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Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is considered to be one of the oldest and most important fodder plants. Its current importance in improving soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen with the help of bacteria (Rhizobium meliloti), as well as a cover plant by sequestering carbon, its melliferous value and adaptation to different climate and soil conditions, confirm the importance of this plant in the organic farming system. As a result, in this context, the aim of this work is to highlight the cultivation of alfalfa in an organic farming system in the north-eastern area of Romania, in period 2019-2021, with particular reference to the evolution of the organic surfaces, the framework cultivation technology, as well as some variants of efficient utilization of production. Thus, the organic (certified I, II and organic) alfalfa has had an upward evolution in recent years, being cultivated on 14149,84 ha in 2017 and reaching 25612,86 ha in 2019. Also, in organic farm from North-east development region of Romania, the average production of alfalfa for dray hay was 4.8 t/ha and price of selling was 144,63 €/t, respectively, the average seeds production was 0.5 t/ha with 206,62 €/t.

The Romanian honey market is facing a problem related to traceability, especially when honey is produced in more than one country and its origin is indicated as a blend of EC and non-EC honeys. The increase of honey adulteration has consequences on both consumers and honey producers with considerable negative effects. The aim of the study was to identify the factors that influence honey purchasing behaviour and to evaluate consumers’ awareness related to honey adulteration in Romania among selected age segments. An online survey was conducted between 2020-2021 on a sample of 1,233 respondents. The questionnaire covered aspects related to purchasing behaviour and honey adulteration, complemented with socio-demographic questions. The data were evaluated using descriptive, non-parametric and multivariate statistics. The results showed that the most important factors considered during the purchasing process by Romanian honey consumers were health factor and country of origin followed by producer reputation and ecological aspect, while the least important were discounts, promotion and brand reputation. The older respondents are more aware of honey adulteration and know better that crystallisation is an indicator of quality. This study provides important information for policymakers and the whole beekeeping chain in Romania. Education in terms of honey authenticity and traceability will help consumers to choose local honey of high quality and to avoid adulterated products. This consumption and purchasing behaviour will discourage producers from honey counterfeiting.

Responding to and following the market signals and trends generated by consumer expectations and changing preferences related to agri-food industry are perceived as the main drivers in diversifying the rural economy in rural Transylvania, especially for the peripheral areas. Rural economy diversification in the villages less connected to the urban areas in Transylvania implies the change of business models, mainly of agricultural business models that prevail in the current economic landscape.The change of business models in rural Transylvania is supported by an incipient process of entrepreneurial discovery based on market dynamics, involvement of actors from the food chains and support of public authorities through national programs tailored to consumer preferences. &nbsp

This MAP Position Paper contains theresult of a six-step Delphi method (i.e. desk research and context analysis, interviews, interview analysis, MAP survey, survey analysis, validation of results) that theRomanian SHERPA MAP, called Rural Transylvania (made up from stakeholders in the field of science, policy and society), used to discuss what the desirable, probable and realistic future would be for their territory by investigating main current themes for rural areas in the MAP region, opportunities and potential challenges in the next 20 years, visions for rural territories by 2040 and perceived challenges in reaching the visions.

A significant amount of data and statistical information currently available indicates an ever-increasing appetite of European consumers for organic agri-food products. This particular phenomenon can be identified in Romania as well, albeit to a lower extent. In view of this, an analysis of Romanian consumers' perception of this particular category of produce, whether more succinct or extensive, is both necessary and useful in the shaping of a specific profile of this type of consumer. Consequently, in this study we discuss the interpretation of the data obtained by applying the 2016-2017 Ecological Agri-Food Products Questionnaire, which was developed within the Rural Development Research Platform Interdisciplinary Research Group and filled in by 1788 respondents, 723 of them residents of the North-East Development Region of Romania. The present research approach focuses on aspects of analysis based on demographic categories while aiming at observing the level of understanding of the term certified organic food-product, the main reason behind purchases, the criteria employed in recognizing organic agri-food products, the respondents' preference for certain purchase locations, customer familiarity with the logo specific to organic produce as well as the degree of confidence in organic food-products of the consumers in the North East Region of Development of Romania.

At present, gastronomy is becoming an increasingly stronger motivation and focus of interest in economics, especially in fields related to tourism. At the same time, gastronomic tourism represents one of the most important business opportunities, allowing direct contact between food sector producers and tourists. Moreover, food related tourism is a key factor of success for local food fests and food markets based in touristic destinations. Thus, food related tourism represents an important incentive for the development of short food supply chains, resulting in the cooperation between local producers and tourism operators. In satisfying the demand of tourists interested especially in gastronomical aspects, local economic operators, whether small food sector producers or accommodation unit owners, are compelled to cooperate and complement each other. The present study aims to discuss this particular economic mechanism specific to the Târgu Neamðt touristic area, by taking into consideration both its strengths (especially regional cultural, historical heritage and natural habitat) as well as its weaknesses, represented by the local producers' lack of access to an adequate market, which is a key factor in ensuring long term regional proper development opportunities. Our conclusion is that, at least one potential solution to achieving sustainable development in the Târgu Neamðt region, is to encourage the establishment of long lasting mutually beneficial partnerships between local food sector producers and tourism sector operators.

