France

European Produce Importer Erwan Landivinec Dies at 66

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 23:13:11 GMT

East Coast-based importer and distributor Baldor Specialty Foods announced Nov. 5 it is mourning its founding director of wholesale, Erwan Landivinec, who died recently at the age of 66.

“Erwan will be missed by all who had the fortune to meet him, and his memory will live on at Baldor, with his customers and on menus across the U.S.,” the company said in a LinkedIn post.

According to the company’s announcement, Landivinec’s food career began decades ago in his native France where he began promoting and exporting produce, particularly endive. He found he had a passion for sourcing unique items and introducing them to new audiences. His abilities with languages — including French, English, Italian and Spanish — helped him in this endeavor.

Landivinec later joined Yonkers, New York-based importer and distributor serving retail and wholesale customers, Merex Food Corporation. There he did similar work importing and promoting specialty produce from Europe, and was the first in the U.S. to import now-common items like Belgian endive and French shallots.

While at Merex, Landivinec sold to several companies, including Baldor Specialty Foods. In 2000, Baldor founder Kevin Murphy convinced Landivinec to join Baldor, where he launched the wholesale division, known as IPEX (International Produce Exchange). According to the company, this led to more importing firsts, including Italian radicchio, Cavaillon melons, Peruvian French beans, rambutan, and mangosteen. He also launched what later became the import branch of IPEX, called Global Agri, which extended the distribution range outside of Baldor’s usual area, going as far as Chicago, Florida and Texas. He was also instrumental in developing our Urban Roots line of specialty vegetables.

Landivinec retired in 2023 following a series of health challenges and moved back to his family home in Brittany, France. According to Baldor: “He spent his final months watching the boats sail by from his front window, sipping rosé and spending time with his loved ones.

He is survived by his wife, Amanda, and daughter, Alexia, as well as brothers Yann and Hervé, and sister, Gwenola.

According to Landivinec’s obituary (as translated from French), a tribute event will be held for him on Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. at the ceremonial hall, 21 Graveran Street, 29160 Crozon, France. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations to the fight against cancer.

Will Europe's Farmer Protests Make Their Way To The U.S.?

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:11:09 GMT

In case you haven’t heard, farmers across Europe are fed up with their politicians and bureaucrats telling them how to farm. Such sentiment is nothing new. What is new is that the level of frustration has grown to the point where thousands of farmers are taking to the streets with their 15-ton tractors and marching to the capitals and major cities of European countries to give government officials a message: enough already.

For those of us old enough to remember, this moment has a bit of historical déjà vu to it. Flash back to the late 1970s when on this side of the pond, Washington, D.C. was stormed by thousands of farmers driving their tractors to protest critically low commodities prices, higher input costs, falling land values and rising interest rates. This was the warning shot signaling even more dire times to come as the farm crisis of the 1980s followed.

Now, nearly 45 years later, the flame still burns. But this time the fire is taking off in Europe. The ingredients for the discontent are much the same—low prices, costly inputs, high interest rates and so forth. However, the recipe has added an ingredient that has quickly become the biggest fly in the soup as far as European farmers are concerned.

Policy Pushback
The European Green Deal, approved in 2020, is a set of policy initiatives established by the European Commission. Its overarching aim is to make the European Union (EU) climate-neutral by 2050. For European farmers, one of the most controversial components of the deal was the goal to reduce chemical fertilizer and pesticide use by 50% by 2030. That, combined with plans to idle more farmland to increase land biodiversity and forests, along with very little funding directed to farmers to facilitate and harbor such a transition, set the stage for a revolt.

From Berlin and Paris to Brussels and Bucharest, European farmers have driven their tractors to the streets in protest in recent weeks. In Germany, an estimated 30,000 protestors and thousands of tractors brought Berlin’s city centre “to a standstill” in mid-January due to dissatisfaction with the government over the cutting of agricultural fuel subsidies. The protests in France erupted over plans to reduce agricultural fuel subsidies and the government’s push to halve pesticide use by the end of this decade.

The situation escalated to a point where farmers sprayed manure on a local government building in the city of Dijon. In Paris, hundreds of tractors blocked off major roads into the country’s capital in what was called the “siege of Paris” by many media outlets—one of which being BBC News.

