The University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) of Cluj is the best rated university with an agronomic profile in Romania, according to international metarankings. Metaphorically, the Cluj university is playing in the European Champions League. The University of Cluj has six faculties and three lines of study: Romanian, French and English. Its study programmes attract many foreign students, mainly from the West, from countries such as France, Germany and Italy. It also has an elite group of scientific researchers who are among the highest-ranked specialists in the European Union, some of whom publish scientific articles in prestigious journals such as Nature.
But beyond the academic, multicultural and scientific dimensions, the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine has a strong entrepreneurial dimension. The University of Cluj has its own farms, which have been certified for organic farming. Teachers and students also work in small factories where raw materials from the university’s farms are processed into high-quality food.
The management of the University of Cluj is also involved in the community through Romania’s most efficient emergency veterinary hospital. Within it, the Equine Clinic, founded by Iancu Morar, is the most sought-after east of Vienna. Equine Clinic will become a full-fledged university hospital as the former noble hunting manor in Jucu commune is restored and transformed into a research centre for scientific research in areas such as human-animal interaction.
One of the most important initiatives was the purchase of a 50-hectare vineyard in the Apoldu area of Sibiu county. Southern Transylvania is renowned for the high quality of the white wines it produces, and specialists from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine want to help save this tradition. Moreover, they are helping to save some old Romanian grape varieties. “The Apoldia Maior estate is the only place where the grape variety called Iordana is still grown on an area of about three hectares. This variety produces a white wine with high acidity, very good for sparkling wine production”, says the rector of the University of Cluj, professor Cornel Cătoi, who emphasised the entrepreneurial dimension of the prestigious Cluj higher education institution.
In the direction taken by rector Cornel Cătoi, the dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Roxana Vidican, has founded a programme through which Romanian farmers can benefit from free advice offered by specialists from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine. New areas of research have also been developed, such as the bioeconomy and the circular economy.
Professor Adrian Oros, Senator of Romania, pro-rector of the University of Cluj and former Minister of Agriculture, has initiated a new project that has the potential to become one of the main economic and academic events for agriculture and the food industry in Romania. It is Transilvania Food Summit. The first edition of Transilvania Food Summit took place in autumn 2021. A second edition took place in November 2022, a third one în October 2023 and brought together specialists, academics, farmers, representatives of Romanian associations, as well as international experts with careers in institutions such as the European Commission, the World Bank or INRAE.
The theme of the summit covered the specificities, priorities and opportunities of Transylvanian agriculture and rural development.
*Local products, development of local markets and the importance of short food chains.
*The role of Local Action Groups (LAGs) in rural development.
*The role of partnerships and cooperatives in strengthening and facilitating the market presence of small producers and processors.
*Research, innovation and precision agriculture.
*Prospects for organic farming in Romania and Europe.
*European Ecological Pact. Biodiversity Strategy and Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy.
*Promotion of Romanian agri-food products. European quality schemes (PGI, PDO, TSG) and national quality schemes. Romanian food presence in HoReCa and retail chains.
*A special section was dedicated to the mountain bioeconomy.
“This event highlights the traditions and specifics of the Transylvanian agrarian economy. It is not by chance that major international publications have compared Transylvania to Tuscany in this respect. We have a huge potential, which we want and know how to exploit. The Transylvania Food Summit is not just about food. It is about the culture that generates a certain lifestyle and a certain type of relationship with nature, it is about the multicultural historical heritage of a region where Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, Armenians, Jews, Roma and many others live together, it is about a remarkable biodiversity that is worth preserving. At the Transylvania Food Summit we are highlighting aspects specific to our region, such as the family farm. In my opinion, the family farm is the guarantor of the existence of rural life and the Romanian village, the guarantor of the preservation of cultural traditions. It is not by chance that Pope Francis supports the development of family farms, able to offer farmers the opportunity to live with dignity and to offer healthy food to those around them, respecting Nature as God’s creation. This concept is also promoted by the United Nations because family farms are a balanced economic solution. The concept is also promoted by Her Majesty Margaret of Romania and the Royal Family and was also promoted during my term as Minister of Agriculture,” says professor Adrian Oros.
The university’s actions are in line with his statements. In recent years, Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, as well as high prelates such as Catholic Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, former President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, now Prior of the International Academy of Saint Mauritius, have become Honorary Doctors of the University of Cluj.
Transilvania Food Summit takes this concept further. The organisers bring together producers, processors, distributors, chain store owners, buyers, as well as representatives of academia, authorities and international institutions to promote the best models for Transylvania’s agriculture.
“The last few years, with the challenges brought by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have shown how important it is to have a model of rural development appropriate to our region. This model, based on the family farm as well as local storage and processing capacities, favours the production of high added value in growing communities. We also want to consume high quality food locally. So everyone benefits, including financially. Building a farm-to-fork chain also helps reduce our carbon footprint, because we don’t have to consume huge amounts of fossil fuel to transport food,” says professor Adrian Oros.
