World union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM) representatives were fortunate to meet with Lars Hoelgaard, the deputy director-general of the Directorate-General Agriculture and Rural Development in the European Commission (EC) last month. This opportunity arose as a follow-up to the WUWM 26th congress held in Copenhagen last October, where we accepted an invitation from commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel to further detail the role and importance of markets to European food distribution.

It was an interesting meeting and hopefully another step towards achieving greater recognition and increased collaboration with the EC for the market sector. Our discussions focused on three issues of importance - increasing European fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, pricing and competition, and Common Market Organisation reform.

As we noted to Hoelgaard, food wholesale markets and their traders obviously have a vested interest in ensuring the success of healthy eating programmes and increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. But we would propose a somewhat different approach than is usually seen today. To date, campaigns have tended to focus predominantly on the ‘health’ aspect, something not necessarily of interest to most teenagers. Wholesale markets instead propose a focus more aligned with ‘taste’ and ‘quality’ - after all, there is no point in trying to get kids to eat more fruit if the apples they bite into are soft and floury - in hands-on promotional campaigns aimed at educating younger people.

It was encouraging to hear in response that professional organisations alongside producer organisations may also be potential recipients of EC promotional funding, and, in line with that, a joint WUWM European member campaign proposal is now likely to be formulated and presented to the EC.

Regarding issues of price and competition, we noted to Hoelgaard that while the cost of food is increasing for consumers, the share of profits is often decreasing for producers and farmers. As EC studies show - and indeed, as was made clear in the very interesting European Parliament resolution (on January 13) on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and global food security - Europe remains a major food producer with more than enough land. The problem clearly resides in the fact that producers are not getting their fair percentage of the returns, this being due to higher level profits taken further along the retail supply chain. It is therefore essential that alternative outlets to the marketplace, such as wholesale markets, be not only maintained but also better encouraged.

During this meeting, WUWM noted questions on the proposed deletion of marketing standards for various fruit and vegetables. The effects of this new approach on marketed quantities and prices should be carefully monitored and measured.

Ongoing dialogue will hopefully continue with the Directorate-General Agriculture and Rural Development, the next step being an invitation for it to discuss issues of common concern by participating in our upcoming conference in Prague, in May.