Stories of Success: Victor Rombaut and the Road to Regenerative Agriculture
Victor Rombaut manages one of the most dynamically developing farms in Bulgaria – Agro Tsar Petrovo AD. Located in the northwesternmost point of the country – in the municipality of Kula – the company cultivates about 4000 hectares of land. In the 2024/2025 farming year, the ratio is 80% winter crops and 20% spring crops. Rombaut shares that their aim is to grow a diverse range of crops that bring greater added value to the region, with a focus on processing and exporting them to Western markets.
Last year the farm cultivated 4300 hectares, while this year it is 4000 hectares.
“Why did we reduce the area? Because we reduced the blocks. We cut down the block areas – says Victor Rombaut. Through the yield monitors on the combines we see where for 2–3 years in a row the yields are too low, or where we lose a lot of time with the sprayers – circling around poles and ditches. That’s why we started ‘cutting’ the blocks – to be more optimized, both in terms of machinery and yields.
What has happened in Bulgaria over the last 7–8 years is that we have been farming land that was never meant for grain crops. These lands burden our productive areas, because the costs are there – labor is accounted for on those hectares as well; time; machinery depreciation, etc.”
Nearly a decade ago, Victor began the transition toward regenerative agriculture. At that time, soils in the area had low pH (4.5–5), which prevented sustainable production. The solution came through a large-scale liming program – within two years, 35,000 tons of calcium carbonate were applied. This stabilized the topsoil and created conditions for minimal tillage:
“We managed to raise the pH in the top 3 cm layer. I’m not aiming at 50 cm, because the cost is too high. From there we started minimizing tillage,” explains Victor Rombaut.
Gradually, the introduction of regenerative practices – liming, minimal tillage, crop rotation with diverse crops – transformed the farm. Today it is 90% no-till: “I wouldn’t look back anymore, but I always leave the door open – to be able to till, even deep, if necessary.”
One of the key directions in the farm’s development is precision farming. CASE IH combines and the Field Ops platform provide a clear picture of the productivity of individual blocks. Based on the collected data, decisions are made to reduce low-yielding areas, as well as to introduce variable seeding rates.
The regenerative approach is directly linked to reducing pesticide use. Here, a major role is played by the Agrifac sprayer, equipped with cameras. The machine not only allows precise weed control, but also provides valuable data on weed pressure and crop uniformity:
“When we decided to buy the Agrifac with cameras almost two years ago, my calculation was that the price difference would pay off in three years just from reducing pesticide use. In reality, it paid off in a year and a half. And that’s without counting the extra yield harvested, for example from rapeseed, because in most cases we spray only the weeds – meaning we don’t ‘hit’ the rapeseed with herbicide.”
“When doing regenerative farming, we want to clean the topsoil from weeds – i.e., we can spray only with cameras. On stubble we’ve reached 15–20% weed density, which we can spray selectively – without affecting bare soil with herbicides. This way we save costs and reduce environmental damage.”
For the farm’s machinery, the manager of Agro Tsar Petrovo relies on his partnership with Titan Machinery.
“The story of how we started with Titan Machinery is quite interesting. When I called them 12 years ago on a Friday evening – one hour later a representative was already here, and that’s how our partnership began. And Case IH has a wide enough range, good enough tractors and combines, and a good enough system – for maintenance, flexibility, and adding extras – because we really love adding things.”
According to Victor Rombaut, the future of farming goes hand in hand with financial literacy, the right investments, and sustainable land use. At Agro Tsar Petrovo, efforts to consolidate land blocks are already paying off – in some areas concentration has reached 95%.
“We can invest in irrigation, drainage, and liming, because in the last 12 years I’ve spent half my time on barters and exchanging land titles. That way we achieved density in some blocks of up to 95% – and there we are ready to invest. But many colleagues don’t have this opportunity. Land relations are the main problem that must be solved in order to ensure production predictability.”
Victor Rombaut also sees the future of grain production in good decisions – working with the right companies, using the right machinery, carefully choosing which crops to grow and whether they can be processed in the region.
“In the Northwest region it’s even more important to focus on processing, so that we leave added value here and export finished products to the West. That’s the future of grain production in the Northwest!” says the manager of Agro Tsar Petrovo.
In conclusion, Victor Rombaut shares that the company already operates a facility for processing agricultural products, and within 3–4 years the plan is to expand the number of processing plants to four.