By mid-February, protests had spread to other European countries including Italy, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Spain and even Romania and Lithuania. There seems to be no sign of this fire going out any time soon. All the politicians can hope for is that springtime and Mother Nature will draw the farmers and their tractors back to their fields to sow their spring crops and allow the political firestorm to cool off.

But hope is not a strategy, and European farmers know it. Now the question may be how much of the “green gains” are EU’s leaders willing to concede in order to save their political hide. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, now intends to scrap the plan to halve pesticide use. It also decided to exclude the agricultural sector from the strict timeline for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90% before 2040. In Germany, farmers gained some concessions from the government on the issue of fuel subsidies but continue their demand for full reinstatement. On Feb. 1 in France, the main farmer unions called for an end to the protests after “securing promises of governmental assistance” on finance and regulatory issues. And in the EU’s home base, farmers “won their first concession from Brussels” after the commission proposed to delay rules for setting aside land for biodiversity.

Whether it is luck, strategy or irony on the part of the farmers, Europe’s reassessment of its climate policies comes as the bloc approaches EU parliamentary elections in June. The elections are expected to bring more far-right and fringe lawmakers into Parliament. Already, the continent’s political pundits are saying the next political cycle (2024-29) “will undoubtedly be less green to the point of putting into question the implementation of the green new deal.” Plus, the recent protests “are just a prelude of the further clashes to come.”

Too Many Sticks, Too Few Carrots
Will this fire jump the pond, and could we once again see tractors showing up on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.? Need I remind you, it is an election year here, too.

It is unfair and unwise to think farmers—no matter the continent where they live—are going to carry the costs of going green on their backs alone. At some point, all this needs to stop being an academic exercise and become an economic one. Start paying more to the farmer for carbon credits. Provide the tax incentives to finance the transition to “greener” farms. And stop with the rhetoric that burping cows are going to cause the next apocalypse.

Down on the farm in the U.S., the green agenda is at a crossroads. The question will be whether we will make the same mistakes Europe did and try to drive a green agenda too fast with a stick-heavy approach. The first litmus test may come sooner rather than later as Congress still has a new farm bill to pass. It is expected to be the “greenest” farm bill on record. This election year, given what’s happening in Europe, will our politicians pile on the carrots instead of giving us more sticks? Come November election time, we will see which road we are headed down.

USDA: French legislation threatens millions of dollars of U.S. fruit and vegetable exports

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 18:03:58 GMT

A French law that will ban produce stickers starting Jan. 1 of 2022 threatens millions of dollars of U.S. produce exports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

A French ban on the sales of fruit and vegetables with identifying stickers threatens exports of U.S. sweet potatoes (about $20 million in sales annually) and grapefruit ($8 million annually), according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report .

If France implements article 80 as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2022, U.S. exporters will only be able to ship grapefruit without stickers, creating logistical and marketing difficulties, according to the report.

Products shipped to another EU country, such as Netherland or Belgium, with stickers affixed could not be rerouted to France.
Overall, this rule could severely limit the volume of grapefruits exported to France in 2022 as well as impact sweet potatoes sold with stickers.

The ban on stickers is scheduled to be implemented on Jan. 1, 2022.

“Most U.S. grapefruits and some sweet potatoes shipped overseas bear stickers for traceability and marketing purposes,” the report said.
French fruit and vegetable producers and importers will also face a ban on plastic packaging, the report said.

Ed Treacy, vice president of supply chain and chain and sustainability for the Produce Marketing Association, said the issue is critical for U.S. exporters.

“On May 29, 2021, I sent letter to the French Government on behalf of PMA and IFPS explaining that their regulation would be disruptive for trade and decrease overall consumption of fruits and vegetables in France,” Treacy said. “PMA has also engaged with the USD State Department in efforts to convince the French Government to modify the regulation due to the trade implications.”

Treacy said the issue is the home composability requirement for produce stickers.

“While some home compostable labels are currently available, they are only appropriate for a limited number of items, as the adhesive is not sufficient for many produce items,” he said. “Many label companies are currently working on the development of a label that is home compostable that will be appropriate for all fruits and vegetables. “
He said PMA is working to identify sources of funding and researchers who can meaningfully contribute to developing the combination of substrate, ink and adhesive that are home compostable.

“We are confident that we will eventually develop a fully functional home compostable PLU label, but it is 3-5 years away from being fully in place.”

