News Archive

A change in approach is needed to combat falsely labeled local food.  This is the message from Making Local Food Work in response to the report that a fifth of products tested in 300 shops, restaurants, markets and factories make false claims about their provenance.Local Government Regulation (LGR) inspectors, testing 558 products, found for example ‘Welsh lamb’ that came from New Zealand, ‘Somerset butter’ from Scotland and ‘Devon ham’ from Denmark. The LGR said the origin of a further 14% of products was unverifiable, so claims they were local were assumed to be false too. The survey also found cases...

Whether it’s your favourite local grocer or an ethical campaigner you feel is doing their part to promote greener living, your last chance to vote or nominate them in the Observer’s Ethical Awards 2011 is fast approaching. Categories include Local Retailer, Ethical Business, Conservationist and Big Idea, among others, so plenty of opportunities to show your support for your local community food enterprise or community-owned shop. You can nominate or vote in the awards by visiting http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/observer-ethical-awards-2011.

The Real Bread Campaign has just published Knead to Know: the Real Bread starter, the introductory guide to bringing Real Bread back to the heart of your local community.   In his introduction to the guide, Campaign ambassador Richard Bertinet, the award-winning author of Dough and Crust, founder of The Bertinet Kitchen & Bakery, and BBC Food Champion 2010, says: ‘Whether you are a professional baker, a home baker who would like to turn a hobby into a career or just someone who loves Real Bread, then this handbook will become an invaluable tool.’  Available from http://www.realbreadcampaign.org as a limited-edition book...

High praise from judges as Winchester scoops Best UK Urban Farmers’ Market 2011 awardWinchester Farmers’ Market has been hailed as ‘a beacon for other farmers’ markets’ in this year’s National Farmers’ Retail & Markets Association (FARMA) awards, which recognize the very best practice in directly connecting producer and consumer through local food. The results were announced at the annual Farm & More conference, at which judges praised Winchester for its ‘consistent hard work, business monitoring and innovation which has maintained the market’s high standards for over a decade.’ Winchester Farmers’ market was established in 1999 and is now the largest...

A community-owned shop in Yorkshire which is thought to be the smallest of its kind in the country is set to enjoy its official opening this weekend by celebrity chef and local personality, Rosemary Shrager. Photo courtesy of Stuart Boulton/Northern Echo The appropriately-named ‘Little Shop’ in Hudswell, North Yorkshire, is a mere ten feet by ten feet, yet provides a vital and much-used service to the entire community. Although already having been trading for the past month, The Little Shop will enjoy its official opening on Saturday 19 February at 12pm. Owned and run by the community itself, The Little Shop...

A staggering £330 million gap between the price paid for milk and the costs of producing it have been revealed in a report published by the NFU today.The Cost of Milk Production reveals that British dairy farmers are, on average, losing more than three pence on every litre of milk they produce. With 11 billion litres of milk produced annually on dairy farms across the country this equals a massive £330 million gap between production costs and the price received by British dairy farmers.The report also shows that by far the biggest factor adding pressures to a sector already struggling...

The People’s Supermarket is set to be the subject of a brand new series on Channel 4 starting this Sunday 5 February at 8pm. The sustainable food co-operative established by chef Arthur Potts-Dawson (pictured right) had already captured the hearts of Londoners with his clear ethos of benefiting the community, giving them good, healthy food at a reasonable price both to them and the producer, and has now caught the imagination of Channel 4 film makers, who have spent the last two years filming Arthur’s unique journey to a more sustainable shopping experience. The People’s Supermarket’s vision is to create a commercially...

Making Local Food Work is delighted to announce the launch of Local Food Systems, a new project supporting individual food groups across the country to work together co-operatively, increasing the impact of locally-produced food on their communities. The project will work with six clusters of community food enterprises, which are:The Kindling Trust – a fledgling social enterprise based in Manchester striving for a just and ecologically sustainable society. They wish to demonstrate a more viable local economic system that brings together the countryside and the city, revitalising communities and encouraging local resilience. Kindling is working towards this in a number...

In a report to be published this week, scientists will conclude food production will have to increase by between 70 and 100 per cent over the next 40 years in an attempt to tackle the unprecedented challenge of feeding the world in 2050.Despite this, the area of land given over to agriculture will remain static, or even decrease as a result of land degradation and climate change, and the global population is expected to rise from 6.8 billion at present to about 9.2 billion by mid-century.The Government-appointed advisers are expected to warn that ‘business as usual’ in terms of food...

The most comprehensive survey into the health of the community-owned shop sector ever to be undertaken sees its results being made public this week by rural communities charity the Plunkett Foundation. The report, which draws on information from community-owned shops across the UK, assesses the health and wealth of the sector today and provides an in-depth analysis into its profitability and contribution to the local economy. Community-owned shops have been one of the leading success stories of the social enterprise movement in the UK to date.  At the beginning of 2011 there were 251 community-owned shops, with new ones opening...