Stewarding Land for Life: Impressions after The Access to Land Europe Network visit of ALPA and our Bioregion
September 2024 is special! It brought much needed rain to quench the deep thirst of the pastures and orchards of our beautiful bioregion after the most burning summer it has seen in a long time. It also brought us together with our international family, the Access to Land Europe Network. ALPA hosted an inspiring gathering of participants from the Network and national and international allies, such as the Ukrainian Small Farmers Union (AFZU) and the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC). Over the course of three days, from the 9th to 12th of September, visitors from Terre de Liens France, Agronauten Germany, ARI Italy and AFZU Ukraine experienced the power of local futures rooted in agroecology and felt the urgency of common land stewardship, witnessing how these principles can safeguard peasant family farms while preparing for the challenges that future farmers will face.
On the first day, participants learned that Romania’s agricultural landscape is complex, marked by the ever growing disparities between large agribusinesses and small-scale, often self-sufficient farms. ALPA addresses these issues by promoting regenerative land management practices that put people over profits, all while contending with the realities of increasing land prices, market competition, and farmland lying abandoned and fragmented. With 96% of farmland privately owned, and 20-30% held by foreign investors, securing land for the next generation of agroecological food producers sets up to be a steep uphill climb.
While walking through the largest bioregional market from Huedin which is held every Tuesday for the past 700 years and thanks to our community facilitator friends from Tarnat-Kalotaszeg Durabil the group learned about the importance of peasant farming and shook hands with older and younger small farmers that shared their stories.
Our visiting friends found out that the issue of farm succession is particularly pressing. Today, the average age of Romanian farmers is 58, with over 40% being over 65 years old and lacking succession plans. This aging farmer population creates uncertainty for the future of Romania’s farmland, as fewer young people are stepping into the agricultural sector. In fact, only 7.5% of Romanian farmers are under the age of 35 , and a staggering 55% of rural youth express no interest in continuing family farms. While visiting and exchanging thoughts with the local protestant minister and cheesemaker, Szilard Berde, elderly peasant – Gyuri, and also a young shepherd, Adi, from our base village Alunisu/Magyarokereke, the group drew the conclusion that the situation in our bioregion is reflecting also this harsh reality so ALPA’s work becomes crucial in this context, aiming to preserve land for future farmers that commit to agroecological practices.
Such an inspirational farmer is Jonas Mertens and his family. Nested in the cosy village of Petrinzel/Kispetri, Jonas set up a model agroecological farm business focusing on raising Saanen goats for milk products and also growing grains for flour. Having put in practice small scale technologies like a milking machine and harvesting equipment, Jonas aims to be mostly self-sufficient and selling through local and regional markets as well as directly linking with customers online.
One of ALPA’s key focuses is integrating the idea of the commons—where land is cared for collectively, blending traditional practices with modern agroecological methods. This philosophy was vividly displayed during the visit to Jebuc, a hilltop area managed collectively by the local community. Jebuc serves as a living example of how biodiversity and farming can flourish side by side. Through these efforts, ALPA hopes to raise awareness and promote this model as a viable alternative to the privatisation and industrial exploitation of agricultural land.
ALPA also addresses the harsh realities faced by small-scale farmers in Romania, who often struggle to compete in a system where just 12,000 large farming enterprises control over 50% of the country’s agricultural production. These agribusinesses absorb the lion’s share of EU subsidies, leaving small farmers, especially the emerging farming generation with limited financial support. Despite these challenges, ALPA fosters hope by advocating for land stewardship models and cooperating with local farmers to implement agroecological practices that are both regenerative and offer a decent livelihood. Current and future farmers will face unprecedented challenges. Rising land prices, the pressures of globalized markets, and increasingly unpredictable climatic conditions all pose significant risks to the viability of farming. ALPA’s commitment to agroecology offers a blueprint for tackling these threats head-on. By setting up future regenerative farming businesses, supporting the access to eco-schemes, and encouraging the preservation of traditional knowledge, ALPA is not only protecting the land—it is preparing future farmers of the bioregion to adapt and thrive in the face of adversity.
Through its upcoming farm incubator program, ALPA will help new farmers gain access to land and practical training in agroecology. This approach – learned and tested out in the European Access to Land Network, ensures that future farmers are equipped with the tools they need to succeed, even in a rapidly changing world. Additionally, ALPA is committed to addressing the thorny issue of farm succession, not just within families but through innovative models that allow young farmers from outside the family to take over the stewardship of land.
ALPA – Land for Life stands as a grassroots beacon connecting the localisation movement from our bioregion with the broader European movements. Through the Access to Land Network, ALPA collaborates with international partners to advocate for policies that support future agroecological farmers and promote on ground land access for them. A powerful moment during the September visit was a speech by Mykola Stryzhak, honorary president of the Ukrainian Farmers Union, who emphasized the shared mission of small farmers across Europe to feed people and protect the land from the encroachment of large corporate interests. His call for solidarity in agricultural production resonated deeply, underscoring the critical importance of uniting and cooperating to protect farmland in an increasingly competitive world at the brink of a climatic crisis.
Through proposals such as towards a European Land Observatory, ALPA contributes to vital advocacy work aimed at improving land governance and ensuring that land remains in the hands of those who farm it with care. This collective effort is vital for shaping a future where farming is not just economically viable, but ecologically sound and socially just.
As ALPA looks to the future, its work takes on even greater urgency. As the European Access to Land Network acknowledged during their concluding round of discussions: with farm succession rates alarmingly low and small peasant farms constantly under threat from land grabs and industrial farming, the need for organisations like ALPA has never been clearer.Visiting delegations form France, Germany, Italy, Ukraine and different regions of Romania left with inspiration and a spirit of solidarity towards our organisation and its future actions.
In the words of farmer, environmental thinker and writer Wendell Berry, “The care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only hope.” ALPA embodies this responsibility, standing at the forefront of a movement to protect the land in such culturally and ecologically rich bioregion of Transylvania, empower future farmers, and build a blueprint towards a regenerative future for all.
