Champions of local food are abandoned

Mar 27 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

A FOOD agency set up to promote the best in regional produce has been scrapped by Government cuts.

The Food From Britain (FFB) marketing group was tasked by the Government with finding the best food from regions such as the North East and taking them to the rest of the UK and abroad.

But despite a list of success stories since it was set up in 1983 – including the marketing in America of meat substitute Quorn – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has decided it cannot afford to keep funding the group.

The withdrawal of just £5m a year in Defra funding will leave organisations such as the Northumbria Larder without a voice to help them sell local food outside the North East.

The Larder was set up in 2002 with support from the FFB and has been integral in helping farmers and food suppliers in County Durham, Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear to find a new market for industries hit by that year’s foot-and-mouth outbreak.

A Taste North East England campaign is being run by The Journal aimed at encouraging restaurants and shoppers to buy local, use local, eat local. The campaign is backed by the Larder, which is now looking for more backing after the Government cuts.

Northumbria Larder chairman Jack Jeffery has secured support from development agency One NorthEast, but said that while the Larder may not suffer financially, the loss of the Government-backed promotions body was a damaging blow.

He said: “They were an organisation with a national reach and could promote British food, including produce from our region, and that framework was a great help.

“There is a trend towards reducing the amount of regional funding for projects like ours and we are aware that we need to reduce our dependence on public funds. It’s something we know we now need to look at.”

Defra will cut the food group’s funding to £4m this year and cease to offer any support next year.

The Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn, said there were too many pressures on his department’s limited funds.

In a statement yesterday Mr Benn said his department had “concluded that maintaining a subsidised consultancy service for British food exporters was a lower priority than ensuring adequate funds were available for dealing with the consequences of animal diseases”.

However, Defra has been criticised for failing to control its budget, and has had to cut back in many areas after a £1bn overspend.

Shadow environment minister Jim Paice said: “One month the Prime Minister talks about the importance of promoting British food and farming, the next he axes the organisation which does just that.

“It is clear that Defra’s financial incompetence is behind this decision. Valuable funding is being axed to pay for last year’s release of foot-and-mouth disease from a Government laboratory and the ham-fisted implementation of the single payment scheme.

“Not only have farmers borne the brunt of the Government’s bungling, they are being hit by the cuts that this incompetence has necessitated.” FFB chairman Lady Sylvia Jay said she had no option but to close down the board. “We know that there is great appreciation for FFB’s services within the UK food and drink industry and we hope that some of our services will continue through a different models.”

Farming: page 40.