Buying local brand still growing strongly
Even in this time of recession it seems that shoppers are still keen to buy local food and the ’local’ brand is still growing strongly. That is what Paul Temple, Vice President of the NFU, told NFU Cymru members at a meeting of Welsh Council recently.
Mr Temple said that at a time when sales of furniture are down by 30-40%, thankfully and remarkably people are still buying local food, which puts farmers in a good place right now. He said, "According to consumer trends, there will soon be a new generation of shoppers that will be re-shaped by the recession as they have never experienced a recession before. At the same time the public perception of a farmer is that we are the third hardest working profession behind doctors and nurses.
"We should see this positive feedback on how hardworking we are as farmers as an opportunity to become closer to our customers and communicate to them more about issues that are important to us, for example, food labelling," added Mr Temple.
Ed Bailey, NFU Cymru Vice President, agreed with Mr Temple and added, "Buying local produce is something we are keen on promoting to consumers here in Wales, particularly as it results in a reduction in food miles and it is something we shall be pressing when NFU Cymru gives evidence to the Assembly’s Rural Development Sub Committee."
On the subject of sheep EID and individual tagging the Vice President told Welsh Council that the NFU would leave no stone unturned in its fight against the regulation which is set to come in on 1 January 2010. He encouraged all sheep farmers to complete and return the NFU Sheep EID questionnaire that will be in the February edition of Farming Wales.
David Jones, the new NFU Cymru County Chairman for Montgomeryshire explained to Mr Temple that a large majority of Wales’ sheep flock was in mid-Wales. He appreciated all the work the Union had done on this issue to date but added that we would have to go down with all guns blazing against this ridiculous regulation.
Ed Bailey, the Vice President of NFU Cymru, has relentlessly opposed the introduction of EID and the individual recording of sheep and has represented NFU Cymru at meetings in Cardiff, London and Brussels on the subject. He was also part of a UK delegation which met with the European Parliament’s Agriculture committee to voice farmers’ concerns about the proposals.
Mr Bailey said, "We will continue to work tirelessly in Europe to bring other Member States and policymakers on side, later this month I will be back in Brussels again to discuss this issue. In the meantime the survey out next month will give a true picture of how electronic tagging and the need to record the individual movement of sheep will be received by grassroots farmers."