Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 22 ISSUE 2
Written by Roxana HOROIAȘ, Victor TIȚA, Daniel NIJLOVEANU

In Romania, in 2020-2022, a series of events took place which led to the need to rethink and adapt the management of agricultural farms to the new conditions. It is about the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which overlapped with one of the driest agricultural years (2019-2020), but also about the energy crisis, that for agriculture meant the unprecedented price increase for inputs and technologies. Under these conditions, the cost of food has increased from the very first stage of the production process, namely obtaining the raw material. Analyzing the data provided by the Romanian Commodities Exchange, the upward trend in prices starting with January 2020 and lasted until February 2022 can be observed. For the main crops in Romania, namely wheat, corn and sunflower, trading prices increased with 26-73%. At the same time, there are significant increases in inputs, which in turn are caused by higher prices in the energy sector – 443% for natural gas and 194% for electricity. Petroleum products were no exception, with a doubling of the price between the beginning of 2020 and February 2022. All these have led farmers to look for new solutions in order to ensure, at least partially, the necessary fertilizers from natural sources, through crops that are able to bring nitrogen into the soil. Reducing costs per hectare by introducing legumes (especially soy) into crop rotation and merging technological works are only the first proposed solutions, and in the coming years more innovations will be implemented in agricultural management.

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