Bloody fruit

You hear the monotonous beep from the scanner at the counter.

Moving goods over the counter. A stable part of your daily life since you got the job in the discounter.

You are moving towards the oranges. The only thing that reminds you of your home.

You take a closer look at the little sign above the oranges.

Your heart starts pumping faster. Origin: Italy. Does this fruit come from the plantationLarge area on which fruit is grown on which your best friend works illegally?

You have not heard anything from him for a long time and you hope that he was not deportedbe forced to return to their home country. The last text he sent you was about the poor working conditions, telling you that he would not be able to keep going much longer.

You wish that you would have never separated after the tough weeks in the refugee camp.

But he, as an economic refugeePerson fleeing for economic reasons (e.g. unemployment, poverty) from Burkina Faso, did not have any chance for asylumProtection and help in a foreign country, while you, as you are from Syria, were granted asylum in Germany.

The thought that the fruit might have been harvested by him disgusts you. Behind you, somebody is mumbling something.

Inside of you is a battle between the desire for the sweet orange, which would help you in your homesicknessbeing sad because you miss home, and the bitterness that your friend might have been exploited for it.

But what about the organic oranges from Spain?

Almost twice as expensive. You need every penny though, to finance your parents the escape from Syria.

The numbers are clear: Organic products are trending . It seems like more and more people are paying attention to buying more ecological products.

You decide to widen the range of organic products. Right now, the company is using the organic label with the lowest standards.

To lower the costs even further, you are thinking about whether you could create your own organic label.

For decades now, you are at the helm of the company. It generated e incredible wealth of 41 billion euros and focused on the needs of the poorer people.

The concept of the discounterShop in which products are sold at low prices, e.g. because there is not a large selection or many goods are offered in a small area was a great idea and in the first couple of years, you were able to beat the competition with innovativecreative, new methods.

But suddenly, a dirty price fight between the different supermarkets started. After every possibility to lower costs was already used, the wages were lowered as well.

By now, the wages are so low, that your employees have no other option than buying the cheapest products in your store.

You could buy a kilogram of oranges for a few euros – but is that the real price?

DepletedEconomically exploited employees, destruction of nature, climate change. Your own philosophy hasn’t been working for a long time anymore.

It cannot go on like this.

How can you use the power of your company, in order to lead a sustainable change, without going bankrupt?

It is spring, and it seems like change will come soon.

Since you married Rebecca, you feel much happier in Germany. Thanks to her help, you were able to overcome the shock and sorrow that arose in you when you heard that your parent’s house in Syria got completely destroyed in a bomb attack.

You started to focus on the present and got used to the detachmentAbility to keep your distance that some people are showing.

The only thing that reduces your newly found happiness is that you are doing the same work day in and day out at the discounter.

You earn a much higher minimum wage, and the number of products that are traded fairly and do not contain any plastic is constantly growing.

But you are sick of moving goods on the shelfs, giving back change and wishing people a good day.

Your wife told you that the EU introduced a sustainability indexStandard by which the sustainability of companies can be measured, supporting innovative ideas in order to transform agriculture. Suddenly, you see so many chances arising.

It is insane how much Dresden has changed.

Now, the people are smiling and greeting each other politely on the street.

Everybody is only working a few days per week, in jobs they enjoy, because nobody has to worry about food. Your aquaponic farmFarms in which raw materials are saved by combining fish and plant cultivation have spread around the city and are now producing enough food for the entire population. They can get in for free.

But the best thing is, that your old friend from Burkina Faso called you back.

After the old fruit plantation was closed according to new EU rules, he went back to his hometown.

With the help of the money which he got as compensation, he founded a cooperative. By now, the concept of cooperative agricultureConcept according to which several private households bear the costs of a farm and receive part of the harvest in return is very popular in Burkina Faso.

Since the continent of Africa is not flooded by cheap goods from Europe, the country took a great development.

Your friend and his family are scheduled to visit you in about 2 months. After 30 years, you will finally see him again

You feel relief as your permacultureContrary to monoculture; cultivation of different plants that utilise each other in order to save as much raw material as possible garden is still able to resist the bad drought of the last few years .

By now, it is so hot here, that you can plant the trees from back home here.

