Short food supply chains – what should we learn from Europe?

“In France or Austria, it is customary to taste fresh, freshly squeezed cheese from local farmers, eat sausages made by a local butcher on the spot, and drink local wine. All this is called short chains.

 

Short chains are also one of the best remedies against unfair trade practices – when individual farmers are forced to sell their produce only to large processors or resellers, because they have no other choice, and these can abuse their position and buy products from farmers even below the cost of production. This leads to a situation where farmers are forced not only to obey such dictates from buyers, but also face last-minute changes to contracts or delayed payments.

 

Recently, in the European Parliament, we discussed amendments to the laws that would prohibit such abuses. However, we will not solve this from Brussels alone.

 

Unfair trade in the agricultural and food sector is not only a market problem – it is a problem of justice, sustainability and rural vitality.

 

In Lithuania, where small and medium-sized family farms form the basis of rural regions, this imbalance is particularly painful. Many milk producers, fruit and vegetable growers receive inadequately little for their production. Profits are concentrated in retail companies, which are expanding and monopolizing without any reason.

 

Therefore, we must continue to strengthen control over unfair practices and ensure transparency in pricing. At the same time, we must invest in structural solutions. Such structural solutions exist in Denmark and other countries where cooperation is very well developed. Well-financed and professionally managed cooperatives could also give farmers greater bargaining power in Lithuania.

 

Short food supply chains, farmers' markets, direct sales, and the supply of local produce to schools and hospitals would allow more value to be retained in the regions and reduce dependence on dominant buyers.

 

Vytautas Buivydas, Vice-President of the Chamber of Agriculture, estimates that in Lithuania, short food supply chains The potential is largely untapped, although the opportunities are great. Although significant investments have been made in this area for many years, in reality they are mostly used by individual entities that already have financial and administrative capacity, while small farmers are left behind. And short chains should create conditions for small and family farms to sell their products directly to consumers, without excessive investments and bureaucratic barriers.

 

Currently, European Union (EU) support is often focused on expensive processing lines, installation of premises or transport. However, in the old EU countries, the model works more simply: a farmer can grow beef and sell it directly, because slaughtering or processing services are provided as a separate, hired service, which is accounted for separately from purchase prices. A farmer does not need to have his own slaughterhouse - he buys the service and sells the finished product.

 

The example of German farmers is also interesting: a licensed processor from raw materials (apples, pears, plums, corn) produces the final product – wine, tart, liqueur, jam or other product – but the product is attributed to the farmer himself. All he has to do is create his own label and find a buyer.

 

In Lithuania, we could apply an analogous principle – to encourage not millions of investments in processing entities, but in the acquisition of services. The farmer would have the opportunity to deliver raw materials to the service provider, and in return receive an already produced and packaged final product – cottage cheese, butter, cheese or sour cream. This would be sold as his own product at his point of sale or in a local regional store.

 

Such a model would be useful in rescuing dairy farms. It would simply be necessary to create conditions for small milk producers to use the services of processing companies.

 

According to V. Buivydas, such a direction would inevitably affect the interests of large businesses, which seek to maintain their market share. Therefore, it is very important that political decisions are based not on narrow interests, but the needs of society. Short chains must hum and give a second wind to small and medium-sized farmers.

 

By improving access to financing, encouraging cooperation and protecting farmers from abuse, we could create a fairer and more resilient order that would properly value food producers and ensure the future of the countryside for generations to come.

 

And finally, a short summary. The essence of short chains is not expensive projects, but the shortest possible path from farm to table. Then the food will be tastier, the damage to the environment and climate will be less, and family farms will stand on firmer feet.”