Who gets rich with organic products?

14 Aug

0 198 Post by Mucca.ch

If you want to live healthily, you have to dig deep into your pockets. At the latest since the (among other things) inflation-related price increase of our food, the difference between organic and non-organic is becoming more and more conspicuous. In January 2023, a report by the price watchdog thus suspected retailers of skimming off excessive margins. So instead of paying farmers more, the majority would go into the coffers of Coop, Migros & Co. Depending on the product, this is up to 50% that organically produced fruits and vegetables cost us more.

Little transparency in pricing

How sensitive the issue is is proven by the fact that Migros initially wanted to prevent the publication of the report by price supervisor Stefan Meierhans. Shortly before Christmas, Migros prevented the publication of a report by price supervisor Stefan Meierhans on excessive organic prices at the two large distributors Migros and Coop. The report concludes that of the high price difference between standard and label / organic meat products, only a fraction ends up with the farmer, while the rest flows into the pockets of the final seller. The opposite is also the case: prices are pushed down, but consumers do not pay the same amount less in the shop. An example of this is the price collapse of pork: from June 2021 to October 2022, farmers received 33% less for their animals, but the prices in the shop only fell by about 12%.

Buy directly from the farmer

The fact is: if you buy directly from the producer, you get more quality for less money. There are many farm shops where you can get regional and seasonal produce. With some farmers, you can even harvest the vegetables yourself, so that, thanks to the freshness, as many nutrients as possible are preserved. This is the case, for example, with Marianne and Jakob Bürgi on their organic farm in 8834 Schindellegi.