In order to clear up the accusations and sweeping judgements, BILLA launched a new dialogue format. Under the motto "Thanksgiving - thanks to whom and for what?", a panel of experts met for the first time on Thursday evening, 21st of October, to put the interests of all parties in the sector bluntly on the table. As representatives of the food retail sector Marcel Haraszti, Executive Board Member REWE International AG, and Andreas Steidl, CEO Ja! Natürlich (Yes! Of course). Georg Strasser, President of the Austrian Farmers' Union and Member of the National Council, representing agriculture, Gabriele Zgubic-Engleder, Head of Consumer Policy at the Vienna Chamber of Labour, representing consumers, and Johann Stutz, representing customers, took part in the discussion. Political scientist and university lecturer Peter Filzmaier moderated the one-hour discussion.
Regionality as an aspect of quality?
"For us, regional is the precise fulfilment of the customer's wishes - we exactly mark out in our markets whether a product is local, i.e. a maximum of 30km away, whether it is regional, whether it comes from the province, or whether it is from Austria, and then the customer can decide whether he wants to opt for Austrian quality or not," said Marcel Haraszti. From the consumer's point of view, Johann Stutz shares the opinion that short distances from the producer to the customer are what define regionality for him. For Georg Strasser, as a farmer, the emotional component plays a decisive role: "I experience regionality and regional food where I have a personal connection, where I may know the farmer's wife and the farmer around the corner. Gabriele Zgubic-Engleder brought a critical approach to the discussion by pointing out the different perceptions of regionality - also in connection with food quality: "Regionality per se has nothing to do with quality. It says nothing about how an animal is kept or how a plant grows." Nevertheless, all discussants agreed that the regional offer in the food trade in Austria is extraordinary and also plays in the top level in an EU comparison. As a best practice example, Andreas Steidl cited the "Green Cow" product range of Ja! Natürlich's "Green Cow" product range as a best practice example: "We have the highest animal welfare standards. The cows are always free-range."
The value chain as the central topic of discussion
In the arguments of the individual discussants, it quickly became clear that the distribution around the value chain must be reconsidered. Georg Strasser sees the declining share of agriculture in the value chain as particularly worrying and also argues for higher wages for Austrian farmers: "The farmers are ready. The table is set, it is ultimately a question of how prices develop, for example in the pig sector." He admits that the good cooperation between agriculture and trade is characterised by phases that just sometimes go better and sometimes worse. Marcel Haraszti pleads for no sweeping judgements to be made about the trade sector and that trade is not solely responsible for the well-being of agriculture and agricultural products (for example, 60% of Austrian milk is exported). For this he received approval from his fellow discussants. Gabriele Zgubic-Engleder emphasised the high subsidies for agriculture and called for more transparency as to what they are used for: "People want products that are not at the expense of the environment, people and animals. For Johann Stutz, who as a customer ultimately decides what to buy and what not to buy, it is obvious that the range on offer in the Austrian food trade meets all needs perfectly. He sees it as the task of politics to create concrete solutions for the identified problems. After all, according to him, they are the representatives of the people and should also stand up for their interests.
Common demand for long-awaited implementation of the EU directive
After the outline of the individual problems and views, it quickly became clear that it is an important concern of all those present to find a solution together and to put an end to the media's apportionment of blame. In the discussion, reference was made to the two-year-old EU directive that has still not been implemented in Austria. The long-awaited draft law could take into account the demands of all parties and thus ensure more fairness along the entire value chain. The introduction of the ombudsman's office as well as the further measures of the Federal Competition Authority are seen quite positively by the panel.
The exciting discussion was broadcast live on Twitter and can be viewed here:
