Local fruit-produce market has its say on hypermarket tactics Special

The city of Lyon France is surrounded by rural areas and small producers that offer a wide range of fruit and vegetables on the markets of Lyon. In the wake of recent national protests by fruit producers against big business tactics, they have their say.

Peaches and pears, strawberries and salad, apples and oranges, mangos and mandarin oranges, you can buy them all on the markets of Lyon, but only when they are in season. Markets here, as in big cities all over the world, rely on fresh produce to satisfy the demands of those who prefer not to buy fruit and vegetables in big supermarkets. French consumers and producers are faced with a dilemma which is forcing them to choose quantity over quality, and this has led to demonstrations in France by the producers against the prices and profit margin tactics that have been imposed by the supermarket chains. Producers consider that they are obliged to sell at a loss and that the French government and the European Union are not doing enough to help their cause. Their protest tactics have included blocking border deliveries of foreign produce, shutting down supermarkets with tons of fruit dumped at the entries to their car parks and doors by tipper-trucks, and selling their own produce even cheaper than the blocked supermarket concerned, as reported by Digital Journal. But what do small producers on local markets think of it all? Do they agree with the protests? The Saturday morning market down on the banks of Lyon’s River Saône sees thousands of people doing their weekly fruit and vegetable shopping, and Jasseron is one of those small, local fruit producers who has been serving them for many years. His long-term experiences give him an overall perspective and I spoke to him at the end of his day's work.

Michael Cosgrove

Jasseron, Market trader, Lyon, France

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He sees the problem from the point of view of the consumer to begin with. “People nowadays prefer to put their money into a car or their holidays. They consider their food budget to be an expense like the rent. So they reduce it as much as they can.” On the subject of the problems facing the industry however he answers “In Spain and other countries the cost of manual labour is much cheaper than in France, so we just can’t compete. I am all for the protests, although what can you do? It’s the government, and people just don't care about quality any more.” Chafik, who has also been on the market for a long while, has an open and frank personality so he has no problem speaking his mind.

Michael Cosgrove

Chafik, Market trader, Lyon, France

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“Don’t talk to me about things that get me angry” he jokes, before going on to say that in his opinion, although bigger producers, who he thinks are behind the demonstrations, have been suffering, they have also been getting far too much public money which has kept prices higher than they could have been even on the markets because it has helped them to compete with the demands of supermarket chains. The same theme is taken up by Françoise Rodrigues on the stand next door. She thinks that price caps and subsidy quotas should be adjusted.

Michael Cosgrove

Françoise Rodrigues, Market trader, Lyon, France

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“Whatever they do though, the big guys will always eat up the smaller ones. Watching reports on TV about all that fruit being thrown onto the ground is a real shame. I can see the good side and the bad side of their action, but at the end of the day, what can we do?” France, like many other countries, is seeing major changes in the way fruit, vegetables and other agricultural products are being produced and marketed. Meetings have been scheduled between the producers and the French government, which is trying to stave off European Union pressure for subsidy reductions to farmers, and that means that the near future of this sector of the French economy and lifestyle remains to be defined.