THE increase in locally- grown food products from the South West going into high-profile supermarkets and properly marketed as "local", is being highlighted this month. Cornish eggs from a free range chicken farm on the Roseland will be finding their way on to the shelves of Asda.

Stores throughout Cornwall, including Penryn and St Austell and others across the Tamar, will be selling eggs from the Cornish farm in an effort to raise the profile of locally sourced produce and give the consumer more choice.

The Tonks family, who run Ventonwyn Farm, Tregony, where they have upwards of 14,000 chickens, have signed up to a deal whereby eggs from the farm are collected, sorted, checked and labelled with the famous lion stamp before ending up being sold as genuinely locally produced Cornish food.

The farm is owned by Richard and Christine Tonks whose daughter, Rebecca, and son-in-law, Andrew Morris, are also involved.

Rebecca and her husband, who returned to the family farm after a number of years in the pub trade, have helped establish a new packing plant from which the eggs will be distributed under the name of St Ewe Free Range Eggs and in high- profile noticeable blue boxes. All will also carry the Taste of the West label.

Eggs from the farm have in the past found their way into Cornish shops, but never on this scale and Rebecca hopes the business will grow with even other producers joining in.

The area devoted to chickens on the family farm has enabled three large sheds to be set up, each with about 4,000 laying hens in them. All have ready access to the outside fields.

Another house is devoted to newly arrived chicks where they remain for some weeks before going into one of the other sheds to start laying.

Richard has been involved with poultry for 25 years having once been a dairy farmer keeping a herd of Jerseys. In fact, part of the old dairy now forms part of a chicken house. He agrees the farm's latest venture represents considerable investment but everyone was confident it would pay off. It was also flying the flag for Cornwall and could even tempt more poultry owners to have a go, eventually seeing their products sold nationwide.

With about 12,000 eggs a time being sent off to the supermarket chain from the end of April consumers should get used to spotting the prominent blue egg boxes.

Back on the farm, the emphasis on free range and quality of life for the stock has been paramount throughout. There is no overcrowding in the chicken sheds.

In fact, Richard keeps far fewer hens than than each shed could take and in the fields there is plenty of space. Even the odd cock roams quite freely and happily amongst the hens.

Rebecca is keen to spread the word about Cornish produce being made more readily available keen to involve more farmers and smallholders.

Whilst having sufficient land available for free range chickens, it need not be that much and Rebecca sees no reason why smaller breeders or those with smallholdings cannot embark on a similar programme as her family has.

She is willing to discuss setting up and running such a business if it means more local produce being sold on a grander scale.

In fact, she also runs her own small but modern bakery from a converted building on the farm. Under the name of the Cake Tin she sells bread and other baked products to a number of local stores.

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