In Salonta in western Romania near the border with Hungary, Zoltan and Dana Dragan run a 260 hectare organic farm. The farm has a chequered history behind it. It was integrated into a collective farm until 1989 and has been farmed by the Dragan family since 1991. Zoltan Dragan studied agriculture and took over the business in 1997. Today the farm is a model farm and is often visited by students of agriculture.
Zoltan Dragan has been running the farm organically since 2001. At that time this was a more than unusual step in the region. „I wanted to reduce chemical substances in the soil, produce healthy food and finally secure a stable market for our crops and fruit,“ says Zoltan Dragan, who likes to courageously go ahead with new things in agriculture as well.
He has been using Multikraft technology since 2008 and a number of other companies have followed. Over the years the soil quality on his fields has improved considerably and the plants also thank the farmer for it. „The plants are noticeably more resistant to drought and enormous temperature fluctuations. Year after year I‘m getting better and better results and I‘m also trying to develop the Multikraft technology in our company.“ In 2013, he was able to achieve a 20 % higher yield with his farm than on conventionally cultivated fields.
It is a variety of cultures that the Dragan family cultivates: Winter wheat, spelt, rye, barley, maize, lucerne and sunflowers. The Multikraft system is consistently used for soil and leaf treatments. With very good results, as can also be seen from the sunflowers.

Robust sunflowers
Sunflowers are among the most important oil plants in organic farming. Your demands on the soil are relatively low, the time of sowing is important. Zoltan Dragan sowed 2018 at the beginning of May. Even before the sunflowers are sown, he applies an Multikraft system mixture to the fields: 30 litres of BB Soil to 300 litres of water per hectare.
The first leaf treatment takes place after sowing, when the plant has 6–8 leaves. The second leaf treatment is carried out when the tractor almost can‘t be driven any longer into the fields. Zoltan Dragan is pleased: „In addition to the soil treatment, the sunflower reacts very well to the leaf treatments and develops high resistance to pests. Since I‘ve been using the Multikraft system, there have been no more fungal infections. As a sweet plant, it especially attracts bees during flowering.“ And so it‘s good to work without chemistry.

Even ripening
Dry conditions are especially important during the ripening of sunflowers. Precipitation at this stage favours infection by fungi and can lead to buckling of baskets and stems.
„The Multikraft system leaf treatment promotes an even maturation process. In our area, the first growth phase is very important, where plants are strengthened and develop resistance to drought,“ says Zoltan Dragan, who cultivated around 26 hectares of sunflowers in 2018 and had a harvest of 56.42 tonnes, or 2.17 tonnes per hectare. Considering the weather conditions, he is very satisfied with this result. Farmers who cultivated sunflowers conventionally had on average lower yields.
Multikraft technology has been incorporated into the operations of all Zoltan Dragan cultures. For winter wheat, spelt, barley and rye, BB Soil is also applied, depending on the weather two to three times per crop. After the harvest, the straw compost is sprayed with BB Soil and worked into the arable soils. The Beneficial Microorganisms decompose the crop residues, prevent decay, convert the straw into valuable humus faster and thus improve the soil quality.

Healthy orchard
The same goes for apples, pears and plums. Bosc and Williams pears, the apple varieties Florin and Golden Deliciousand the plums Lepotika and Stanley are partly sold as raw materials, partly processed into delicious juices and schnapps on the farm.
In his 4.5-hectare orchard Zoltan Dragan sprays the orchards five times a year. The first treatment takes place before flowering and the last time the fruit trees are sprayed before ripening. At first trees are sprayed with a mixture of BB Foliar, Terrafert Foliar, MK 5, BB Multical, ZeoBas ultra-fine and whey powder. From the time of fruit formation only BB Foliar,
MK 5 and whey powder are sprayed on the trees. The fruit trees react very well to these treatments. Since I‘ve been working with the Multikraft system I don‘t have any serious problems in my orchard,“ says Zoltan Dragan with satisfaction.
This year he will again pursue his joy of trying out new things and expand the variety of crops in his business by growing beans and sweet peas.