Growing the local food movement

When people mention words to us, our minds conjure up pictures based on our expectations. We can’t help this, its just what happens. However, what we can do is challenge the perception our mind comes up with. This happens with social status, beliefs and food. When someone says they shop in Waitrose, the upmarket British supermarket, we immediately make assumptions about that person. Equally, we have the same reaction to those who are shop in markets, farmers markets and other stores. But when it comes to changing our shopping habits, these perceptions can prevent change and therefore stop us from eating in a more sustainable way.

The idea of eating locally is great. In theory, and if it is done properly, it should save cost, help the environment, increase freshness and goodness of the products and encourage us to re-engage with our food and where it comes from. However, the uptake in the UK has not been high. Admittedly, some of the local food advocates such as FarmDrop and The Food Assembly are new kids on the block who have not had time to develop. However, farmers markets saw huge growth in the 1990’s. They have been around for years. Yet the challenge to the dominance of the big 4 supermarkets is not local food or food delivery but more extreme discounters in the form of Lidl and Aldi.

So why are we not buying more locally?

Well one of the problems is that of perception. The local food movement is not mainstream and nor has it tried to be. Due to this, the perceptions people have is of the 1960’s style ‘hippy’. Obviously, in this day and age, this perception is wrong. People from all walks of life care about the environment, where their food comes from and their local economy. In fact, the make up of this market can often be those who care most about food and have the money to spend.

In addition to this, there is the perception that local food is more expensive — a myth we busted yesterday in Shopping Cheaply. As we discussed yesterday the idea of cheap food being available from the supermarket is just not true. There are many ways to buy cheap food and local food and farmers markets can often provide these opportunities.

The food chain has become extended to the point of ridiculousness as we discussed in our article about Scallops travelling from France to China and back again. Change needs to happen but to achieve that there is a lot of work to do. The steps towards local food have begun and like everything, the beginning is always the slowest part. The availability is beginning to grow with the formation of new companies in the area. The danger here is that, seeking growth, they distance themselves from their roots — both FarmDrop and The Food Assembly source from within 150 miles, one of them has increased this from 100 and this area calls into question the local economic and environmental benefits.

Secondly, we need to start changing perceptions. Local food should be for everyone, not the few. It needs to encourage people to try it not simply decide that it is not from the because they are a Waitrose or Tesco customer. This is difficult to do but Aldi and Lidl have both achieved a positive image change in the last 5 years. It can be done. The difficulty is that there is no one company or driving force out in front. These small start-ups need to come together to encourage this kind of change.

Finally, we need to change shopping habits. This is probably the most difficult of all the elements. People like ease, convenience and the perception of cheap shopping. Local food cannot compete. It probably never can do as we have become so used to a year round supply of fruit, veg and meat. It therefore needs to offer something new and something more exciting.

The local food movement has begun but has not really taken hold. There is a lot to do before there is any possibility that it will be able to achieve any percentage of the food industry. The benefits are there for everyone but in order for local food to really have a positive impact, we need to change people’s perceptions, habits and ensure that the offerings remain as local as possible.

Thanks for reading!

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Originally published at shrinkthesupplychain.com on December 18, 2014.