Buying Local Food and Tightening Your Belts
There are upward and downward spirals in all walks of life, but for consumers of food and drink there really are some big ones to watch out for.
Here’s an example of the downward kind… A recession is kicking-in so many people are tightening belts - they go to the supermarket and buy whatever cheap deals or buy-one-get-one-free offers they can, regardless of where the stuff comes from or how it’s been produced. And so begins a descending spiral. The food might not be anywhere as nutritious as it should be, it might have been produced without any regard for the environment and may have been imported from thousands of miles away, all of which helps put UK producers out of business, which in turn harms the local economy.
Bertie Matthews surveys his flour mill in the Cotswolds
The opposing upward spiral would go something like this… A consumer thinks hard about the items they buy, realising that what is nowadays known as “nutrient-dense” food can actually be cheaper when it comes to gram-for-gram of goodness than cut-price fodder. This person is aware of environmentally ruinous food miles and the importance of having a healthy local economy, and they take the trouble to look into the farming or production techniques employed nearby people or businesses who are selling the item required.
This spiral will not necessarily cost the consumer more, but might result in increasingly good health for them and their family as well as help safeguard the region’s environment and promote a more stable and sustainable local economy.
None of it is rocket science - but how many of us can really put our hands on our hearts and say we know all the pros and cons regarding our all-important human fuel? Not many, I’ll wager. Vegans, for example will say they have a simple answer - to make everything they eat and drink plant-based and therefore save the planet. But go to the vegan aisle in any supermarket and you will see item after item which can only have been produced with massive industrial input. Plant-based “bacon”, to take one highly processed example, does not grow on trees. Neither does almond “milk” or any of the hundreds of other plant-based items imported from other parts of the world. It might have started life on a tree but it will have taken vast amounts of energy hungry machinery to create the final product and transport it vast distances.
In truth, there are no easy answers when it comes to a New Year’s resolution which I bet a great many people have made in recent days: ie a self-promise to eat and drink better, more healthily and more sustainably.
Learning about regenerative farming at FarmEd
However, one starting point is identical to the way in which we begin any journey - by which I mean, at home… Having said that, the move to buy-local will only work if the goods you’re purchasing are of a certain quality - it can be counter productive if an item turns out to be second-rate or mediocre.
At RAW Food and Drink PR we only deal with client companies in the region which have high standards. But as a private consumer it is worth doing a little more research if you are worried about the wider ramifications of your diet. Which doesn’t mean you have to turn yourself into an investigative reporter. Most local food and drink producers will have their own websites where they’ll explain their passion and ethos. Look up a few good regional companies and you will see that many of them put human and environmental health right up at the top of their sales pitches.
Why? One reason is that they realise many of the huge multinational giants they are up against can almost always win on price, thanks to industrial scale economics. Small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) need another USP.
The argument goes something like this: “Because we are smaller we can put a lot more love, passion and care into what we do. We can look after our local suppliers better which we’re keen to do because we know them personally. That extends beyond the farmers or growers of our raw materials to the animals they rely on and even the soils they grow on. This close relationship gives our product the edge nutritionally, socially and environmentally.”
This basic, but wise, approach means that even companies creating basic items such as milk or flour have a special and unique story to tell. Take Trewithen Dairy or Matthew Cotswold Flour as two shining examples - in their own ways both are leading the charge when it comes to helping the suppliers of their essential raw materials to take on more regenerative ways of farming. The people behind both companies realise things have to change and that manufacturers of food have to think more sustainably - and they are on a journey, learning that regenerative techniques are much kinder to the eco-systems we all rely on.
Last year these pages visited projects related to both companies. In Cornwall at Leyonne, in the hills above Golant, we joined a farm-walk to see the results of a two-and-a-half-year-old regenerative farming project being backed by Trewithen Dairy. Director Francis Clarke told us: “One of the things we’ve been so determined to do with this project is to underline the rigour with which we are testing. This is a long-term journey - so we want those year-three, four and five data points before we draw real conclusions…
“But there is no denying that the changes made on these farms are having an impact - a positive impact - on carbon storage and sequestration. Ultimately, that means lower carbon milk. The real win here is around the wider benefits for water quality, soil quality biodiversity, wildlife… Actually, carbon and carbon storage is almost a byproduct of good farming and farming with nature.”
In the Cotswolds we went on another farm-walk, this time linked with a mill tour organised by Matthews Cotswold Flour. Managing director Bertie Matthews told us: “An open day like this shows bakers the range of flours we create and also explains how our family run mill here in the Cotswolds has the ability to make so many different high quality flours. To some extent it’s about the technology we have here - but really it’s about the skills which our staff have evolved over generations.”
“And of course it comes down to the raw material,” Bertie added. “The quality and diversity of our products is reliant on the ongoing relationship we have with farmers. For example, we work closely with the Cotswold Grain Partnership (a group of local farming families and businesses) and we are connected by a shared desire to collaborate directly and share new ideas - developing new growing opportunities and promoting regenerative food sources and farming techniques.”
Both companies rely on the skills and know-how developed within families locally over generations - and the same could be said for the Devonshire nectar created at the oldest working cider mill in the UK. The team at Sandford Orchards combine tradition and innovation to take a fresh, natural and low-impact approach to producing an award-winning range of fine ciders.
Head cider-maker and all-round cider expert Barny Butterfield told us: “The undisturbed soil in our ancient orchards locks up carbon and supports natural fungi, small and large invertebrates, burrowing insects, small mammals and the greater food web that relies on them. The apple trees, which are fantastic carbon sinks too, are an amazing food source for a huge range of creatures. During blossom time, a 20 acre orchard serves up 900kg of nectar and 3.5 tons of pollen - and the apples, both on the tree and later on the ground, all provide a hugely welcome larder for insects, birds, bats, hedgehogs mice, voles, owls, foxes, badgers and more.”
The cider, by the way, is superb. I say that as a signed-up customer who regularly purchases Sandford Orchard cider online. I do that because I really am a fan and you don’t always see the brand on supermarket shelves - and I mention this because online shopping makes the buy-local ethos so much more simple, and also because many producers offer loyalty discounts to regular customers who buy direct. That can make the option of supporting local companies as competitive as shopping at a cut-price discount store, so what’s not to like?
The bottom line is that we consumers have a choice. During times of economic crisis we may feel the choice has been diminished simply by the reduction in funds we have available. Of course a few pence can make a difference, but remember there is plenty of truth in that oft-used phrase, “You get what you pay for”.
If you were shopping armed with a mental tick-list you’d be looking for the value (nutritional and otherwise) and quality-rating of the food or drink you were purchasing - alongside, perhaps, its environmental and sustainability credentials. You might also be aware of the long term future of food security in this country, or lack of it. There’s a real use-it-or-lose-it vibe to everything in this article so far. In an increasingly hungry and competitive world, the idea that Britain is way up there at the head of every food chain is rapidly becoming yesterday’s news.
We really do need to support and encourage our own food and drink production - which is why buying-local is at the top of my good food and drink intentions for 2023.
