Fruits and Vegetables are cultivated on 57 500 farms, 194 cooperatives representing a total surface of 362 000 ha (813 452 acres) and commercialized in more than 30 000 sales points (Interfel, 2020). The potatoe is produced on 8 500 farms with a total suface of 214 500 ha (5966229 acres) for a total of 8.7Mt harvested. In 2020, the net sales of these productions was important for France's commercial balance. The net sales of the potatoe were 3.97 M€ and that of fruits and vegetables were 22.3M€. However, these sectors are faced with a loss of competitivity.

The French demand for fruits and vegetables has increased but is confronted with purchasing power : 79% of French would like to be able to consume more fruits and vegetables but they do not have the financial means to do so (IFOP, 2022).

The great challenges for the FVP sectors are the following : i) economic in order to remedy the current detioriation in producers' incomes, maintain the competitiveness of companies in the production and processing sectors, develop production systems adapted to short circuits, etc. ii) public health, iii) technical and environmental - to conceive production systems that are compliant to agronomic and environmental performances and that are anchored in the territories.

INRAE's Fruit, Vegetable and Potatoe Industry group includes scientists from four scientific divisions (SPE, MICA, BAP and ACT) who lead reflections and studies on the challenges of the sector in order to develop partnerships and research projects.

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