Parliament is pushing to fight unfair trading practices in the food supply chain which are hurting farmers.

Supermarkets v. Farmers: EU needs to referee

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/11588678/n005-160615-001-en.srt

Jean-Yves Vancompernolle  gathers strawberries

in the last remaining days  of this year's season.

Bulging with juice,  flavour and sweetness,

they're a reminder perhaps  of a forgotten era.

But unless you travel to his farm  near Nivelles in Belgium,

you're unlikely to share the experience.

They’re destined for his farm shop,  not the supermarkets. The reason?

Unfair trading practices which,  in the absence of effective EU legislation,

One of Belgium's big supermarkets  had ordered a specific variety.

because apparently they were selling less  than they had thought to sell,

they started taking  increasingly small quantities

saying that the quality was no longer good,  but really it was perfect.

What did Mr Vancompernolle  learn from the experience?

The supermarkets have  significant selling power

and the power to put pressure  on the producers.

Happily I'm not dependent  only on that market niche

He farms around 36 hectares and now sells  principally wholesale and at the shop.

A resolution passed in Parliament for  measures to improve the food supply chain

There's a lot to be fixed, says the Polish  MEP leading the drive, Edward Czesak.

forcing vendors to bear various  display or promotional costs

or the costs of transporting  or warehousing the articles.

MEPs highlight the situation  where suppliers are forced to sell

at below production cost,  or bear the costs of supermarket offers.

Consumers are in turn hit, they say,  by poorer choice. So too is innovation.

The big networks have  a developed retail sale

so the demands on the suppliers  of food products are massive.

Suppliers find themselves  in a disadvantaged position

because the big chains  dictate the terms.

An overwhelming majority of MEPs  voted to support Mr Czesak's report,

produced at Parliament's own initiative and  therefore not binding on the Commission.

Individual farmers should be able to live  with dignity by the sale of these products,

and not only get rid of them and sell them  at a price below the production cost.

The ball is now in the court of the European  Commission to answer these demands.