Why are fruits and vegetables more and more expensive in France in 2025?

Standing in front of his greenhouse, Thomas Blanluet, farmer in the Orleans region, looks at his strawberry feet with resignation. The bright red fruits stand out on the white background of the plastic canvas. They are beautiful, but not very numerous. Some leaves show brown areas. “I harvest them tomorrow, the yields will be catastrophic,” he predicts.

In June, the heat wave burned the plants. Double penalty, mites and aphids then proliferated because of the heat. This year, given the few profits he will withdraw from it, his production of strawberries will have cost him dearly. But the operator will not increase his prices accordingly. He knows that if not, his customers will not buy.

Weather hazard

In France, consumer complaints frightened by fruit and vegetable prices are heard each year, rightly so. Between 2013 and 2023, prices increased by 43 % for fruits and 73 % for vegetables, compared to 28 % for food in general, according to the annual calculations of the Rural Families association. Since the beginning of the century, prices flight, partly due to climate change, has been continuous.

“July 26, 2024”, let go of Thomas Blanluet, going fast with a row of apple trees, not far from greenhouses. The date of last year’s hail storm remains engraved in its memory. When the 42 -year -old operator dares to apply price increases in response to bad weather, they only compensate for the accumulation of climatic difficulties. His retired father, whose exploitation he resumed in 2005, was also subject to the vagaries of the weather. But everything has accelerated.

The gel blows are stronger and late, the periods of drought longer and early, the rains more brutal. After the functions of apple trees, the more hasty pear trees grow at the edge of wood. Conference pears, fine and elongated, will be smaller this year because of the heat wave. The Williams adopt a more round shape by growing. Finally, not all. The diabolical bug, arrival of Asia about five years ago, stings the fruits and distorts them. “The winters are less rough and the pest insects survive better,” says the farmer with weariness.

18% of arboriculturalists and 25% poor market gardeners

The noise of his steps in the mowed grass is interrupted, giving way to the singing of the grasshoppers, the purring of the departmental and his worried voice. “I received my water bill yesterday,” he slips. His grimace means everything. With the heat, he watered a lot in June, and he will cost him. Next to the small road that leads to the store, its modest tractor is waiting to be replaced. “I had a quote made, it will be 55 % more expensive than five years ago.” Electricity, petrol, fertilizers, phytosanitary products, agricultural equipment … everything increases.

From the producer to the merchant, including agricultural cooperatives, carriers, wholesalers and purchasing power plants, the cost increase draws prices upwards. The farmers’ gains are not high. In 2020, the poverty rate of arborists was around 18 % and that of market gardeners by 25 %, against 13.6 % for the general population. Large areas are often accused of making disproportionate profits but their clear – and non -raw margins – on the sale of fruits and vegetables were between 1.3 and 4.5 % over the period 2012-2023. Figures similar to those of most European countries. Those of wholesalers did not exceed 3 %, as well as those of shipping companies (1.)

Heavy constraints

Robotize, reduce the administrative burden that increases from year to year, find ways to fight frost or drought, create more resistant varieties … solutions exist to reduce prices and reconquer customers. But they remain insufficient, in the eyes of Philippe Goetzmann, specialist in food consumption changes: “The profitability of the French sector is structurally too low. The cost of labor and the weight of production taxes weigh particularly heavy on the fruit and vegetable sector, gourmet in labor and surface. Environmental and health standards, more strict than in other European countries, also reduce productivity.

The lines of tractors on the highways last winter, again illustrated the disarray of the agricultural environment, exasperated by the accumulation of standards and charges. Today, passions are unleashed around the Duplumb law, which promises to lighten the environmental constraints weighing on the profession of farmer. A petition to oppose the text adopted on July 8, with more than two million signatures, shows how the subject divides.

However, political power fails to adopt a clear position. Evidenced by his back and forth on the regulations. In 2023, for example, the ban on plastic packaging caused significant costs, before being canceled a year later. “This waltz-hesitation destabilizes producers and traders”, denounces Marc-Henri Blarel, consultant to the players of the channel. Torn between competitiveness and ecology, France is struggling to choose. Meanwhile, prices are increasing, consumers turn away from French fruits and vegetables, and the economic difficulties of the sector get worse.

