Regional farm ministers press for equal protection of agribusinesses, regardless of size

The farm ministers of the Visegrad Group -- Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia -- together with their counterparts from Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania issued a joint declaration urging equal treatment for small as well as large agribusinesses in a draft directive of the European Commission at a meeting in Nitra, Slovakia, on Wednesday. The EC directive would prohibit buyers of farm products from making unilateral or retroactive changes to their contracts with suppliers, and from cancelling orders for perishables at the last minute, the press office of Hungary's farm ministry said.