On August 29th, Julia Klöckner, the CDU-state chairwoman for Rhineland-Palatinate and deputy CDU-federal chairman and secretary general for Rhineland-Palatinate, Patrick Schneider, were on a press trip through the state. They visited the electoral castle in Mainz, including having breakfast, and took a coach to the Pfalzmarkt in Mutterstadt. There the topic of the day was the security of supply for foodstuffs.
Part of this security is the idea that consumers can rely on the supply of their daily used foods. Food scandals are not only interesting for the media but also affect the consumer: What quality will I get for which price, how safe is the local supply and how transparently can I retrace the supply chain of the products I'm eating? How safe is the harvest in times of extreme weather, how sure can the consumer be that they are getting what the packaging says and what influence to food scandals have on the marketing? Which security measures have been implemented by the Pfalzmarkt organization?
Chairman of the Pfalzmarkt, Johannes Eiken, guided the tour of the delegation, which also state parliament delegate Johannes Zehfuß was part of and who is also a vegetable producer whose business is part of the Pfalzmarkt, through the facilities of the organization and explained the process, starting from the delivery of the goods of the producers all the way to the loading process of customers.
Everyone then gathered in the conference room of Pfalzmarkt and discussed the topics regarding the security of supply. They came to an agreement that security of supply and the retracability of fresh fruit and vegetables are given. More than 5,000 residue analyses to make sure the strict quota regime by the country and the requirements of the customers are everyday proof that high-quality fruit and vegetables from Palatinate are really safe.
In relation to the question of which quality is delivered for which price they breached upon the topic of minimum wages and labor laws. The minimum wage has made the production cost a lot higher, without an increase for the prices of the vegetables. This is fully at the expense of the businesses and threatens the future of fruit and vegetable production in Rhineland-Palatinate. The strict labor laws are causing further problems: Harvest as well as other works in the facilities and on the fields are tough to reconcile with nature, weather and the requirements of customers. Therefore, Pfalzmarkt is demanding more flexible regulations of working hours.
The enormous influence weather extremes can have on the security of supply can be seen in the vivid examples of 2016 and 2017. In 2016, heavy rains in late May caused extensive flooding on the fields. More than 1,000 hectares of goods were completely destroyed. In 2017, warm weather in March caused the cultures to develop quickly and then be damaged severely by the frosty nights in April. The fruit blossoms were hit very hard, there will be harvest losses of up to 100%, depending on the location.
Klöckner and Schneider were able to continue their press trip, knowing that producers from Palatinate and the Pfalzmarkt are doing everything in their power to supply regional and national consumers with safe, fresh, high-quality fruit and vegetables. The producers and Pfalzmarkt have the experience and knowledge to ensure this.