A responsible agriculture

Should we then resolve an agriculture less subject to ecological restrictions, more concentrated in large farms with higher yields, as with our European competitors, to return to the price battle? For Sylvain Pellerin and Camille Poisson, who cultivate apple trees and rhubarb in a small village in the Loiret, it is not about it. Their exploitation is the opposite of this agricultural model and they refuse to enter the circuit of large distribution.

Simply because “it would not be profitable” with their three and a half hectares of orchards and their 28 different varieties, which make any standardized procedure impossible. “I would sell my apples at 60 cents per kilo against 2 euros in direct sale, and in any case, they would not be suitable,” explains the 30 -year -old arborist. The fruits of Gallerand orchards are “too large or too small, not quite round or too stained. To remedy this, it would be necessary to deal with about thirty times a year -not ten today -, sprinkle and fertilize more, pick before maturity, buy a fridge with a protective atmosphere for conservation. A big investment, for a vision of the profession that does not satisfy it. He and his partner refuse to adopt a logic of maximizing their yields. “When you work with nature, it is not to master everything,” he bumped along the rows of apple trees by this fresh morning in July.

The tip of direct sale

This does not prevent them from offering advantageous prices. In the middle of the farm, a green plot awaits the farmer’s penniless. Hidden under the large leaves, the pink branches of rhubarb grow. The couple sells them at 3 euros per kilo. “Much better than the astronomical prices that we see in the trade!” A boils Sylvain Pellerin. The prices of the Champagne farm, the exploitation of Thomas Blanluet, also attracted its customers. The curtain barely raised, its shop of local products, located at the entrance to the farm, is filled with the murmurs and the rustling of the crumpled paper bags. “I am very satisfied,” smiles a young woman approaching the counter. The prices and quality of the baskets of the farm, whose concierge of her business organized the sale, convinced his colleagues.

These small farms, typical of the French landscape, are not very competitive on the European large distribution market but still manage to be profitable. “My colleagues who sell to wholesalers or cooperatives are doing less well financially,” says Thomas Blanluet. On the other hand, they have less work. I spend the winter storing and sorting my production, ”he admits. To get out of it, the strategies are different. Direct sale reduces logistical costs and decide its prices. The diversity of crops balances yields, spreads in less mechanized agricultural work and gives customers. Often more respectful of the functioning of nature, these farms also limit energy expenditure and inputs, the prices of which are soaring over the news, and are more suitable for ecological transition. Additional activities, such as juice production or opening a store, often complement income.

Free fall production

Be that as it may, the survival of these farmers depends on the consumer, who has access to the supermarket at cheaper foreign productions. The other European countries have their competitiveness from lighter regulation, at a lower labor cost and more numerous farms. “Hexagonal products may be better and more respectful of labor and environmental law,” as Philippe Goetzmann notes, imports counted for around 50 % in the consumption of this sector in 2023, against 35 % in 2000. The French also tend to turn to the processed food when prices are rising.

“Unlike agriculture, the food industry can significantly reduce its costs, thanks to robotization and concentration,” adds the specialist. This is how in the buyers’ shopping bag, Spanish peaches take the place of French women, more expensive and cheap cookies that of too expensive apples. The majority of consumers give priority to their wallet, even if it means eating fewer vitamins. Result: between 2020 and 2024, the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables dropped by 13 % (2), going from 182 kg per household and per year to 158 kg. But the cultural factor also weighs: the generations passing, we cook less and less and the transmission of a healthy diet fades in families.

Preservation of the environment, respect for the social model, low price, healthy food … We cannot have everything. For the moment, it is the French arboriculturalists and market gardeners who pay the absence of choice: their volume of production has fallen since the early 2000s. That of fishing and nectarine, for example, was halved in twenty-five years. “Today, no culture is safe,” worries Marc-Henri Blarel. As long as the public authorities remain in the interwar period and consumers do not change their habits.

(1) Observatory for the training of prices and margins of food products.

(2) Interfel, consumption assessment 2024.

Solutions to save money

Seasonal fruits and vegetables are generally less expensive. Direct sale also makes it possible to save money. In 2023, the fruits and vegetables sold in short circuit were 6 % cheaper than in supermarkets, and 13 % cheaper for organic, according to a UFC-Que survey.

Another option is to get damaged or quirky fruits and vegetables. To do this, go to the end of the markets, when merchants sell off their unsold, or on applications. “Phenix”, for example, list of unsold baskets at low prices that the user can reserve and collect in shops. In the local markets, the prices depend a lot on the location of the sellers. Despite the local aspect, part of the products often comes from another region or import.