian RDP represented 12.4% of the total public allocation to the programme. This made the sub-measure one of the most important measures of the RDP and this was due to the fact that it supported investments including technological innovations, which provided agricultural holdings with the potential to continue their modernisation and diversification. All of this contributed to their viability and long-term sustainability.
Liviu Peica