“We know where our money goes”: near Lille, this producers’ supermarket appeals to customers

Lionel Gougelot / Photo credits: Nicolas TUCAT / AFP 10:52 a.m., January 30, 2024

How can we remunerate farmers correctly without burdening consumers? This is the equation that producer supermarkets are trying to answer. In the north, near Lille, the “Talents de fermes” supermarket promises to solve the equation, to the delight of farmers and customers.

Living from your work: this is one of the main demands of farmers who are mobilizing almost everywhere in France to denounce their low income and the administrative system. To find an acceptable salary, farmers must be able to sell their products at the right price. So, some no longer rely only on mass distribution and rely on direct sales.

This is the case of “Talents de fermes”, in Wambrechies, near Lille, a producers’ supermarket. In front of customers, entire shelves of local products. “All of this comes from the farm. Everything is produced every morning. The majority of our production is mainly yogurt,” explains Pascale Baron, who sells her products in this covered market and which allows her to obtain the fairest price for its production. A guarantee unlike what it sells to dairy manufacturers. 

>>READ ALSO -

 LIVE - Farmers' blockages: from Limoges, the convoy of farmers takes the road to Rungis

A virtuous model

“The objective is to maximize the value of the milk and to control the production cost and above all, the final sale price. And this is what allows, as a farmer, to be able to stay on the exploitation. Otherwise, I will be forced to go and work outside,” she insists at the microphone of Europe 1. 

And the grouping of 12 producers in this farm supermarket is a truly virtuous model, explains Lucie Scrignac, the supermarket director. “Mainly on fruits and vegetables, we have producers who are able to spend almost all of their production in stores only”, which allows them to have more comfortable income, she adds. 

“An honest price”

And this winning model for farmers also benefits customers. “We want to support local farmers rather than going to mass distribution. At least there, we know where our money is going,” confides a customer. 

“It is undoubtedly also more rewarding for them too, to have consumers who come directly to their home to help themselves, and at an honest price,” insists a couple. Consumers who, we are convinced here, partly hold the key to this agricultural crisis.