Anti-waste law

In February 2020, the French parliament passed the anti-waste law for a circular economy .

The aim of the legislators, according to the report, was to change France’s production and consumption model in order to limit waste and preserve natural resources, biodiversity and protect against climate change.

The bill has five main goals:

eliminate disposable plastic;
provide consumers better information;
reduce waste and increase recycling;
prohibit companies from developing products that have an embedded expiry date, known as planned obsolescence; and
improve production methods.

While the bill addresses many non-agricultural issues, two articles specifically target the fruit and vegetable sector, according to the report.

Article 77 prohibits plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables when its weight is below 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), according to the report.
It also allows for exceptions for fruit and vegetables that cannot be packaged in non-plastic packaging.

Article 80 prohibits non-compostable stickers on fruits and vegetables sold in France with implementation as soon as Jan. 1 next year.
The ban on plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables was added during the parliamentary discussion of the bill.

According to several sources, it was a trade-off for removing a similar ban on plastic packaging for dairy products after large French dairy companies lobbied against such a prohibition.

“Because of the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic, the bill and those two articles remained unnoticed by most of the French fruit and vegetable sector until later in 2020,” the report said.

While most fruits and vegetables are sold in bulk in France, the report said plastic packaging is still widely used for the marketing of fragile fruits and vegetables such as strawberries and other berries, stone fruits, cherry tomatoes, some salads and trimmed vegetables like fresh green beans and peas. Avocados and mangoes are also occasionally packed in plastic. The main goal of such packaging is to reduce spoiling and the waste at point of sale, the report said.

In September 2020, the French National Council for Food published a report listing exempted products .

Based on that report, the French government proposed a decree listing the exempted fruit and vegetables as well as the term of the exemption. Of interest to U.S. exporters, cranberries and lingonberries would be exempted from the ban on plastic packaging until Dec. 31, 2024.

Because the restriction on plastic packaging could hamper the free flow of trade between France and other EU Member States, France notified the proposed decree to the Commission under the TRIS system, the USDA report said.

Both the Commission and Spain delivered comments, as well as numerous organizations and foreign countries including the U.S.
Because of the comments by the Commission and Spain, the period for comments has been extended to Sept. 13 this year.

France could either disregard the comments and face potential litigation because of its infringement on the EU common market or amend its proposed decree to address the concerns.

Ban on non-compostable stickers

The article 77 of the law for a circular economy specifically prohibits non-home-compostable stickers on any fruit and vegetables sold in France beginning on Jan. 1, 2022, the report said.

Stickers are widely used on fruits and vegetables whether domestically produced or imported. The report noted stickers are primarily used to differentiate the higher quality products, for branding, or to facilitate the purchases with a PLU code.

“Without a sticker it is nearly impossible to differentiate between an organic golden delicious apple produced in France and a normal golden delicious apple imported when both are sold in bulk,” the report said.

“The lack of stickers could lead marketers of higher quality products (including organic products) to move away from bulk sales and sell their products packaged. This rule therefore could paradoxically increase packaging, the opposite of its goal,” the report said.

Although article 80 bans non-home-compostable stickers, the report said there is no internationally recognized norm for home-composting of stickers, and thus stickers manufacturers cannot use the NF EN 13-432 norm applicable to industrial composting.

TUV Austria is working on the norm EN 17-427 for the home composting of packages, the report said.

While the paper used for the sticker can be home compostable, the adhesive may not, as its technical characteristics could interfere with composting, according to the report.

Placing stickers on fruit and vegetables is done at the packaging station close to the production site in many cases.

“As most fruits and vegetables are freely traded within the EU single market, a French-only ban on stickers create logistical hurdles for fruits and vegetable packers and exporters as they would have to dedicate lines of products destined only to the French market,” the report said. France has not notified the sticker ban to the EU Commission through the TRIS system, but from the contributions to the Article 77 decree, France’s trading partners would consider the sticker ban as a technical barrier to trade.

Several French fruit and vegetable organizations have asked parliament amend article 80 in subsequent legislation to grant a longer delay as no technical solution will be available for several years, but this effort has not been effective to date, according to the report.

While the French Ministry of Agriculture seemed more receptive to the producers’ concerns, the French Ministry of Ecology is against making this allowance.

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