From field and udder directly to the consumer

You can see it from afar, the wide-open Regio-Shop of the Peller family's farm "A Lill". For four years, passers-by have been able to buy fresh products here and help themselves behind the small delicatessen container, as the fields of vegetables and flowers are accessible to shoppers non-stop. "The flowers are naturally a big draw, especially because you can see them from the main road, " comments farmer Svenja Zelder. Together with her boyfriend, a gardener, and her mother-in-law, Zelder looks after the direct sales of "A Lill" – the family farm's main sales outlet, as the farm's own products are sold here every day between May and November.

Direct marketing on the farm has become established at many farms since the coronavirus pandemic. According to an online survey conducted as part of the Service d'économie rurale's 2021 structural survey, in which 1,719 farms – 92 per cent of all Luxembourg estates – took part, a total of 323 farms operate direct sales. It is difficult to estimate the extent to which this figure differs from reality, as while farm shops and "Duerfepicerien" (village shops) require a building permit, business via vending machines, self-service containers or cottages, refrigerators and milk filling stations is relatively flexible and the number of farms that try it varies.