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Paper presented at the 28th International Horticultural Congress, August 22-27, 2010, Lisboa, Spain
Prior to the time of the 1990s transition in Hungary from a socialist to a capitalist economy, the ECE (East-Central-European) countries produced a great proportion of the fruit, vegetables and wine grapes on large-scale farms. These products were delivered to the wholesale trade, to the processing industry or designated for export. Household farms produced for their own consumption or for local markets. Hungarian large farms also organized the production of small farms, and purchased and traded their products. Earlier, Hungary had been a major exporter of horticultural products. The country’s ecological conditions are good for both open-air and under-cover production. Hungary also has plenty of thermal-energy. Nowadays, horticultural exports from Hungary are still significant but their quantity is diminishing. After the transition, the vertical chain of production was broken. The wholesale trade did not buy up horticultural products from the numerous small farms. Many processing plants were destroyed. The Soviet market, which had been the major importer of horticultural products from the ECE countries, collapsed. As a consequence horticultural production decreased. The recent trend has been for farms to turn to more extensive cereal production encouraged by the EU’s agricultural support system. The domestic horticultural trade has also been damaged by the free import regime. The retail trade for food has become increasingly dominated by big retail trade chains. These require a steady flow of goods in large quantities and of a standard quality. The processing industries, which have been reorganized and are mainly in foreign hands, have the same demands. However, these stipulations cannot be met by individual farms. Farms have to cooperate in order to comply with these requirements. Such cooperation also receives subsidies from the EU. However, the current organization of cooperatives is proceeding slowly, at least in Hungary, where it needs more support and promotion from the national government.
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