Good Practice - Project
Setting up Ionut’s vegetable farm
Start-up funding for a young Romanian farmer boosts direct sales, precision irrigation, solar panels and nutritious food.
General information
RDP Priority
- P2. Competitiveness
RDP Focus Area
- 2B: Entry of skilled/younger farmers
RDP Measure
- M06: Farm & business development
Beneficiary type
- Young farmer
Summary
Andrei Ionuț Moldovan is a young farmer who decided to take over the family farm after graduating from university. Ionuț applied for the CAP’s generational renewal support to develop and combine his vegetable farm with animal husbandry. The support allowed him to purchase equipment and install solar panels and drip irrigation systems. It also covered the costs of his courses on farm management and setting up an online shop.
Results
- Increased the yield of the farm while increasing its competitiveness in the market.
- From the website’s first day of operation, 150 local orders and several hundred others from neighbouring towns have been received.
Promoter
Ferma lui Ionut, srl / Livrari de la Ferma lui Ionut, srl
Funding
RDP support: 50 000 (EUR)
EAFRD: 37 500 (EUR)
National/Regional: 12 500 (EUR)
Resources
Documents
Good Practice Report - Setting up Ionut’s vegetable farm
(PDF – 955.63 KB)
Context
Oradea City is in Bihor County on the Romanian border with Hungary. It is one of the most beautiful historic areas in Transylvania and enjoys a well-developed economy, architecture, culture, ethnic diversity and high European standard of living. At the same time, agriculture is highly valued, both as an economic activity and a local resource, with lots of interest from local actors in European funding and cooperation opportunities. The area is among the top 10 in Romania for CAP funding submissions.
Andrei Ionuț Moldovan is one of the young farmers who succeeded in developing his vegetable farm by accessing CAP funds. Andrei graduated from the agronomy faculty of the University of Oradea during the implementation period of his young farmer installation project. He simultaneously became an engineer and a farmer on the farm established by his parents. His company, FERMA LUI IONUT SRL from SASCHIZ, was established in March 2015 to develop vegetable production combined with animal husbandry. The farm initially had an area of 5.55 hectares of arable land.
In 2017, Ionut revised the company, which became LIVRARI DE LA FERMA LUI IONUT SRL (Deliveries from Ionut's farm). This revolutionised local sales and increased access to freshly picked vegetables via online sales to those who could not go to the market or farm. During the COVID-19 panedmic, many local farmers successfully adopted Ionut's example, which has now become standard practice.
Romania’s Agency for Financing Rural Investments used this CAP beneficiary as a success story for demonstrating the development potential of sub-measure M6.1(support for the installation of young farmers) from the 2014 - 2020 RDP. The purpose of sub-measure M6.1 is to install young farmers for the first time as heads/managers of an agricultural holding, encourage young families to stay in the countryside and help develop business competitiveness and form professional partnerships. A mandatory objective of the sub-measure is the commercialisation of agricultural production to at least 20% of the value of the first payment instalment and the improvement of the general performance of the agricultural holding.
Objectives
The aims of this project included:
- Practise organic agriculture.
- Plant native varieties of vegetables.
- Increase the beneficiary’s agricultural qualification levels.
- Adapt the farm to high-quality standards and environmental protection.
- Purchase machinery/ equipment/ irrigation systems, etc.
- Organise processing operations.
Activities
Project stages were:
- Before submitting the financing application, the young farmer had to register at the Trade Registry Office as a micro-enterprise with a business plan for organising administrative activities, purchasing goods, etc., and the holding had to be registered as a legal entity.
- Submitting and registering the application for CAP financial support accompanied by the business plan and the required supporting documents.
- Implementing the business plan and making the commitment to become an active farmer in a maximum of 18 months from the date of the installation.
Farm activities involved:
- Purchasing equipment.
- Constructing 300 m2 solar panels.
- Installing a drip irrigation system.
- Carrying out environmental protection and precision agriculture actions.
- Respecting and applying technologies for vegetable production.
- Participating in farm management courses.
- Setting up an online shop.
Main results
- Increased yield potential and reduced expenses through the purchase of high-performance, environmentally friendly machines.
- Established presence and increased competitiveness in the market thanks to highly successful online sales and delivery.
Key lessons
- An important lesson is that potential beneficiaries should seek to understand the type of CAP support they are interested in. It should complement their resources and potential. It is also key to think ‘outside the box’!
- When receiving CAP support, building good working relationships with other relevant actors is vital to reduce bureaucracy and unnecessary administrative steps.
…in addition to the classic method of selling vegetables in the market, I started home delivery of vegetables to my customers who now order their vegetables from me on the Internet. Although at first, I was sceptical that anyone would want to buy vegetables online, considering how many markets and supermarkets there are in the city, I was surprised that after a few days after I started promoting myself online, over 10 000 people from the whole country was very excited about this idea and several hundred even ordered. So, for two years I started to develop even better and to open my eyes to even more opportunities in agriculture, which I hope to be able to develop both with my own efforts, and especially with the support of European funds.
Contact Information
Tel: + 4 0721 709 262