The prune industry
Organisation
Agen prunes owe their success not only to their consistently high quality, the passion of the producers and the skills and expertise of the people processing them, but also to the inter-professional organisation that works to connect the various different professionals in the industry. The heart of the industry is in the Lot-et-Garonne department (96% of the production area is located in south-western France), and prune cultivation, transformation and distribution are key drivers of economic growth in the region. It is this production area which constitutes the Agen Prune IGP area, and has done since 2002.
The National Prune Agency (Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Pruneau)
The BIP’s aim is to ensure full cohesion and cooperation between everyone working in the prune industry, from the producers to the processing companies. It is financed by voluntary contributions from producer and processing company organisations.
- Working on behalf of the industry when they have to deal with official agencies and departments.
- Defining and ensuring the full and correct application of the inter-professional agreement
- Product standardisation Developing the image and publicity of Agen prunes
- Applied technical research made accessible to our members
- Statistical data collection and analysis for the prune market
- Keeping abreast of scientific developments and the nutritional qualities of Agen prunes
- Laboratory analysis of the prunes’ quality and composition
