Published
Video length: 2 min.
More and more producers are offering to collect or pick fruit and vegetables directly from their orchards. Prices are significantly cheaper. Report in the Drôme, where an arborist offers his apricots at only 1.50 euro per kilo.
They are organic, of a good size, and above all of a very beautiful color. It’s the first day of picking apricots in an orchard in Gervans (Drôme), and the customers are enjoying themselves. Picking is done with family or friends. The principle: consumers come to help themselves, directly from the tree. Everyone comes with their own crate, and weighs it once filled. This is the third consecutive year that Laurent Habrard, a farmer, has sold his apricots directly, without any intermediary. Apricots sold at an attractive price: 1.50 euro per kilo.
A decreasing price
“The prices are low, but relatively interesting for me, insofar as we will save two important items: labor for picking and then the crate”, explains Laurent Habrard. In any case, picking customers find their account, especially since the price is decreasing. Pick-up is open in the mornings for two weeks, by reservation and with a limit of 20 people per day. A direct sale made possible by the modest size of the orchard: three hectares. In two weeks, there is no doubt, according to the arborist, that all the apricots will have been harvested.