A 300-strong crowd of salad producers blockaded the entrance to the wholesale market at Chateaurenard in France for three consecutive mornings last week, in protest at poor returns.
The blockade by growers from Bouches-du-Rhône and Vaucluse aimed to convince traders to re-introduce a minimum return of €0.30 (£0.23) a head for lettuce and batavia. Growers from other areas, including the Loire Valley, Nantes, the south west and the Pyrenees-Orientales, also added their support to the strike movement.
Along with the blockade, growers stopped harvesting and persuaded truck drivers not to enter the market.
An emergency meeting called at the end of last week by the National Federation of Vegetable Producers (FNPL) between salad growers and the ministry of agriculture found a way out of the situation - salad supplies were back at the market on Monday, but price listings will not be available until later in the week.
But insiders have suggested raising the minimum return will not keep a short-term price drop at bay. Rémy Roux, co-president of salad interprofession Les Belles Salades de Provence, said: “Salad sales started on January 6, and since then lettuces and batavias have provided us with returns of €0.15-0.20, but they are being sold on to the customer at €0.80-1.20. Sales are rising, prices are falling, and it is time to turn the situation around.”
FNPL president Angélique Delahaye said: “Salad growers are sick and tired of this system, which does not work and is squeezing returns. It is true that retailers will have to adjust their prices accordingly, but behind that, all operators will have to reassess their responsibilities. I am prepared to work with the interprofessions to find new solutions and put a new ideology in place so that growers are paid correctly.”
