Summary: An increasing variety of stresses and shocks provides challenges and opportunities for EU farming systems. This article presents findings of a participatory assessment on the sustainability and resilience of eleven EU farming systems, to inform the design of adequate and relevant strategies and policies. According to stakeholders that participated in workshops, the main functions of farming systems are related to food production, economic viability and maintenance of natural resources. Performance of farming systems assessed with regard to these and five other functions was perceived to be moderate. Past strategies were often geared towards making the system more profitable, and to a lesser extent towards coupling production with local and natural resources, social self‐organisation, enhancing functional diversity, and facilitating infrastructure for innovation. Overall, the resilience of the studied farming systems was perceived as low to moderate, with robustness and adaptability often dominant over transformability. To allow for transformability, being reasonably profitable and having access to infrastructure for innovation were viewed as essential. To improve sustainability and resilience of EU farming systems, responses to short‐term processes should better consider long‐term processes. Technological innovation is required, but it should be accompanied with structural, social, agro‐ecological and institutional changes.

Romania’s accession to the EU meant a significant increase in the country’s agrifood trade, both with the EU member states and with the extra-EU partners. The objective of this paper is to examine the changes in the value, directions and competitiveness of Romanian agrifood trade in the last 25 years, with special focus on the post-accession period. The paper is examining the changes in the competitiveness of the Romanian intra- and extra-EU agrifood trade, for the 24 groups of agrifood products defined under the HS (Harmonized System – HS 01-24), aggregated at 2-digit level, using Gehlhar and Pick classification in price and non-price competition. The country’s position among the other EU member countries in terms of values, quantities and directions of the trade flows was examined, as well. JEL codes: Q17, F14.