Local food marketing set to go mainstream?
Local food marketing set to go mainstream?
THE policy commission has given its backing to the local food movement by calling for pump-priming money to help develop the market.
The report said producers should build on the publics enthusiasm for local food. The marketing of such food should become mainstream in Britain because it gives farmers a chance to add value to their produce.
To give the local food movement a boost, the commission said Food From Britains remit should be widened so it can encourage domestic markets as well as export markets.
And, to encourage shops to sell local food, stores should be given business rate relief on any part of the premises which they allow local producers to sell direct to the public from.
In recognition of the role that supermarkets play in most consumers lives, the report indicated steps must be taken to make sure retailers do not abuse their size in the market- place.
It recommended the Office of Fair Trading undertakes a formal review of the workings of the new Code of Practice after two years and recommended all shops and food service companies abide by it, not just the four big retailers who are obliged to.
But FoE executive director, Charles Secrett, said the commission had failed to adequately tackle the issue of supermarket power. "Unless the government tackles the trading practices of the big food companies, many of the farmers that manage the countryside for the benefit of tourism and wildlife will disappear." *