Struggle for fair prices in agriculture: An association wants to bring Migros to its knees like this

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Farmers are not compensated fairly for their produce. This is the accusation of the newly formed Association Fair Markets Switzerland (FMS). That’s exactly what he wants to do right now, and he’s battling the abuse of market power. In sight: big distributors like Migros and Coop.

“The association is concerned with fairness throughout the entire value chain. That’s not always the case, unfortunately, founding member Stefan Flückiger (63) told Blick. He is president of the association and puts his whole heart and soul into this business: he has resigned from his position as co-managing director of Swiss Animal Welfare for his new role.

For this purpose, the association has established a registration office for farmers. “Then competition experts will look at the reported cases and decide whether they should be brought before the Competition Commission,” Flückiger explains. The registry office can be reached free of charge throughout Switzerland via the web and by phone. The president assumes demand will be high. “Something like this was missing until now,” he says.

Weko does very little

It is actually the task of the Competition Commission (Weko) to discover the abuses of dominant companies. “However, it only becomes active in very specific situations and is therefore not sufficient,” Flückiger says. The problem: In the Swiss market economy, fairness is completely underestimated. So the markets are not playing as they should.

FMS wants to reach prices where consumer prices are not too high but fair producer prices are paid. “In the first phase, we focus on producer prices because there is a need for major action,” the chairman explains. A reasonable income should be possible, along with government subsidies.

But isn’t that actually the job of the price watcher? Stefan Meierhans (54) discussed the margins of organic products in his latest report. And he bit his teeth: Because he concluded that the margins on organic products were too high. However, he could not defend himself against Migros and Coop. Meierhans also reported “noticeable resistance from certain companies.” It seems that Migros wanted to prevent even the publication of the report. At the time, the company denied the excessive margin accusation. Flückiger suggests that the FMS is now addressing the issue more broadly.

There is also a farmer on board.

The association also wants to gain new insights with its research teams and foster dialogue in society and politics. For example, monitoring of market power is also planned. FMS also wants to gather new information through its reporting office. Above all, FMS wants to create transparency, because “well-functioning competition is no longer the rule, but the exception”.

Another founder of the association is economics professor Mathias Binswanger (59). Werner Locher (70) and a former farmer are also on the board. Locher is already committed to fair milk prices and has several offices on agriculture committees.

Retailers vs. new club

Migros and Coop, which control about two-thirds of Swiss food retailing, consider the association unnecessary. “We maintain a fair partnership with agriculture,” says Migros spokesperson Patrick Stöpper upon request. The retailer does not get higher profit margins with labeled products than with traditionally manufactured items. “Going to the weekly market or a farm shop also invalidates the accusation that prices are too high: the produce there isn’t cheaper than at the supermarket.”

Coop is committed to fair and market-oriented prices for both manufacturers and customers. “Our manufacturers have the opportunity to contact us at any time,” Coop spokesperson Caspar Frey told Blick.

Source :Blick