European fruit and vegetable producers must start to emulate their Asian counterparts in order to increase consumption, according to Frank Terhorst, head of business management for fruit and veg at Bayer CropScience.
Speaking exclusively to FPJ at seed specialist Bayer’s first-ever Vegetable Future Forum event, held in Monheim, Germany, last week, Terhorst said: “Fruit and vegetable consumption is in decline throughout Europe with only a one per cent growth rate across the board, while India and China are investing in fresh produce heavily with vegetable consumption growing at the same rate as meat.”
Bayer CropScience has targeted sales of around €3 billion from fresh produce seed sales by 2020, compared with €1.7bn in 2011, and Terhorst admits that Asia and Latin America are now “central” to those targets ahead of a European market where consumption is in decline.
Terhorst said he agreed with the points raised in an earlier presentation by Cyrille Filott, a senior agribusiness analyst at Netherlands-based agriculture financial group Rabobank, who said an over-focus among post-recession European consumers on discount and premium brands had left “no room for middle ground” in comparison to growing foreign markers, resulting in less consumption of fruit and vegetables.
Filott told delegates the best way for the fresh produce industry to manage a projected global population of nine billion people by 2050 would be to establish dedicated supply lines.
“We have entered a new and more complex trading environment driven by increasing demand, while on the supply side the sector is struggling to meet demand, so prices will become more volatile,” he suggested. “The solution, as far as we’re concerned, is to develop more dedicated supply chains.”
Bayer CropScience plans to invest €5bn to research and develop improved seed types between 2011 and 2016, and Dr Rüdiger Scheitza, Bayer’s head of strategy and business management, cited Bayer’s £270 million acquisition of pest management firm AgraQuest, back in August, as a positive example of utilising R&D.
“There is a growing market for vegetables and we see further growth due to increasing demand for healthier food; science can sustainably help to fill the gap for growers,” said Scheitza.
