Daniel Bouquillon, president of the FNPE, the federation of French endives producers, last month announced that the group was undergoing a name change, and would henceforth be known as the UEF, the union of French endives producers.
According to Bouquillon, the aim is to clarify the union's role, which is 'to group together producers of all stripes, and to open up dialogue'.
This process began during a meeting in April last year, at which all present agreed that the foremost goal was to win back consumers by making the product more attractive.
However, no actions were put in place for the 2011/12 season, except to increase producers' awareness about key periods of production.
The reason for this, according to Bouquillon, was that these groups 'no longer dare to speak about organising the market'.
'We are paralysed by the proceedings of the Competition Authority on price-fixing,' he said.
