Little studied in France, the history of the fruit and vegetable market is nevertheless rich in lessons. It shows in particular how this perishable goods economy was organized, and the role that mass distribution played in it. It also shows the efforts made by the State to organize this trade.
If the regular recriminations of fruit producers often make the news in certain summers when overproduction can sometimes even lead to the destruction of these foodstuffs, the fruit and vegetable market has long remained in the shadows of little interest to researchers. social sciences, whether they are economists, geographers, historians or sociologists. Antoine Bernard de Raymond took up the challenge of filling this gap and his book sheds new light in line with the renewal of French economic sociology in recent years.
This research resulting from a doctoral thesis is presented here in a book with a clear organization in nine chapters: the first presents the tile in MIN (market of national interest) of Rungis today, the following return to the history which partly explains this point of outcome. The second chapter addresses the arbitrations at the end of the XIXe century and the third shows the role of colonial Algeria in the evolution of major features of the organization of the market. The author then focuses on the evolution of forms of distribution with the creation of MIN on the one hand, then with the particular place of fruits and vegetables in the transformation of French mass distribution on the other hand and it shows the feedback effect of this development on production. Finally, the last three chapters are devoted to some major structuring questions for this market for several decades: the Europeanization of the market, the successive crises and the questions raised by the difficult relations between agriculture and the environment.
The author clearly explains his methodological choice when he declares in his introduction his “ theoretical bias » with the idea “ that we cannot study production, trade and consumption separately » (p. 12) and that for this it is a question of granting “ particular importance to market intermediaries » (p. 18). Fruits and vegetables raise the question of the quality of food products but with a specificity well underlined by the author which lies in the perishability and seasonality of the products.
Genesis of MIN
The description of MIN de Rungis, south of Paris, which opens the first chapter, takes the reader into a little-known world. National interest markets are defined today in the Commercial Code as “ public market management services, access to which is reserved for producers and traders, which contribute to the organization and productivity of distribution circuits for agricultural and food products, and to the stimulation of competition in these sectors economic and food security of populations “.
The author details the functioning of the tile which is only part of the MIN de Rungis: where wholesalers display and sell their goods over the counter. In this part of the book, Antoine Bernard de Raymond engages in ethnographic work. On this basis, he shows how there is both a “ semi-closed » market relations since the network of mutual acquaintances dominates exchanges and at the same time a significant part of negotiation on prices depending on the control by the different actors of the evolution of the market. The sociologist is also interested in “ gasc » (“ full-service wholesalers “) who do not exhibit the products but deliver them directly to customers, and he notes the possible hybridization of professions today.
From this field observation by which he establishes the existence of an economy of variability for fruits and vegetables, the author begins a historical investigation which he rightly begins under the heading IIIe Republic. He returns to the debates, too little studied, which surround in the last quarter of the XIXe century the functioning of the market halls of Paris. Corruption scandals led to trials in 1876 and the State gradually became interested in reforming the organization of the Paris markets and in particular the role of intermediaries in this market. The opacity of practices, the frauds denounced and the absence of control of producers motivate legislative intervention. In June 1896 a law “ tending to regulate the central halls of Paris » is adopted and the author considers that it “ organizes a republican pact » between Paris and the provinces » (p. 115). Among the problems raised is that of the representation of the interests of provincial producers and the relative weight of traders. The text of the law, quite ambiguous, required arbitration by the Council of State which finally decided in 1925 by favoring “ agents » : « official representatives that the law automatically gave to producers » (p. 81).
But the developments are not only legislative and regulatory during this period, they also concern production and on this major point, Antoine Bernard de Raymond studies the evolution of Algerian agriculture, emphasizing the importance for this question of the imperial dimension. of France between the wars. Given the costs of transporting its products to mainland France, Algerian agriculture must build a comparative advantage over mainland producers. She does this for fruits and vegetables by developing the notion of products “ new products » (earlier in the season) thus maintaining a commercial margin. The 1930s were also those which saw the gradual establishment of the standardization of products in this commercial context and in that of an economic modernization project carried out by part of the colonial elites, dreaming of a “ Californian Algeria “. These changes accompany those in the forms of distribution.
The 1896 law had been widely criticized and several projects existed from the 1930s to broadly reform it. ; they become relevant again under the IVe Republic. The original point here is that one of the reform projects is carried by the SNCF which offers “ markets stations » in order to be the main operator in product distribution in a context where road competition is increasingly strong. After unsuccessful debates in Parliament – the Chamber of Deputies under the IVe Republic is a privileged place of confrontation for the different interest groups – it was a decree of September 30, 1953 which finally created the MIN. But this reform does not resolve everything far from it and the fight led by Alexis Gourvennec around the Breton artichoke marks these years from 1958. In another way, and beyond the debate on tiles or markets on the clock, the question of logistics and warehouses necessary for the operations of the MIN.
Changes in distribution and market organization
The complex evolution of MIN is also taking place in a context of clear change in the forms of distribution with the rise of new companies and the establishment of supermarkets and hypermarkets. THE “ everything under one roof » to use the established expression, nevertheless faces specific problems for fresh products and in particular fruit and vegetables. The sociologist clearly shows that this explains the maintenance of a “ plurality of marketing channels » (p. 169) even if the weight of purchasing centers is significant. With this historical journey, the author rightly concludes that “ the three models of the tile, the dial and the central unit, presented in the previous chapter, more than they follow one another over time, represent different market polarities which both complement each other and enter into tension. » (p. 171).
Given the place that product quality occupies in this market, the investigation continues with work analyzing the classifications as they were redeployed in the 1990s around the signs of identification of quality and the origin (Siqo) on the one hand, and the distribution channels on the other hand. But these new elements seem to remain secondary to the importance given to differentiation by variety. Another major change in the last third of the XXe century, the Europeanization of this market. The chapter that the author devotes to the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) has the merit of looking at agricultural production other than cereals, milk and meat which have been the subject of research in the past. L’CMO (common market organization) fruits and vegetables has imposed a certain number of standards since 1972 and was reformed in 1996. The sector remains poorly subsidized within the European framework compared to other agricultural production and its CMO above all structures a competitiveness policy.
Since the end of the 1990s, the fruit and vegetable market has been known for its repeated crises which the researcher does not detail but whose speeches and public debates which accompany them he tries to analyze. He is particularly interested in the question of seasonality and the economic strategies of different market players. The study finally addresses the question of the relationship with the environment, a theme increasingly studied in comparison with the agricultural world. After recalling chemical control and its history marked by a long-increasing use of pesticides, he illustrates its contemporary questioning. The author shows that on this subject, meeting a demand from consumers and society, the State begins to intervene. Some producers engage in sustainable agriculture and certification processes to comply with environmental standards.
In conclusion, the author underlines the originality of fruits and vegetables, a sector of French agriculture regulated according to a different logic than cereals or wines and cheeses. He concludes thus: “ A sector placed early on under a liberal trade regime, where the farmer finds himself almost immediately confronted with the market and its fluctuations, fruits and vegetables differ both from the model of co-management of markets by the State and the agricultural profession which governs cereals, as well as the defense of tradition and its institutionalization in the system of “ designations of origin », characteristics of wine and cheese. » (p. 283).
He insists on the fact that changes in production are not the only elements of the evolution of the market but that changes in the forms of distribution have also played a central role, more or less encouraged by the State. In addition to shedding light on little-known agricultural markets, Antoine Bernard de Raymond’s study therefore forces us to reconsider the history of agricultural modernization in France in XXe century, to take into account the evolution of the world of distribution and to think freshly about the policies pursued by the State in these areas.