The development of agriculture in nowadays circumstances cannot be merely assessed from the perspective of agriculture as a main branch of national economy, but further from a social point of view which is highly significant as it represents the traditional small farm households which provide the basic necessaries for the rural population as well as the usability implication of over 55% from the agricultural area of the country. On the whole, by agricultural exploitation there is the general tendency of considering its commercial aspect only, perfectly justifiable in the case of agricultural exploitations with a legal, juridical character, but there is also to be regarded the social aspect of agricultural exploitation without a juridical status, which is largely representative for the small farm households. In the period of time between the 2 General Censuses (2002 and 2010) the agricultural exploitations without a legal, juridical status diminshed by 13.6%, while the agricultural area used diminshed by 3.3% only, leaving over 7.5 million agricultural area as responsability for these exploitations.

High-performance agriculture cannot be done in the absence of modern agricultural holdings, altogether holdings with a legal entity based on private property lands or those on lease, conceded or rented, which meet the agrotechnical request fit for each holding type. In this regard, the General Agricultural Censuses from 2002 and 2010 reveal a series of information that outline the manner in which the agricultural holdings with legal entity engage themselves in using the agricultural lands in Romania. Thus we notice holding groups distributed on size categories and how their holding structure is influenced by the usage category of the lands utilized and also by the geographical particularity of the region. Additionally, there is an improvement regarding the qualitative developments made in order to change the medium size of the agricultural holding with legal entity. The study identifies the current and perspective trends concerning the changes of agricultural holding (with legal entity) structure as effect of the direct relation between the agricultural holdings without legal entity and those with legal entity when using the agricultural lands in Romania.

Learning is considered an important component for resilience building in socio-ecological systems, not least because resilience is about dealing with, adapting to and responding to change. Thus, knowledge constantly needs revision and approaches to management require adapting to changing circumstances. This deliverable examines the role that learning plays across the resilience capacities. Through 11 farming system case studies across Europe, this work aims at identifying farmer attributes that enable or constrain learning, understanding the networks of influencers on farmer decision-making, identifying the external factors that enable or constrain learning and at assessing European farmers’ learning capacity in the context of the resilience capacities of robustness, adaptability and transformability.

Learning is considered an important component for resilience building in socio-ecological systems, not least because resilience is about dealing with, adapting to and responding to change. Thus, knowledge constantly needs revision and approaches to management require adapting to changing circumstances. This deliverable examines the role that learning plays across the resilience capacities. Through 11 farming system case studies across Europe, this work aims at identifying farmer attributes that enable or constrain learning, understanding the networks of influencers on farmer decision-making, identifying the external factors that enable or constrain learning and at assessing European farmers’ learning capacity in the context of the resilience capacities of robustness, adaptability and transformability., EU; en; contact: jurquhart1@glos.ac.uk

Farm demographic change at the farming system level is the result of individual farm demographic change processes made by individual farmers. This work invests intergenerational renewal in individual farms through focusing on unravelling complex relations between human behaviour/decisionmaking and observed trends. Indepth interviews performed in all 11 case-studies entailed the identification of drivers that affect the main farm-demographic change processes such as exit, entry, non-exit and non-entry. Then, a cross-case comparison was made to identify common themes affecting or related to farm demographic change., EU, en; contact: isabeau.coopmans@ilvo.vlaanderen.be

Farm demographic change at the farming system level is the result of individual farm demographic change processes made by individual farmers. This work invests intergenerational renewal in individual farms through focusing on unravelling complex relations between human behaviour/decisionmaking and observed trends. Indepth interviews performed in all 11 case-studies entailed the identification of drivers that affect the main farm-demographic change processes such as exit, entry, non-exit and non-entry. Then, a cross-case comparison was made to identify common themes affecting or related to farm demographic change.

This study interdisciplinary approaches contemporary ethical issues at spiritual, sociological, ecological level in Romanian rural areas and agriculture. It reveals the importance of spiritual activity, which was in the centre of concernings in the traditional Romanian village. Introduces the theme of objective spiritual knowledge, with his stages of: purification, enlightenment and theosis. Shortly describes vision of eastern orthodox spirituality towards creation and serving way after saints model which is different from an exploitation and even a stewardship attitude to natural environment. On the basis of an holistic ethic and christian morality, it follows the presentation of several problems regarding the subjects like: agriculture secularization and traditions disruption, loosing the food sovereignty, neglecting the biodiversity value and seeds from the national patrimony, using the synthetic chemical compounds in agriculture, modern breeding, genetically modified organisms and agriculture certification. The purpose of the work is not to give the final sentence, it is a dialogue invitation for those who want to find solutions for revival the Romanian authentic rural life of the villages. In the final section there are exposed a series of individual and comunitary impulses that regards: efforts for regaining an authentic spiritual life, diversifying the agricultural systems, rebounding a strong link between academic environment and persons from rural areas, grafting the organic agriculture on the basis of specifical Romanian spirituality, drafting a long-term strategy to ensure the food sovereignty., Victor PETCU, Gabriel POPESCU, Petruța-Simona SIMION, "Spiritualitate și agronomie. Probleme etice contemporane din spațiul rural și agricultura românească", în: Provocări rurale contemporane: Studii de agro-economie și antropologie rurală, I. S. Brumă, S. Bulei (eds.), Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj-Napoca, 2022, pp. 196-210 ISBN: 978-606-37-1467-2 http://www.editura.ubbcluj.ro/bd/ebooks/pdf/3488.pdf