Paris: fruits and vegetables on direct sale to denounce the margins of supermarkets

Chloé Lagadou, edited by Gauthier Delomez with AFP 7:44 p.m., August 18, 2022

To denounce the margins of large retailers, farmers sold fruit and vegetables live to Parisians on Thursday at Place de la Bastille in Paris, an annual tradition of the Communist Party and the Modef agricultural union, while inflation will be on the menu of the political comeback.

At the foot of the July column, a banner hung on the barriers of the small market sums up the event: "Exploited peasants, racketeered consumers".

Similar sales took place on Thursday in several towns in Val-de-Marne and Hauts-de-Seine.

Farmers get most of the price paid by the consumer

The market gardeners, most of them from the South-West, offer melons here at three euros each, sell two kilos of peaches at seven euros, five kilos of potatoes at six euros: prices that are not particularly low, because the Rather, the main thing is that the farmers get the bulk of the price paid by the consumer.

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"The idea is to demonstrate that we can have a fair price for consumers and a profitable price for the farmer", explains Raymond Girardi, farmer in Lot-et-Garonne and vice-president of the agricultural union.

“We want to make Parisians aware of buying French and promote the short circuit” through direct sales from producer to consumers, he says.

"Unfair competition" against French producers

The Movement for the Defense of Family Farmers (Modef), close to the Communist Party, also points to "unfair competition" from low-priced imported fruits and vegetables faced by French producers.

While prices are rising on the shelves due to inflation, the annual Modef sale, a tradition interrupted for two years by the Covid, wants to "allow access to quality products at an affordable price", explains François Borot, PCF activist, co-organizer of the sale.

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Everyone here criticizes supermarkets for buying agricultural products at “the lowest possible prices to have significant margins”, as Pierre Thomas, cattle breeder from Allier and member of Modef, puts it.

Coming to do her shopping, Hélène Duval, a 71-year-old retiree, confirms "reasonable" prices.

She warned her sister Jeanne by telephone so that she too could discover the solidarity market.

"It's the best possible idea," exclaims Alain Mille, a 70-year-old retiree.

"We must avoid intermediaries and consume local so that we have a clean planet", he continues, before leaving the market, his cart full.