Contractual practices and intra-organizational dimensions : the "agricultural societies" in Romania[Dimension organisationnelle et pratiques contractuelles foncières : les sociétés agricoles en Roumanie]

The reforms implemented in the Romanian agricultural sector after the collapse of the Ceausescu's regime have led to a massive decollectivization. However, some production associations, named agricultural societies, have remained, on the basis of the former cooperatives of production. On the one hand, the literature about farm restructuring in transition countries has analyzed the evolution of farm organizations with respect to the relative profitability of so-called collective production units and individual farms. On the other hand, the few studies dealing with land tenancy in these contexts do not take into account the specific land tenancy relationships within production associations. This paper aims at (i) characterizing the land organization at the basis of production associations in the Romanian context, and (ii) underlining its consequences for both agricultural societies and their members' land contractual practices. Our analysis is based on a field work conducted in Sebeş, in Transylvania. We show that agricultural societies rest on an "intra-organizational" allocation of land between a direct farming-type system and a tenancy-type system. We also point out the impact of the organizational dimension on the "intra-organizational" land allocation and on the participation of agricultural societies to the tenancy market.