Corn and wheat (predominantly of the winter varieties) occupied nearly two-thirds of all arable land in the 1980s and about 90 % of all grain lands. Corn, the staple of the peasant diet, was grown on 3.1 million hectares in 1987, while wheat was sown on 2.4 million hectares. Other valuable grains included barley ,oats ,rice , and rye . Among the major nongrain crops, the most widely grown in 1987 were hay , sunflowers, potatoes, soybeans, sugar beets , feed roots ,corn silage , and tobacco . Wine and table grapes were widely grown, but the best vineyards were in Moldavia. Romania had gained a reputation for fine wines as early as the nineteenth century, and consequently became one of the major producers of Europe.

Private farmers, who produced a large share of farm animal brought to market, operated under dire conditions. The state theoretically was obliged to offer fodder to the farm animal breeders it contracted to fatten animals. But fodder and proteinvaluable mixed feeds were not made available in the necessary quantities, particularly in the 1980s, when imports were drastically curtailed.