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Monday, January 18, 2021
“Difficulties are there to be overcome.” Christian Rothe calmly accepts that there is unrest on the Bavaria Farming farm in Tartlau / Prejmer. The rent is paid out. Owners of small and large arable land can choose whether they want to be paid in kind, i.e. with wheat, or in cash. Although one tries to call the landlords individually and in stages, several have gathered at the same time in front of the gates. “Do you have space in the car for all the sacks?” And “Do you want this or that payment?” An elderly woman is asked who has to be helped out of the car. A guard acts grimly and only lets people into the yard one by one. Because I have an appointment to talk to the boss, he lets me pass, not without grinning at my fear of the beautiful black dog running around freely.
Yes, there are around 800 lessors in several villages in Burzenland who have left their arable land to Christian Rothe and his partner, around 1500 hectares. Do you learn to deal with so many people, or was it born in the cradle? He has learned it, replies Mr Rothe and says that before he started his own business in Burzenland in 2013, he worked in the Banat and before that in the Ukraine for three years. “You learn something new every day, over and over again!” This includes being able to turn a blind eye from time to time. His eight hundred landlords, from the widow with 0.15 hectares to the large landowner, are all people with a destiny. He is familiar with the Eastern way of life and does not scold about it, as one might almost expect. To his German colleagues, who rave about the fact that things are so different in Eastern Europe, he replies, “You can go back if you want. After all, you’re here voluntarily! ”
It was love at first sight, says Christian Rothe about the new beginning in Burzenland. This landscape, surrounded by high mountains, these old villages, these testimonies to centuries of history! The quiet farmer from Ansbach in Franconia goes into raptures. This is his home now, he says. Although the soil is not the very best here in Tartlau, there are many stony areas, but otherwise the Burzenland is a fertile and good area. When it turned out in August 2013 that a carpentry shop with a huge hall on the edge of the village went bankrupt, he and a partner seized the opportunity, bought the property and got started.
At the beginning he felt the joy and expectation of the people. Shepherds, who had no business there, had been grazing in the fields for years without any contract. So much ground lay fallow in Tartlau! The largest tractor is now far and wide on his farm, and he occasionally comes across one on the village streets. Bavaria Farming cultivates the soil with modern agricultural machinery. After all, you have to be efficient. The small team, with the four guards there are a total of 18 people, works efficiently. Mr. Rothe speaks with warmth in his voice about the boys who have a room with a kitchen and a shower available for their lunch break. There is no eight-hour day here, the rhythm depends on the agricultural year. “Zi lumină” has always been the name of the village, the day lasts as long as the sunlight shines. Cultivation, care, harvest, everything depends on the season. In the “campanie”, when there is a lot to do, work has priority. There is a long winter break for this. Work is suspended from mid-December to the end of January, everyone stays at home and the boss goes to Ansbach with his family. Good people are hard to find, Christian Rothe knows that too. Every two years he takes his boys to Hanover, the world’s largest trade fair for agricultural machinery. Joint barbecues and small celebrations ensure a good working atmosphere. He proudly says that there is hardly any change in the workforce, and that there is seldom a layoff.
The family is his whole pride, his support and firm anchor, especially in times when every day can bring unexpected difficulties. Wife Mirabela, whom he met in the Banat, works with. She has created a computer program that enables the complicated payment of all landlords. At the age of four, his son Johann has often sat on the tractor. He is growing up bilingual and recently, it was hard to believe, helped his father translate because he knew a word that his father was not familiar with! Father Rothe would like best if the Filius could also learn Hungarian, for example from the childminder. There are not a few examples of this impressive trilingualism here in Burzenland!
Visits from friends and family members were not entirely absent, even in times of pandemic. He is a welcome member of the German Business Club. He is well connected to the farmers from Germany who work in Romania. You exchange ideas, you consult. Especially now, when the laws on land acquisition are changing, he also needs competent legal advice. In his calm manner, Christian Rothe is calm about this. There was no question of expropriation, as some nervously claimed. Property remains property. One will see. “Difficulties are there to be overcome.” He keeps a friendly distance from the village community – he initially imagined it differently. The initial birthday invitations from the mayor have also come to an end. That is different from the correct Germany! Rothe shows a small smile.
Christian Rothe explains the Bavaria Farming logo: a Thanksgiving basket from which beets, corn and wheat gush abundantly. Bavaria Farming does not breed cattle. To the left of the basket greets the white-blue Bavarian diamond pattern, to the right the Romanian flag red-yellow-blue.
Corona has little impact on his everyday life. Rapeseed, tied to diesel prices, was not a success, but wheat was booming. The beets, especially those on stony ground, he noticed during our visit last September, could use a bit of rain. Two days later it poured from the sky for twenty-four hours. The year 2020 has also brought a lot of good!
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