After large-scale distribution, it is the turn of traders to engage with French farmers and producers.
This Wednesday, December 16, Julien Denormandie, Minister of Agriculture, and Alain Griset, Minister responsible for SMEs, signed a charter with the federations of local shops for the promotion of local and fresh food products, as well as the promotion the know-how of craftsmen.
In all, 17 national confederations of branches, represented by the General Confederation of Food in Retail (CGAD), are involved.
This charter is presented as a list of suggestions for local shops to achieve a common objective: to bring consumers and producers closer together.
Among these orientations, members are invited to organize events throughout the year: “
it can be an activity around a particular product, the organization of a tasting, or a thematic week on a fruit or seasonal vegetable
”illustrates the Ministry of Agriculture.
For more cohesion, the ministry suggests that the signatories accompany these events with a common banner "
commitments, provenance and freshness: closer to you and your tastes
" with the interprofessions.
The difference with the charter signed by supermarkets?
In addition to promoting local and fresh products, the aim is also to promote the know-how of artisans.
"
Know-how is a heritage in its own right and it is important to put it forward
", defends the Ministry of Agriculture.
Here again, this involves, for example, the organization of competitions between artisans, including that of “
catering trades
” scheduled for the second half of 2021. An action also deemed beneficial from an employment point of view according to Alain Griset: “
the signing this charter is a strong signal of the promotion of these food professions
”and“
these initiatives will also make it possible to arouse vocations among the younger generations
”.
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The charter, which entered into force on Tuesday, December 15, 2020, is spread over a period of one year and may be extended.
The Ministry of Agriculture is committed to being "
in regular contact with traders throughout the year
", in whom "
the dynamic of promoting local products is already well underway
".
A pre-existing commitment among traders
Because this commitment, even if symbolically anchored with the charter, is not new among small traders: "
the link between the agricultural world and our professions is essential and already exists
" abounds Isabelle Bricard, general secretary of the General Confederation of the 'Food in detail.
“
Our professionals are already organizing events and meetings with producers to promote their products,
” she says.
What changes according to Isabelle Bricard is the growing interest of the French for the products they buy: “
the consumer is rediscovering our stores and unprocessed products with this crisis.
Our objective is therefore to multiply our actions and to communicate more about the products we sell to meet its demand,
”she explains.
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The same goes for the know-how of butchers, cheesemakers or bakers, which must gain in visibility according to the general secretary of CGAD.
Because the work of traders does not stop selling the product as such: "
We are not resellers, there is a whole range of know-how involved in the preparation of the products
", she recalls.
To put this ancestral know-how back on the front of the stage, Isabelle Bricard is counting on the end-of-year celebrations, with a certain restraint all the same: “
Our wish is that consumers think of turning to
their local shops. for Christmas
, if he wishes to keep all these emblematic professions of French gastronomy
”, already very weakened by the crisis.
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