Martor No. 21 / Year 2016

In Search of Eligibility: Common Agricultural Policy and the Reconfiguration of Hay Meadows Management in the Romanian Highlands

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Authors: Bogdan Iancu, Monica Stroe

About the authors:

Bogdan Iancu
Researcher, PhD., National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Romania.
E-mail: bogdan.iancu at politice dot ro

Monica Stroe
Lecturer, PhD., Department of Sociology, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration Bucharest, Romania.
E-mail: monica.stroe at politice dot ro

Pages: 129-144.

Keywords: agri-environmental subsidies, accountability, haymaking, local knowledge, surveillance.

Abstract:
In recent years, the centrality of haymaking in semi-subsistence highland farming in Romania has been witnessing a comeback, as EU agricultural subsidies meant to stimulate sustainable land management are an increasingly attractive source of income for marginal rural communities. However, semi-subsistence peasants in highland Romania are struggling to adjust to the system of agro-environmental subsidies promoted by the Common Agricultural Policy. The legitimacy and sustainability of certain traditional uses of land and natural resources are challenged by the hegemonic normative discourse of “ecosystem services” imposed through agro-environmental subsidies.

How to cite this article: Iancu, Bogdan and Monica Stroe. 2016. “In Search of Eligibility: Common Agricultural Policy and the Reconfiguration of Hay Meadows Management in the Romanian Highlands.” Martor 21: 129-144.