Abstract:

The consumption of fresh vegetables is going through an upward trend in Romania of 2018 and in times of economic and political turmoil - that this country is going through it seems to represent an opportunity for the small Romanian vegetable farmers, who are facing numerous challenges such as difficult access to funding, to state support, land division and lack of documentation of ownership over agricultural lands, increased taxation of labour force. The matter has been approached using a questionnaire based analysis aiming to underline the main consumer and in turn buyer expectations, which we thereafter analysed from the legal perspective of being included in a supply agreement concluded between retailers and small vegetable farmers, as contract farming is regarded as an integrated strategy supporting rural development, thus enabling small farmers to access the market.