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While inflation has slowed significantly in France, now standing at 2.2% over one year, the use of short circuits has not become completely widespread to defend purchasing power. Reducing intermediaries would logically be a solution to paying less. But there are still obstacles to this purchasing channel even if 67% of French people use it at least once a month.
Spotted by France 3 Occitanie, the new Local Panier smartphone application brings individuals closer to producers. Because farmers have a way to report their activity and their products for sale to consumers within a 100 kilometer radius. Simply enter the name of the food you would like to obtain to locate a farmer. For the moment, some 130 farms and productions have been identified, but the portfolio should expand to the South-West departments in the coming months.
Multiple digital tools have been developed in recent years to facilitate the use of short circuits. There is the Sucrine Club app, which lists more than 950 addresses for local products in the south, whether farmers’ drives, markets or producers. There is also the interactive map developed by UFC-Que Choisir to find a short circuit store closest to you. Let us also recall that the The Minister of Agriculture he himself developed the Fraisetlocal.fr platform in 2021 to help the French better access short circuits near them. Listing more than 8,000 farms at launch, this free tool is generously enriched with good addresses thanks to a partnership with Bienvenue à la ferme, a brand of the Chambers of Agriculture, the agricultural education network and network of the French association of professional urban agriculture.
Ultimately, it is estimated that 67% of French people buy products in short circuits at least once a month, according to the annual PourdeBon barometer carried out by Kantar. This rises to 72% among 55-64 year olds. In short, direct access to farmers’ work is dynamic, but has not yet become widespread. It’s not for lack of wanting to store farmhouse yogurts in the fridge or peel local vegetables. The query entered on Google indicating “direct producer sale around me” jumped by 953% last January, reports the PourdeBon platform, which also brings together the production of farmers and artisans.
Clearly, the many digital tools developed to bring farmers closer to consumers have a good reason to exist. Because the first obstacle to frequenting the short circuit is the fact of not having a market or a collection point near you, confide 35% of French people, while 24% report not knowing where to find short circuit products. The other problem is prices: 33% of those questioned find short circuit products too expensive. Note that a significant proportion, namely 14% of consumers, find this purchasing channel restrictive while 9% do not find what they are looking for in terms of foods whose selection is considered too limited.