0.8% of Romania's farms receive 38% of European agricultural subsidies
Romania is, alongside Slovakia, Czechia, Estonia and Latvia, among the EU countries where 20% of beneficiaries concentrate over 85% of direct payments.
The ROptimizaRE editorial team · 5 min read · updated 15 October 2026
In short
- In 2023 the largest 20% of holdings in Romania received 86% of direct payments, one of the highest concentrations in the EU[1]
- Farms of over 250 ha are only 0.8% of direct-payment beneficiaries, but hold 42.1% of the area and receive 37.9% of the subsidies[1]
- At the opposite end, farms of up to 5 ha are 72.1% of beneficiaries but receive only 12.0% of the subsidies[1]
- At EU level, the redistribution mechanism (CRISS) shifts 10.6% of direct payments each year, €4 billion, towards small and medium farms; the EU average means a payment 16% higher per hectare for small farms[2]
How subsidies are split by size class
Direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are granted essentially in proportion to the area farmed, which means that, structurally, large farms receive larger sums. The question the European Commission's official reports ask is not whether there is concentration, but how pronounced it is compared with other member states. For the 2023 financial year, data from the Directorate-General for Agriculture (DG AGRI) show the following distribution for Romania:
| Size class | % of beneficiaries | % of area | % of direct payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≤ 5 ha | 72.1% | 13.0% | 12.0% |
| 5–250 ha | 27.1% | 44.9% | 50.1% |
| > 250 ha | 0.8% | 42.1% | 37.9% |
The 0.8% of beneficiaries with holdings over 250 ha thus hold an area almost equal to that of medium farms (5–250 ha), although there are over 30 times fewer of them, and they receive almost three times more per hectare from direct payments than they would proportionally if the sum were split strictly by number of beneficiaries[1].
Romania, among the most concentrated distributions in the EU
For each member state, DG AGRI calculates the share of direct payments received by the largest 20% of holdings. At EU level these 20% concentrate on average 80% of payments. Romania sits above the average, alongside a group of Central and Eastern European countries with farm structures inherited from the centralised-economy period[1].
2023 · lower values = better
Romania: rank 5 of 7 (1 = the lowest value)
View the data as a table
| Country | Value |
|---|---|
| Slovakia | 91% |
| Czechia | 88% |
| Romania | 86% |
| EU average | 80% |
| Portugal | 80% |
| Netherlands | 52% |
| France | 50% |
| Luxembourg | 48% |
The EU redistribution mechanism exists, but its intensity is optional
The 2023–2027 Common Agricultural Policy includes a dedicated instrument: the complementary redistributive income support (CRISS), through which each member state reallocates part of direct payments from large farms to small and medium ones. At EU level this mechanism shifts 10.6% of direct payments each year, about 4 billion euros, 2.5 times more than the equivalent instrument allocated before 2023. The result: in almost all member states, small farms receive, per hectare, 16% more than the national average[2].
Sources
Primary official sources; where we use the press (only when the official document is not public) we mark it. The links lead to the original document or to the report cited (titles are translated; the documents themselves are in Romanian unless stated).
- [1]
European Commission — Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) — Direct payments to agricultural producers — graphs and figures, financial year 2023 (annual statistical report; the table “Beneficiaries, area and payments by size class” for Romania and the 2023 concentration chart)
Published 1 October 2024 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)
- [2]
European Commission — Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) — Common Agricultural Policy for 2023-2027 — 28 CAP Strategic Plans at a Glance (section “Advancing on economic sustainability and fairness of support”, on the CRISS redistribution mechanism)
Published 1 December 2022 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)
This is a translation of the Romanian article, which prevails. Source titles are translated for convenience; the documents themselves are in Romanian unless stated.