Land grabbing in Romania

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The Austrian count, Andreas von Bardeau, has used his political relations and financial power, to grab agricultural lands from the western and central counties of Romania, abusing the land rights of hundreds of peasants in the process. (Image: Eco Ruralis)
Eco Ruralis | March 2015

Land grabbing in Romania

The Romanian NGO Eco Ruralis has published several fact sheets on foreign companies grabbing farmland in Romania, including Padova Agricultura, Riso Scotti, Generali, and Bardeau.


Land Grabbing in Romania: The Padova Agricultura Case - over 4.800 hectares
Eco Ruralis Factsheet no.4 - March, 2015

Rice production was of great importance during communism in Romania; however, in the last decades it has been in critical regression. “Salvation comes from the Italians” claims an article from a Romanian agricultural magazine. As it happens, and even when the “Parent Company” is not originally related to agricultural affairs, Italian companies are coming to Romania to take off with the rice industry. Padova Agricultura is not only the case; Riso Scotti is another great example, as we already saw in a different factsheet.

Download the full factsheet here.
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Land Grabbing in Romania: The Riso Scotti Case - 11.000 hectares
Eco Ruralis Factsheet no.3 - March, 2015

“Rice in the Danube Delta” is an agricultural project initiated by the Italian company Riso Scotti S.P.A. in Romania. Through its Romanian subsidiary Riso Scotti Danubio S.R.L., the company controls 11.000 hectares of paddies in the Danube meadows. Originally the idea was to stop buying land at the threshold of 10.000 ha. Temptation being strong, nowadays the company´s intention is to grow up to 15.000 ha and even double this area in the longer term. Riso Scotti is the biggest brand within the rice industry in Europe, and Romania offers a great potential for agroindustrial rice production in terms of climate, water and soils. The company believes that this country may become the main rice producer of Europei. Like other agribusiness companies, Riso Scotti promotes an agricultural system based on the monoculture of rice, in the detriment of a sustainable agroecological approach.

Download the full factsheet here.
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Land Grabbing in Romania: The Generali Case - more than 4.600 hectares
Eco Ruralis Factsheet no. 2 - March, 2015

Gruppo Assicurazioni Generali, the well-known Italian insurance company, is gazing and controlling farmland in Romania since 2001. The company´s reports clearly express great interest “to gain standing on international markets with strong development potential”… “especially the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe”. These statements may not have been understood literally as a physical “standing”; however, they have been translated into a factual territorial acquisition of more than 4.500 hectares in Western Romania.
“Romania is the European country with the highest percentage of land controlled by foreign companies”, reports Re: Common. Among them, Italian companies are highly representative investors, owning 220.000 hectares of Romanian farmland. As such, Generali appears again and again in the list of the biggest Italian investors in the country´s agricultural sector.

Download the full factsheet here.

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Land Grabbing in Romania: The Bardeau Case - 21.000 hectares
Eco Ruralis Factsheet no. 1 - March, 2015

In 1999 the Austrian count,Andreas von Bardeau, arrived in Romania for the first time. After two years of scouting he ended up owning almost 30.000 ha of land in the country.
Using his political relations and financial power, Bardeau massively grabbed agricultural lands (21.000 ha) and forests (5000 ha) from the western and central counties of Romania. In his process of massive land concentration, the count abused the land rights of hundreds of peasants, corrupted local magistrates and absorbed millions of Euro from EU SAPARD funds. For all his actions, Eco Ruralis offers Andreas Bardeau the "Top Land Grabber" title.

Download the full factsheet here.
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