Local success in Asda
FOLLOWING the success of its `Best of the Lakes' range in the Kendall store Asda has extended the range into its store in Barrow. More than 70 locally sourced food and drink products from 17 Cumbrian suppliers can now be found on supermarket shelves.
Locally sourced food went on sale in the Asda Kendall last September when Sir Donald Curry officially launched an initiative between Plumgarths and Asda. Plumgarths Lakelands Food Park was founded by Cumbrian livestock farmer John Geldard whose vision to link small specialist food producers with a major super
market was realised when he joined forces with Asda's local sourcing team.
Products sold in Asda Kendal are outselling their branded rivals across the board and the success has not only led to the launch in Asda Barrow but became a launch-pad for a range of projects across the country to find local products from small suppliers for all 259 Asda stores.
One such project is the `Best of Wales - Y Gorau o Gymru' range launched in Asda's 15 Welsh stores. The range includes over 70 new food and drink products and 50 nonfood lines.
A pioneering dairy bull beef scheme aimed at opening up a multi-million pound fast food market for Welsh farmers has been hailed a big success - with the 1,000th calf being transferred from supplier to contract rearer. More than 50 farmers across Wales have now signed up to the innovative new project following its launch in January and further calls are still being received.
Scheme developers, The Welsh Meat Company and the Wynnstay Group, say they are delighted with the response to the scheme - claimed to offer a profitable way forward for farming in Wales and an opportunity to create new jobs in a beleaguered industry.
"It is fantastic to see that after three years of extensive research and trials at the Institute of Rural Studies, Aberystwyth, the bull beef protocol has been successful and is being utilised by the rearers across Wales involved in this scheme," said Wynnstay's commercial manager, Emyr Jones.
