Mercabarna, the Association of Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Dealers (AGEM) and the Food Bank launched a campaign a year ago for businesses in the Central Fruit and Vegetable Market to encourage them to donate excess fresh produce. The goal was to help the Bank deal with the huge rise in demand for food for the needy that arose when the economic downturn began.
The first stone of the future House of Agriculture, a facility that will serve as a meeting point for agricultural cooperatives and associations and which also aspires to become a forum for the dissemination of the opinions of Catalan farmers, was laid on 28 May.
The Government of Catalonia, Barcelona Provincial Council and the Municipal Markets Institute organised the 1st Municipal Markets of Catalonia Congress on 17 May, which drew associations of vendors, technicians and food professionals, including Mercabarna management.
Mercabarna-flor and the Association of Wholesale Businesspeople (AEM) hosted a new thematic demonstration on 7 June aimed at providing florists with new ideas and suggestions on designing floral arrangements to step up sales. This time the event was dedicated to summer flowers and plants.