Whose Soil? Capital, Patrimony, and the European Land Question
No. 60, Jul.-Aug. 2026 In the summer of 2018, on the alluvial plain where the Danube splits to form the Great Brăila Island (Insula Mare a Brăilei), the operating rights to one of the largest farms in Europe changed hands. Agricost cultivated roughly 56,000 to 57,000 hectares there under a concession from the Romanian state running to 2032, and the Abu Dhabi–based agribusiness Al Dahra acquired the company in a deal the seller valued at roughly €200 million to €250 million. The soil itself stayed Romanian state property; Al Dahra acquired control of the company holding the concession, and with it the authority to decide what those hectares would produce and where the proceeds would go. More
