The 220,000 hectares account for 80% of total rented by the institution subordinated to the Agriculture Ministry.
The companies that leased farming land from the agency paid 575 lei (EUR130) per hectare last year, half the free market price. Industrial farms with more than 1,000 hectares leased from the agency pay less than 10% of their yearly revenue to it, considering such a farm usually harvests 6 tons of wheat per hectare on average, which means RON6,000 per hectare in revenue in 2012. This is half the rent paid on the free market in Romania or five times lower than in Austria. Moreover, these companies are using the land almost for free considering they received EUR130/hectare in EU subsidies last year in their position as tenants. This means the money from Brussels was enough to pay the rent to the State Property Agency. “Rent on the free market has reached 1,000 to 1,200 kilos of wheat/hectare/year (one third of the crop or RON900 to RON1,000 hectare i.e.) in many fertile areas of the country such as Ialomita and Calarasi,” says Gabriel Popescu, Ph.D, a professor with the Faculty of Agrifood and Environmental Economics of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. “Rent in other European countries is one third or even half of the harvest. The land was given almost for free and farmers are making lots of money. They are the real smart guys in the farming business,” Popescu said, alluding to the smart guys in the electricity business who had signed bilateral contracts with the cheapest power producer of Romania, Hidroelectrica, bypassing the electricity exchange. The poor management of the land the State Property Agency has shows in its revenue from renting it out. With a total of 260,000 hectares rented to companies, the agency only collected RON140 million last year, up 40% on 2011. The rent farmers pay to work government-owned land is much lower than the rent on the free market and in other countries. Rent per hectare may reach as much as EUR1,000 in Austria (4 tons/hectare) and a report of the University of Illinois last year showed US tenant farmers paid almost 60% of their revenue to landlords. (EUR1=RON4.4078) Top ten farmers renting land from State Property Agency| Rank | Company | Hectares of land rented | Period | Rent (kilos of wheat/ha/year) |
| 1 | Agricost (Culita Tarata/Constantin Dulute) | 57,700 | 20 years | 610 |
| 2 | Maria Group (Jihad El Khalil) | 20,827 | 49 years | 400-600 |
| 3 | A&S International Group (Sorin Stanescu) | 15,603 | 49 years | 380-430 |
| 4 | InterAgro Group (Ioan Niculae) | 15,055 | 49 years | 500-600 |
| 5 | Valvis Group (Jean Valvis) | 8,610 | 49 years | 430 |
| 6 | Agricom (Doru Ioan Taracila) | 6,054 | 49 years | 380 |
| 7 | Agronova (Vargas 10 SL – Spain) | 5,680 | 49 years | 380 |
| 8 | Bardeau Group (Bardeau family – Austria) | 5,593 | 49 years | 300-500 |
| 9 | Agrofam Holding (Stefan Poienaru) | 4,408 | 49 years | 360 |
| 10 | Cerealcom Dolj Group (Mihai Anghel) | 3,040 | 49 years | 500-600 |