Transition Town Bridport launched a new campaign this week to encourage Bridport shoppers to buy local food. The initiative follows a survey of prices and quality of vegetables and fruit available within walking distance of Buckydoo Square.
The survey group visited three small retailers, Fruits of the earth, Bridget’s Market and Nina’s, and three market stalls which sell vegetables on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and compared the produce with what is available from five supermarkets in town.
In terms of price, there was little to choose between them, with the local retailers coming second and third place out of eleven. Clearly small shops and stalls are competitively priced.
More significantly, many of the vegetables in the supermarkets had travelled many food-miles to reach Bridport, and were consequently less fresh. The most extreme example of this was one supermarket which sold organic apples from New Zealand. As Caroline Parking, of Leaker’s Bakery, pointed out “ It is shocking that supermarkets are buying organic apples from New Zealand, in October, when we have Elwell’s just down the road, great quality, fresh, with the minimum of chemicals, and on our doorstep”.
Almost all of the fruit and veg in the small shops, and all the stall produce was organic, produced without the need for chemicals and limited energy resources.
Finally, most of the supermarket food was packaged, with several ‘two for one’ offers paid for by the producers. The packaging requires energy and oil to make and ends up in landfill.
To summarise – the advantages of using Bridport Fruit and Veg grocers are:
- There are far less Food Miles on seasonal local produce
- Supporting local businesses makes Bridport stronger and increasing employment
- You know where the food is grown and how the soil is treated, giving transparency to the food suppliers.
- You get to know the shops owners and build up a trusting relationship with them
- You buy as much as you need, avoiding ‘two for the price of one’ offers and wasted food
- You learn how to cook becoming self sufficient
- You spend less money and avoid the enormous carbon footprint of imported and processed food
Sarah Wilberforce said “We are very lucky to have such a diverse and robust range of independent shops and market stalls. Considering the local retailers have less packaging and are mostly organically grown, the cost difference between them and the supermarkets is not so great. Add on the long and oil dependent supply chains of these giant retailers, and it makes even less sense to depend on the supermarkets for our fruit and veg.”
The next meeting of TTB food group will be at the Tiger, Barrack St on Thursday 17 November at 7.30. More information may be obtained through the website www.transitiontownbridport.co.uk.
