Romania’s agricultural sector currently employs 915,943 people, representing 11.9% of the total employed workforce — the highest share in the European Union.

The figure appears impressive until examined more closely: only 3.3% of Romania’s salaried employees actually work in agriculture, while the rest are self-employed or engaged in subsistence farming.

In 2007, agriculture accounted for over 30% of total employment — the sharp decline over the past two decades reflects not modernization, but the massive migration of rural labor toward cities and abroad.

Commercial farms are facing an acute shortage of qualified personnel: operators of modern machinery, agricultural technicians, livestock specialists, and farm managers.

As of June 30, 2024, the gross minimum wage in agriculture and the food industry stood at RON 3,436, supported by tax incentives through partial income tax exemptions — a real advantage compared to other sectors, but insufficient to attract and retain young professionals with specialized education.

The average working week in agriculture is 38.2 hours, but the physical demands and seasonality discourage long-term employment.

Automation and mechanization are partial solutions to this crisis, but they require capital and technical expertise that many farms lack.

The agricultural machinery fleet reached 232,654 tractors in 2020, marking a 12% increase compared to 2015 — investments in mechanization do exist, but they are unevenly distributed.

Large farms have largely addressed labor shortages through automation, while small and medium-sized farms remain trapped in a labor-intensive model they cannot afford to replace.

The long-term solution lies in agricultural vocational training — the rehabilitation of agricultural schools, partnerships between farms and universities, and support programs for young farmers financed through the CAP.

Romania has the largest number of farms in the EU — nearly one-third of the 9.1 million agricultural holdings across the Union — but it urgently needs skilled people capable of making them competitive.

(Photo: Magnific)