Speaking at the end of a high-level meeting with the CEOs of cooperatives in the fruit and vegetable sector, President Van Dijk stated that “European agri-cooperatives play a relevant role in shaping the future of farming in the EU”.
He went on to emphasise the fact that the objective of agri-cooperatives is to actively defend the interests of their members – that is to say farmers. Cooperatives are doing this by developing and implementing innovative and competitive strategies that cover market concentration, segmentation, diversification and branding whilst focusing on services to customers and consumers.
President Van Dijk emphasised the importance of cooperatives as economic organisations of producers in rebalancing the power in the food chain and therefore in contributing to more balanced markets that effectively meet the needs of consumers. “Whilst we do need to cooperate with other stakeholders in the food chain, no unfair commercial practices should be allowed”, he concluded.
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