As part of its fight to improve the French economy, the government last month published a list of the lucky few projects that have been designated 'competitive areas'.

What does this mean? You might well ask. We all know that, most of the time, state money is distributed here, there and everywhere to a variety of crucial, very important, or less than useless projects. Of course this often involves the waste of good, solid euros. So, the government now intends to concentrate public money in specific areas and locations known for their historical involvement in a specific topic. The idea is to create areas in which innovation and product development are the motto and think-tanks, factories and warehouses can settle into a thriving economical environment.

What has this got to do with fresh produce? Well, in fact two projects dedicated to our products have been selected among the 55 'winners'.

The first one is located in the Avignon area, one of the major fruit producing regions of France. The cunning thing is that the project also involved the south-west, Provence and the Rhône-Alps regions, thus including the vast majority of people that matter in French fruit production. Focused on innovation, this “competitive area” will combine all existing strengths: laboratories, schools, companies, professional bodies etc.

The second project is in Perpignan and focuses on the famous Mediterranean diet, which of course includes large volumes of fruit and vegetables.

Next question. What this got to do with wholesaling? I'll tell you. Already the French wholesalers’ union is looking to establish contact with the two projects. Innovation is one of the watchwords for the industry and whatever products these projects throw up, the wholesale sector has the know-how for marketing them. The other interesting element is training. Avignon has a famous specialised school, and to develop tuition programmes with the school could offer wholesalers opportunities to maintain and develop their own activities.