Greg Page, Cargill: Work all the agricultural land to be competitive

This year's grain production, of around 18 million tonnes, could double if farmers invested in technology and also worked the untilled land, accounting for almost 35% of Romania's total arable area, says Greg Page, CEO of Cargill US grain trade giant.

While the level of state aid of the past ten years revolves around 10bn euros, Romania still has one of the lowest grain volumes per hectare in Europe. Moreover, of the over 9.4 million hectares of arable land, almost 3.5 million hectares are left untilled.
Currently, agriculture contributes a little above 6% to Romania's 110bn-euro GDP, but a better organisation would significantly boost the importance of this field in the economy.
"The biggest opportunity of Romanian agriculture will be if starts working the untilled land. The need of agricultural products will double in the coming period, and for this Romania, as well as other countries in the Black Sea area, need to considerably boost production," Page said.
Cargill Romania reached turnover worth around 280m euros in 2009.