French retailer Carrefour is joining up with other with food companies, including Danone, to launch MiiMOSA Transition, a crowdfunding project to help farmers switch to organic farming, in response to rising consumer demand for socially responsible practices.
Food group Herta, as well as French food co-operatives d'Aucy and Les Paysans de Rougeline, are also part of the project that will help producers upgrade their farming, livestock-rearing and crop-growing practices.
The partners will help fund an initial €10 million ($11.4 million) worth of projects, with the goal of reaching €100 million within four years of other partners joining.
Focus On Organic Food
Carrefour, Europe's largest food retailer, has increased its focus on organic food under a global five-year plan to boost sales and profits.
It has also adopted blockchain ledger technology to track and trace chicken, eggs and tomatoes as they travel from farms to stores.
Under the plan, Carrefour is targeting €5 billion in organic food sales by 2022, compared to the €1.2 billion generated in 2017. It generated €1.8 billion in organic food in 2018, CEO Alexandre Bompard disclosed last week.
Danone is the world's biggest yoghurt company, and its CEO, Emmanuel Faber, has said that he wants Danone to play a central role in the new trends sweeping the global food industry. Faber is also a member of Carrefour's food advisory committee.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
