Better Food Traders and all their members (including us at Lee Greens) have published findings from a report into the benefits of local veg schemes. The new report is based on interviews with customers, farmers and staff of Growing Communities - one of your fellow Better Food Traders - and shows that local food retailers who sell food from climate-friendly farmers generate significant value for the people that eat the food, grow the food and the environment.
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A new report shows that local food retailers who sell food from climate-friendly farmers generate significant value for the people that eat the food, grow the food and the environment.
For every £1 spent buying organic food through a veg scheme, almost £3 more is generated in benefits to customers, farmers, citizens and the planet.
The report was written by thinktank NEF Consulting in collaboration with organic certification body Soil Association based on interviews with customers, farmers and staff of Growing Communities, which runs an organic fruit and veg scheme and farmers’ market in Hackney, London. Results were then measured against national indicators of health and well-being as well as environmental measures such as wildlife, biodiversity and soil health.
Like Growing Communities, Lee Greens is part of the Better Food Traders network, a group of retailers that adhere to strict principles about how the food they sell is sourced and sold: paying fair prices to local sustainable farmers; keeping supply chains short; and encouraging people to eat less meat and processed food and more fresh fruit and veg.
The report concludes that selling food this way offers customers a “competitive and attractive product that generates multiple benefits for customers” in terms of improved health and well-being and reduced food waste.
“This study shows that Better Food Traders are delivering on all the elements we want from a good food and farming system,” said Growing Communities director Julie Brown. “Decent and healthy food for all (fresh, seasonal and mainly plant-based); nature-friendly food production; and engaged and empowered citizens willing and able to feed themselves.”
“I’d argue that the Better Food Traders do this a lot better than the supermarket-driven system, which is currently failing to deliver on those things.”
The report found that buying food through a local veg scheme, such as Lee Greens, has many benefits:
Here at Lee Greens we’re thrilled that, after 6 years working to make the food and farming system fairer and more sustainable, we now know the true value of the benefits for people and planet.
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To join the Lee Greens fruit and veg scheme visit the sign up now tab in the top right hand corner of this webpage
Find out more about the Better Food Traders: betterfoodtraders.org
To read the report Farmer-Focused Routes to Market: An Evaluation of Social, Environmental and Economic Contributions of Growing Communities in full, visit NEF Consulting report
See also Julie’s blog post on the GC website: How buying through GC is better for you and your planet | Growing Communities
