Comparison of the Farmers´ Markets on Czech Television Černé ovce by Petr Král and Přemysl Průša

On Monday, September 26th, the head of the Department of International Business, Ing. Petr Král, Ph.D., and doc. Ing. Přemysl Průša, Ph.D., the Deputy Head of the Department took part once again in the TV program ČT Černé ovce. This time, they focused on comparing farmers’ markets in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. The goal was to see whether local products such as pastry, meat, dairy products, fruit and vegetables are actually sold at the markets. The investigation was conducted in the towns of Pasov, Wels and České Budějovice.

Most of the products sold were indeed local in all the cities surveyed. In Germany, all the farms surveyd as selling their products at the market were even located within 50 km of the market. However, products from Turkey, Southern Europe or Latin America were also frequently found among the vegetables and fruit. “The typical assortment of vegetables you see in every supermarket, even the countries are very similar. It’s mixed – the regional foods with the global ones,” Ing. Petr Král, Ph.D remarked. According to the chairman of the Association of Farmers’ Markets of the Czech Republic, the number of foreign products should not exceed 10% and should include only products that cannot be locally sourced. “… this is how it should look like on the local market, so you know whose product you are buying and what is behind it,” explains Ing. Petr Král, Ph.D..

Although the markets should have been officially open until noon, in Austria and the Czech Republic most of the stalls were already closed or about to close by that time. In České Budějovice, as many as ¾ of the farmers left early. Furthermore, unlike in German and Austrian cities, in České Budějovice farmers are forbidden to sell from their cars, making it difficult to sell meat and dairy products in particular. According to the President of the Association, more support for the markets is needed in the Czech Republic, not only from the state, but also from local municipalities, so that farmers’ markets would become as popular by citizens as they are abroad.

The full report can be found in the CT Archive here.