Along with other organisations across Europe, EurepGAP entered a new era on May 1 when the European Union welcomed 10 new members.
The largest of those is Poland, which has been changing apace over the past decade. The retail business is growing at western European rates with large supermarkets such as Ahold, Metro and Tesco all with a strong presence. The overall multiple share of the business has risen from 10 per cent to 40 per cent since 1994.
EurepGAP has been quick to recognise this and in October 2003, set up a unique implementation project for Polish tomato growers with the contribution of three EurepGAP members: Q-Point, AQS and Grodon. "Until then, EurepGAP has been relatively unknown among growers, but this is changing fast," said EurepGAP independent chairman Nigel Garbutt.
Grodon, is a substrate horticultural supplier and it got the ball rolling when it approached Dutch consultancy Q-Pont to propose a formula to achieve implementation and certification. They found other partners in Centrum HACCP to support Polish farmers in the Warsaw area, and inspection body AQS for certification.
"There has been continuous progress and besides tomato growers, other producers have subsequently joined the project representing apples, pears, lettuce, blueberries and field crops such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts and Chinese leaf," said Garbutt.
The EurepGap benchmark has since been adopted and translated to Polish conditions and a special manual with recording forms is also available. Polish advisers have been trained in EurepGAP procedures by Q-Point at its facility in the Netherlands.
Audits have found that many facilities are modern and require d few adaptations to meet produce-handling requirements.
"Overall, growers have a positive attitude regarding the implementation of EurepGAP as part of the investment in their future to gain improved access to other markets while remaining competitive," said Garbutt.
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