Fruit and vegetable producer organisations

The objective of the producer organisation system is to improve the position of fruit and vegetable producers in the market. Producer organisations are marketing associations formed by producers. They help their members, for example, in production planning, marketing and developing cultivation methods. Operational programmes for developing the activities of producer organisations receive EU support.

Requirements for the recognition of producer organisations

To receive EU support, a producer organisation must be a cooperative or a limited company recognised by the Finnish Food Authority and meet the requirements for recognition.

• A producer organisation must have at least five producer members, and the value of its marketed production must be at least € 500,000.
• The organisation must adopt rules that determine, for example, that the members’ must sell their products through the organisation.

Support is granted to measures included in the organisations’ operational programmes

Producer organisations can improve their activities through operational programmes. The programmes run for 3–5 years. The objectives of operational programmes include planning of production, concentration of supply, marketing the products produced by the members, reducing production costs and stabilising producer prices, developing environmentally friendly cultivation methods and improving product quality. Producer organisations receive support based on the implementation of the measures included in their operational programmes. To receive support, the producer organisation must participate in financing the measures with a contribution that is equal to the amount of support. As a rule, financial assistance is capped at 4.1% of the value of the production marketed by the producer organisation.

Links:

Finnish Food Authority