Carrefour sparks row over rare vegetable claims

Claiming to be “joining the farmers’ struggle”, Carrefour is offering 12 varieties in 40 of its shops, grown from so-called semences paysannes (‘countryman seeds’) by local growers in a campaign called marché interdit (forbidden market).

It says these, like Angélique squash or pink Armorique onion, are usually de facto ‘banned’ as it is not legal to sell their seeds. It says to do so requires registration – meeting norms and paying a fee of up to €10,000 – and registered seeds are usually types that give uniform vegetables resistant to transport and dependent on pesticides. It says 96% of varieties are unregulated, so people are deprived of choice, flavours and nutrients.

The Confédération Paysanne farmers’ union says there is “strong demand from vegetable producers”. However the seed industry body Gnis challenged Carrefour’s account of why the usual supermarket choice is limited and questioned why it is selling certain varieties and not others.

It said gardeners and seed conservatories have worked hard to preserve old seed kinds abandoned by supermarkets and Gnis regularly pays for such seeds to be registered for sale. Each year 150 varieties go on the market it says and they are tasty and resistant, so fewer chemicals are used.

Réseau Semences Paysannes, which has pro­moted the seeds since 2003, said a current revival is due to “patient, collective work.” It said Carrefour was just trying to gain a new green market.