Fruit at the market is four times more expensive than in the Valencian countryside: "We can't do this."
If you've already bought the first peaches of the season, you know the price is around five euros per kilo, give or take a cent. There are cheaper ones, perhaps a little under five euros, but in any case, the retail price is far from what farmers receive. This is what the main Valencian agricultural associations denounce, lamenting that the price of summer fruit on supermarket shelves is quadrupling what they receive for their produce.
The Valencian Farmers Association (AVA-Asaja) explains that farmers earn around one euro per kilo, but more than 70 cents are production costs. All this in a season with lower summer fruit production, due to the impact of drought on many plantations, but also due to the hailstorm in some towns in the Ribera Alta region, which, according to their calculations, is causing losses of up to 40 million euros in inland areas of Valencia province. AVA-Asaja is also raising red alerts for green potato fields in Valencian orchards because, they warn, prices offered to producers have plummeted by half in recent weeks, to the point where they are below production costs and, therefore, are incurring losses.
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For their part, La Unió Llauradora i Ramadera has analyzed prices and, while awaiting this campaign's prices, they note that last year the average price received by producers was €0.70 per kilo, while in supermarkets and hypermarkets it averaged €3.50. Based on this data, they predict that field prices will be "slightly higher" this season, and in the case of nectarines, they expect them to reach €1 per kilo; on retail shelves, they already find this fruit at €5.40 per kilo.
Toni Cardona, head of summer fruit at La Unió Llauradora, describes this campaign as "peculiar": the disastrous effects of the drought, the need for water the countryside had after a long drought that has now been overcome, the continued abandonment of land to which it is subjected... "We take care of it like a child, but when it goes to market and you see what happens to the prices...", trails off this farmer, who not only laments the large margin taken by the marketing of agricultural production, but also the condemnation he sees the sector has been mired in for some time. "Every year more fields are abandoned. Agriculture functions based on the enthusiasm and desire of the farmer, on their professionalism, but not on profitability. We can't do this, when this has been the land that produces the best fruit ever made and with which we have triumphed in Europe," Cardona insists.
“Agriculture works on the farmer's dreams, not on profitability,” laments Toni Cardona, of La Unió LlauradoraThe association adds to its poor earnings the decline in consumption and proposes to reverse the trend by activating fruit promotion campaigns, both from the government and the Generalitat Valenciana. "Luckily, there are still merchants, like the Pakistanis, who are committed to opening fruit and vegetable stores, because these are disappearing. People don't stroll through the market to see the peaches, touch them, or smell them, but rather buy from their sofas, on impulse, and that's hurting us," Cardona explains.
Meanwhile, AVA-Asaja accuses the agents between producers and consumers of "abusing their profits" and calls for oversight of distribution, especially of large distributors that reach a larger number of consumers.
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