Farming Operations

Our Approach
Industrial-scale farming taking interacting agronomic specifics into consideration. In general terms, farmland is scarce and field operations is the cost category, which can be leveraged most.

Fundamental Tenets

Cost leadership through economies of scale and location
Agricultural production in South and South-East Romania allows for cost leadership, based on a global comparison. Production cost for wheat as the global benchmark crop is approximately EUR 105/ton. Panamax vessels take 2.5 days from leaving Constanta port on the Black Sea to enter the Suez Canal. Romania’s close proximity to the Middle East as a major grain and oilseeds buying region is a significant competitive advantage.

Increasing the agronomic and economic performance
Advantageous production costs in South and East Romania coupled with irrigation, good winter characteristics of crops and crop insurance yield in an EBIT performance of EUR 600 EUR 700 per hectare across a number of locations. The average EBIT of farm operations in South Romania ranges typically between EUR 130 EUR 300 per hectare.

Sustainable maximization of profitability
Specific and phased development of farming businesses by implementing best-practice methods and expanding vertically across the value chain results in a considerable increase in profitability.

Our Basic Approach Factors in Farming

  • ISO Standards implementation
  • Soil * Climate * Leverage (irrigation) = Yield Potential
  • Continuous cultivation of available surface during the vegetation period, which is mid-February mid December in South Romania
  • Standardization of all processes, allowing for weather related flexibility
  • Data collection of weather information, soil temperature and humidity, river and sea temperature to create an individual 3-week forecast
  • 3-week forecast is processed in farm management model along with crop development status (fertilizer and crop protection), soil humidity (mechanical field works), crop maturity (harvest) and critical conditions (frost, drought) to create a continuous 21-day calendar for field operations
  • Optimization of machinery utilization based on 21-day calendar
  • 2-shift model for farm workers and machinery operators, partially 24/7
  • Optimization of crop mix taking climate, markets, field operation and storage costs into account.
  • Short term market changes are not influencing the crop mix, but are managed with typical commercial and financial trading tools
  • Irrigated surfaces have a different crop mix compared to non-irrigated surfaces
  • Optimization of machinery utilization efficiency through field layout, crop mix, logistics, headland management and full utilization of working width by implementing GPS technology
  • Implementation of a Connected Farm ERP and precision agriculture information system
  • Establishment of buffer storages to allow for continuous machinery field operations
  • Efficient maintenance programs for field equipment and machinery, typically in between shifts, for combine fleets during dew times
  • Standardization of machinery fleet to create synergies, reserves and an optimized maintenance and parts program
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Precision farming
Cibus Farmland Club utilizes Precision Agriculture to ensure strong operational controls, productivity, and the sustainability of farm operations. Use of Precision Agriculture will improve operational controls, efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. Precision agriculture has revolutionized traditional farming practices. It relies on new technologies such as satellite imagery, information technology, and geospatial tools to optimize field-level management and returns on inputs while preserving resources.

Precision agriculture Benefits

  • Increased crop yields and productivity
  • Reduced costs of crop protection and inputs such as diesel, fertilizer, and water
  • Improved operational safety and farm security
  • Increased competitiveness through more efficient practices
  • Reduced environmental risks through energy efficiency and more sustainable use of inputs

In CEE, these technologies are hardly being used in farm operations.

Key Precision Agriculture components
Cibus Farmland Club deploys

  • Yield monitoring
  • Water management
  • RTK-GPS based autopilot systems
  • Flow and application control systems
  • Precision irrigation
  • Connected Farm Solutions