Common Agricultural Policy Effects on the Romanian Farms

The paper presents the changes that have been produced in the farm structure and productive orientation in Romania in the 10 years of EU membership. The direct payments per hectare (SAPS) have led to increased farm incomes, but also to the excessive polarization of the agrarian structure through the emergence of very large-sized farms, together with the decrease of areas operated by small and medium-sized farms. At the same time, crop production became prevalent in the farm production structure, under the background of extensive increase of areas under cereals and oil crops. The conclusions of the paper can be considered as arguments for the design of proposals to change farm subsidizing modality, in the sense of support to production diversification, by including certain payment schemes for the products with high value added and for animal products.