Comment

There was euphoria at the Devon Cattle Breeders' Society Spring Show and Sale where the record price for the Red Ruby Devon breed was broken by almost double.

FARMERS in the South West have thrown down the gauntlet to the food buying public challenging them to take a new look at the origins of the food they buy.

It forms part of the Country Landowners Association "Just Ask" campaign which has been gathering momentum throughout the food supply sector since its launch in Downing Street just over a year ago.

Since then, the Just Ask campaign has challenged individuals to question the retail and catering sectors about the origins of their food.

Now it is turning the spotlight on the public sector and raising questions as to whether more emphasis should be given to purchasing locally or home produced food within the vast organisations that make up the public sector.

Stepping up the campaign now co-incides with more and more South West farmers selling produce from their farms to large supermarkets.

This month one of the big five supermarkets has signed up to a deal to take Cornish branded milk and in another deal Cornish eggs are being collected and packed for sale at Asda in the South West.

Other deals have already been set up as supermarkets identify more local produce. But there is much more that could be done.

CLA South West director John Mortimer, told South West Farmer: "We have carried out research into just how much locally produced food gets into the public sector supply chain. But we also want to look at the barriers - such as whether we are able to deliver continuity of supply and consistency of quality - and at ways of enabling relatively small producers to access that market."

The CLA say that there has always been a presumption within the public sector that locally produced food is more expensive than the mass produced, frequently imported, food used in many catering outlets such as schools, prisons and the armed services.

"We want to challenge that perception and we also want to raise the questions of whether the environmental and ethical aspects of food production should feature in any cost analysis.

"Despite Just Ask being such a simple idea, it really sets some serious challenges and encourages everybody to think seriously about where their food comes from," said Mr Mortimer.

As South West Farmer went to press, speakers from a variety of fields including individual suppliers, public sector purchasers and regional policy experts came together for a special meeting at which a call was made for rules preventing local producers supplying the public sector to be re-examined. Purchasing policies should also be amended to enable individual public sector managers to look at sourcing food from local suppliers.

"Clearly any purchasing policy within the public sector has to be set against strict, and understandable, criteria such as providing value for money," said Mr Mortimer.

"But currently commanders of military bases, prison governors and similar individuals within the public sector are subject to rules which allow only central purchasing."

A CLA survey revealed that although many private and public sector bodies aspired to buy local food, few were actually doing so - and there was a need to narrow the gap.

One notable exception was the Cornwall NHS Trust whose development manager, Roy Heath, said that by going out to the market and by re-examining the criteria he was able to buy local food which did represent value for money and which benefited both patients and local supply chains.

"The word local means that some food is automatically excluded from the public sector because of the centralised purchasing policies and that is what we really need to challenge," said Mr Mortimer. "Providing local suppliers can meet the criteria demanded by public sector purchasers, they should be eligible to supply at a local level and should not be automatically excluded simply because they are local.

"There is some good news out there and people are getting to grips with this problem. The Cornwall NHS Trust and its local food policy provides an excellent example of how a sensible approach can bring benefits to the customer, the supplier, the community and the environment and that is the whole objective," said Mr Mortimer.

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login