Slowly, you are walking along the small, dry path, which is moving its way through the garden, looking at the black olives, the mature figs and the young orange trees you just planted a couple of years ago with great pride.

You and your family are full of pride about the small piece of land, and it helped you to earn a high reputation among the city’s inhabitants.

This year will be a good year. Enough fruits can be provided to the open kitchens in the different areas of the city.

The time when you were moving goods packed in plastic over the counter of the discounter is long over and stays as a dark memory, as well as the frustrating months during which you did not know what was going on with your friend.

By now, he is also living in Germany and is the main chef of the open kitchen, serving delicious, traditional meals from Burkina Faso to students for their lunch.

As the city’s inhabitants are sharing their food, the solidarity between them increased significantly

You hope that it is strong enough that it can also resist the challenges arising with climate change.

You are inspector of the Comité Andaluz de Agricultura Ecologica (CAAE)Andalusian Committee for Organic Agriculture, currently on your way to a control of organic farmers in the contendedcontroversial or disputed region of Almeria.

You are driving along huge greenhouses with plastic coverage, fountains and water pipe systems.

The farmers are giving you a tour through the massive greenhouses. Obviously, there is not much going on.

Maybe the rumours about the poor working conditions are not true. But you feel like the workers did not come to work due to your control.

Slowly, you find your way through the sun-flooded greenhouse with countless rows of oranges to your sides.

With the samples of earth and fruit for the food laboratory in your luggage, you have the idea of driving to the surrounding area of Almeria, at the edge of the greenhouses.

What you see shocks you. You are standing on dried out ground covered in old plastic, which comes from the greenhouses.

This is against every principle of sustainable agriculture.

But still, there is nothing you can do against those farmers because the organic label, with which they produce their goods, has an extremely low standard and does not forbid those kinds of practices.

There are not many options left for you.

Bored, you move the goods over the counter, continuously hearing the monotone beep in your ears. You realized that the people are paying more and more attention to a high quality of their foods, with serious quality labels.

Some products with a specific kind of organic label earned a bad reputation, as a Spanish inspector called to action against social and ecological deficitsproblems, also found in organic production.

By now, you are very distrustful of the products of your own store. Instead, you joined a community of consumers, which are only using fruits and vegetables from the region.

At least your friend informed you that the controls got more strict as a consequence of the protests in Italy.

Apparently, some farmers are trying to corruptconvince, persuade the inspectors in order to move ahead in the same way.

Sometimes you are really wondering about the sense of the whole system, which makes people use deceitfultrügerische strategies. On the monitor in front of you, you can see the sum of the different amounts: 1,49€, 2,89€, 4,76€…

Suddenly you start dreaming. Could there be a world without money, without prices, without the pursuit for profit?

„That is going to be 21,33€. Have a good day!”, you say to the young woman, lost in thought.

„Thank you very much, you as well.” She gives you a bright smile.

It is this smile, which gives you the courage to believe in your dream.

It’s ringing. You are already laying in your bed, getting up surprised.

An unknown number.

Wondering about the number, you pick up. The voice seems known. He is greeting you in Spanish, but you notice his west-african accent right away.

He tells you that he escaped to Spain once he could not stand the fruit plantation any longer, and his demand for asylum finally got accepted after two years.

He had a horrible time, laid in the hospital for a long time, fighting cancer and infectiousDiseases caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi disease.

The doctors already gave up any hope, but he survived. Now he is working for the Spanish Organic Control Agency (CAAE).

His precursor got fired afterhe was found sending wrong samples to the laboratories. You are certain that he will do a better job, as he is very precise.

Right now, he is sending most of the money he is earning to his family back in Burkina Faso. But in about a year, when he has saved up enough money, he will come to visit you in Germany.

As you come back to consciousness, you are laying at the edge of the fruit plantation, looking in the black eyes of a worker, whose name you forgot.

„Drink this.“, he tells you with a slight tunisian accent, pressing his water bottle in your hand. The sun is burning right in your face.

Seems like you collapsed while you were monitoring the work on the plantation.

Too much heat, in addition to the stress caused the large supermarket chain increasing the pressure again.

They are excellent in letting the small fruit producers battle each other and keep lowering the prices more and more. Those who want to keep up have to pay a price.

You are still embarrassed while watching the plantation workers.

[Squint your eyes