Sebastian Aldea, Târnava Mare - Romania

I am an accountant by training, but in 2003 I decided to return to the village where I was born, and take over my parents’ farm - a total of nine cows.

The Farm.

80 cattle, of which of which 40 are in milk and head we can be profitable.

We work a total of 120 hectares of land, 60 ha grassland (grazing and meadows) and 60 ha arable. 60 ha grasslands: - 10 ha grazing land with ha rented for 50 Euros/ha, but I get 100Euros/ha - 5 ha I pay not rent but inactive owner received agri-environment payment

We produces 4000 liters of milk per animal/year Our aim is to to achieve an average production of 6000 or even 7000 liters of milk per cow per year in the future. This will be by improving the genetics of the local breed Balata Românească

We want to achieve improvements in 3 directions: cow quality; feed quality housing quality At the moment farm profit is small because we invest all extra income in these 3 directions, as in increasing the size of our milking herd.

We get 0.33 Euro 0.24 Euro Unfortunately the milk price fluctuates. We sell milk from our farm under contract with a processor; luckily we have our own milk collection tank, but the price is impossible to change because in most of the cases the processor owns the milk cooling tank used by the village.

Regarding agri-environment in Romania, the main measures are HNV grassland management packages 1 and 2 Package 1 limits 124 Euro Package 2 offers 58 Euro extra

Agri-environment – the main measures are 214 HNV grassland. (50 ha 1+2) 180 Euros / ha / year for not using machines on this land. 10 hectares of hay meadow (1) Direct payments are 182 Euros per hectare

Agri-environment – the main measures are 214 HNV grassland. (50 ha 1+2) 180 Euros / ha / year for not using machines on this land. 10 hectares of hay meadow (1) Direct payments are 182 Euros per hectare

For the new CAP: -cutting dates Higher payment rates for haymeadows Control system to prevent the abuses

Cap also should include: intensive farming; traditional farms; organic farms payments should be somehow limited better direct payments

Finally, I should say that a few years ago I had no idea what High Nature value grasslands were. As a result of the support for these grasslands, I understand their importance, and what should be done to protect them. This applies to hundreds of farmers in my area, and many thousands more widely.

Multumesc pentru atentie! Thank you!