Fruit prices now compared to the 1980s

Jose Gonzalez of Tropicultura in Motril, Granada, Spain, talks about fruit prices now compared to the 1980s when his grandfather was a farmer.

Transcript

The price of fruit here in this region, being mainly a custard apple and medlar area, has remained the same since the 1980s. The system has changed, however. 

In the 1980s there were a lot of small warehouses, which auctioned the fruit to many buyers. So in the 1980s, the farmer received a higher price than today.

Now there are only a few buyers left, a few distributors, and they have much more power over the producers

They set the final price to their customers, calculate their costs, keep a big margin for themselves, and for the farmer what's left is a price that only allows them to survive, just enough so that they don't stop producing, they keep producing and so that the distributors can get the profit they expect.

So your grandfather received the same price as you for his fruit?

The prices were exactly the same as today 30 years later.

Unbelievable!

And the costs are not the same.