The Status of Small Farming and Village Development in Kalotaszentkirály

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
In the Transylvanian villages, state farms and collective farms were disbanded after the fall of Ceausescu. Village lands were returned to their original owners. As recently as 2004, small farming appeared to be viable, but villagers were worried that the rules of the European Union would complicate their lives and be harmful to their prospects. Would Transylvanians, by heavy investment of labor and low investment of other inputs, be able to grow locally, market locally and eat locally?
On the example of Kalotaszentkirály in the Hungarian folk cultural region called Kalotaszeg, the answer appears to be ‘no’. The European Union’s rules for the dairy industry do not allow for the collecting of the milk from individual households at a central point. Nor can the meat from livestock be marketed. Slaughter facilities have closed down. Nor can animals be sold freely from one farmer to another. Small farming has collapsed. In May 2010, I shall visit the village once more to investigate how local people are adjusting to the new economic realities.



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