Fruit producers in France are considering introducing a new brand that vaunts the merits of buying locally, according to the country’s national federation of fruit producers (FNPF).
The idea is to provide producers with a tool allowing them to emphasise the other intrinsic values of their products, in addition to quality. These values include the environmental impact of the product, the return made by the producer and the social aspect.
A study by the FNPF discovered that consumers were mainly concerned with a fruit’s seasonality and the proximity of production.
“We are currently in the process of drawing up a charter that includes every link in the chain,” Emmanuel Demange, director of the FNPF, told French daily Les Marchés. “The central point will be proximity. At the moment, we have a choice between organic and conventional. We have decided to offer another choice.”
The label will reportedly be tested on a stonefruit during the summer and a seeded fruit in the autumn, with an eye to an eventual launch in 2010.
