Sustain welcomes a new government initiative which helps small scale farmers and food producers supply to schools, hospitals and the forces.
The Food Marketplace enables British farmers, fisheries and ethical food producers to market their produce and win public sector contracts worth £1.2 billion each year. It is part of the Defra’s Plan for Public Procurement which aims to improve standards and open up the supply chain to a wider range of companies.
Kath Dalmeny, the Chief Executive of Sustain, believes the tool will be very useful for providing fresh, healthy food for schoolchildren, hospital patients and the armed forces.
“Farmers and food enterprises need help to market their products and to highlight any accreditations for higher welfare meat, sustainably caught fish, fairly traded products and environmentally grown food. This is good for jobs in the biggest employment sector in the UK, and for returning more money and environmental benefits to rural and coastal economies, as well as supporting better livelihoods for farmers in developing countries.”
The website also includes a balanced scoreboard for farmers and food producers to see how they measure up to the government’s Buying Standards for Food.
Kath Dalmeny is keen for Food Marketplace to be the beginning of greater improvements in the supply chain.
“The next big step that Defra and the Department of Business, Energy and Innovation (BEIS) must make is to ensure that farmers and food enterprises are dealt with fairly by buyers in both public sector catering and in high-street supermarkets, and are not unfairly disadvantaged by common practices such as delayed payments, poor forecasting and late cancellation of orders. Farmers and smaller food enterprises must not be made to bear the costs of such unfair trading practices. Defra’s real test for their support for farmers will be whether Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove champions the extension of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to protect farmers, making sure that supermarkets play fair.”
Sustain works to improve food in public settings, running the Campaign for Better Hospital Food and work on improving school food.
Published Tuesday 24 October 2017
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
