Breeders are bent on Carrefour meat – The Point

After milk, meat: the main union of breeders, FNB, succeeded Wednesday in getting agreement with Carrefour, which should lead to better remuneration for producers, after a series of actions organized in front of the shops ‘teaches. Under the slogan of “Carrefour thief” and the call of the Federation Nationale Bovine, supported by the first federation of farmers, the FNSEA, groups of dozens of farmers protested in front of supermarkets or the group, sometimes by “improving” the display of the prices of meat, found correspondents of Agence France-Presse in many areas.

after a three-hour meeting with representatives of Carrefour, whose CEO Georges Plassat, FNB said it had reached an agreement with the distributor, thus opening a “new era” for farmers. “The full applications of the ETF has been accepted by the Carrefour group,” told Agence France-Presse the president of the main union of cattle farmers, Jean-Pierre Fleury.

A historic victory

the brand is committed to introduce in all its stores shelves at least 50% of “core range”, ie meat from cattle raised specifically for meat and not cows “reform” too old dairy cows to give milk, explained Jean-Pierre Fleury. Carrefour also agreed to set the compensation of farmers based on their production costs. The price of meat, which is not disclosed, will be revised quarterly on the basis of these costs. “That’s history, it had never done so far with a sign,” commented Jean-Pierre Fleury, who hopes “application next week.”

Moreover, Carrefour will set up a “reverse traceability processes to ensure that the money will be injected down the well group from the producer. This will change the commercial relationship,” the president of the ETF. Finally, a specific logo will be designed to highlight the core range. For its part, Carrefour was satisfied with the agreement reached Wednesday. The standoff took place a week after stopping demonstrations against the dairy group Lactalis conducted by dairy farmers, who also finished by tearing a rise in the price of milk supplied to industrial giant.

other stores in the crosshairs

Carrefour is a major meat buyers in supermarkets in France. The actions carried out in several regions in France were under the sign of consumer awareness. Thus in Caen, fifteen farmers distributed leaflets, as in Lormont, near Bordeaux where leaflets appellaient including the establishment of “core range” But in Issoire (Puy-de-Dôme), they filed a cart of manure at the entrance to the mall with a banner “buy shit”.

in many cases, protesters encouraged customers to buy their meat at Système U, which s ‘pledged in May to upgrade the prices of beef and 1 euro per kilo for beef breeds (Charolais, Limousin, Blonde d’Aquitaine). “Carrefour would pay the same price as the Charolais suckler cows while it has nothing to do” in terms of quality, said the president of the FDSEA of Gold Coast, Fabrice Faivre, while a thirty farmers protested in front of the Carrefour Quétigny near Dijon.

4 euros a kilo minimum

“the right price would be 4 euros and the minimum kilo today ‘ hui, when all goes well, it buys us from 3.30 to 3.50 euro per kilo “has he said, adding that farmers were leading” the same struggle “that dairy farmers with Lactalis. “We can not cover our production costs (…) We believe that we are losing 300 euros a beast,” he told Agence France-Presse Laurent Courtois, beef federation Rhone.

the ETF hoped that the example of Carrefour will be followed by other large retail chains in France, it has threatened action otherwise. “I can not imagine that my phone does not ring tomorrow from those other brands. In the event that my phone does not ring tomorrow, we already know that the actions will restart teaches teaches,” warned Jean- Pierre Fleury, citing Intermarché, Leclerc, Auchan, Casino and Lidl.