After an excellent farming year in 2011, when the cereal output increased by some 25%, as compared to 2010, amounting to some 21 million tons, the output in 2012 has dropped, mainly because of the drought in summer. In 2011, the maize output stood at 11.7 million tons, and that of wheat at 7.1 million tons, Romania being the second and fifth largest producer of maize and wheat, respectively, in Europe. Last year, agriculture was an important engine of the economy, contributing 0.7 % to Romania's economic growth rate of 2.5% in 2011.
The State secretary with the Romanian Agriculture Ministry, Daniel Botanoiu gives us information on this year's wheat output and refers to the quality of crops : "We've registered a 25% drop in the wheat output, as compared to 2011. The maize crop was most affected, but in different degrees from 30 up to 100%. This is not only the case of Romania, just take a look at the countries which boast a developed agriculture, for instance the US. Look at Russia and the Ukrainewhich provide consistent subsidies to agriculture. This year, we registered the highest temperatures in the past 60 years; Romania registered temperatures above 33 degrees Celsius for more than 35 days in a row, which considerably impacts the development of plants. The Agriculture Ministry does not set prices nor does it intervene on the market. But I can say something else, that is we've obtained the best quality wheat in the past 25 years.

The good news for Romanian farmers comes from Brussels though. Romania will benefit, following a proposal forwarded by the European Commission, from increased budget allocations under the Common Agricultural Policy after 2014. The European Commissioner for agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, explains: "We are talking about 3 billion euros worth of funds for the 2014-2020 period that will go into direct payments in Romania".
Romania is one of the few member states that benefit from an increase in budget allocations under the Common Agricultural Policy and this is money that goes directly to farmers, money that can contribute to boosting farmers' welfare and to developing the Romanian rural areas, the European Commissioner also added.