If you would like to help us get more local food to local people by rebuilding the local food supply chain please register your email and postcode by clicking here. We will send you our post code specific newsletter via email every month to keep you up to date on food news and special offers in your area.

You will also be helping us to persuade supermarkets to give local farmers space in store to sell their produce and take 75% of the retail price ( A big increase on the average of 9p in every £1 they currently get). The more people we have registered the more likely we are to get a local food section in your local supermarket.

Jamie Oliver raised awareness to the evils of the Turkey Twissler and got enough people to sign his petition to influence the government to raise budgets for school food. Everyone is saying supermarkets have too much power, the truth is that they all say they will do what their customers want, this was proved when they took GM food off their shelves. We consumers have the power to change things for the better. Registering with BigBarn is the easy way of doing this so please get your friends to sign up as well.

We will not pass on your details and give you the option to be de-listed permanently any time you choose.

Big News. Did you catch BigBarn featured on Radio 4’s Food Program?

Never mind, the wonders of modern technology mean you can click on the link at the bottom of this page and listen to it now. Or catch Carrotman on UKTV Food between 12:30 and 1:30pm Friday 29th April.

Fresher food, celebrating seasonality, fewer food miles, money to stay in the community, people seeing the food they eat in the fields around them, kids visiting local farms to understand the full story of their school and home meals, people’s health improving as a result of eating better food and more. So many benefits from a local food supply chain, so why doesn’t it happen? This column looks at why and offers a few ideas that could make it happen.

Problems in building the local food supply chain

1. We have lost many of our farmers. At a meeting last night I heard that 10 years ago Hertfordshire had 121 dairy farmers they now have only 6.
2. The existing food supply chain is very efficient. Schools can serve a meal on a budget of 40p per child, restaurants can order a complete range of fresh ingredients as well as washing up liquid and loo rolls all in one order and receive one delivery.
3. Supermarkets offer the convenience of the one stop shop.
4. To compete with this convenience the local supply chain requires farmers to co-operate. Tricky.
5. Some schools and businesses have long term contracts with existing supply chain companies such as Compass and Sodexho

All is not lost however, we, the consumer are not stupid, and most of us now realise we have gone too far to the ‘dark side’ of food. Turkey Twisslers in school dinners are a prime example of how bad things have got, but the fact that a good meal can be made on a budget of 50p using local ingredients is overwhelming proof that change can and MUST take place.

So How?

In 1999, before I started BigBarn I wanted to set up a Farmers Market shop that stocked as much locally produced food as possible, had the farmers in store every Saturday like a Farmers Market, a PYO fruit and veg, animals, had a “not from round here” section for essentials like bananas and coffee and was part owned by the local farmers and even the local community. As I had no retail experience, could not get planning permission to convert the big barn, or raise the half million pounds capital, the barn is still empty.

This Farm Super Shop, I believe would have been a great success as it would have met the consumer need for convenience and achieved the critical mass of business to encourage local farmers to join the scheme and grow a wide range of produce. Local schools could then be supplied and the kids even come and visit as part of the curiculum.

The high cost of set up is perhaps why there are not many Farm Super shops around the country. I am sure that critical mass is the key to starting a successful local food supply chain. Either critical mass of demand from local people, and organisations to encourage farmers to team up to supply local produce, from one place. Or, on a smaller scale, enough demand to make local delivery cost effective. The big question seems to be; how much money do you need to set up a sustainable local food hub? In the case of the Farm Super Shop, a lot, a local box scheme that is profitable as soon as it has a certain number of local deliveries, very little.

This is why four years after my initial farm shop idea and post Jamie Oliver’s School dinners I think the demand for local food has grown so much that local food supply chains are now a great deal cheaper to set up. Anyone can use BigBarn to see if they have a local delivery and if not find local farmers to buy from and set up a box scheme to deliver to local people. I would like to see local box schemes grow to become local food hubs every 10 miles supplying local people, shops, schools and businesses. Each hub may have to buy in from outside the area occasionally to meet consumer demand but in time local farmers will be encouraged to grow a wider range of produce to meet the local demand.

BigBarn has now become the information database to set up new local food supply chains and to promote them once set up.

Since our feature on Radio 4 we have had hundreds of requests from people wanting to know how they can find their local box scheme and I am amazed by the large number of places that do not have one. So there it is. A business opportunity for some people and, soon I hope, a delivery of locally produced food for everyone. To help the process please register here and we can let you know if a box scheme sets up in your area. And please tell your friends to register, the more people we have on our database the more we can help catalyse the growth of the local food supply chain.

To listen the Radio 4’s Food Program featuring BigBarn please click here

This week we are lucky enough to have a Masterclass from George Jackson. George is a prolific prize winner in Horticultural shows and has an expertise in growing veg to perfection. Being my neighbour (the sharp eyed ones might be able to spot a glimpse of Humphreys Green over his shoulder) George has offered invaluable advice on the Patch. He is also a talented sculptor, some of his work can be found here. Over to you George:
Sunday in Cambridge was a wonderful wall to wall sunny day. The kind of spring day when all good vegetable gardeners cannot wait to empty all their seed packets on the nice warm soil. What a waste of time and seed!
LITTLE AND OFTEN should be your motto.
Mid April is a good time to sow many varieties of seed, lets run through an alphabetical list of common types.

Broad beans.
Can be sown mid Feb to mid May, but the best are sown mid March. They grow quickly at this time and are ready before the sun dries out the ground too much. They can still be sown now. For some reason it is normally recommended that they are sown in double rows. A single row is much easier to hoe. A 10-ft row each month is about right.

Runner beans.
Why do people grow so many! 10 seeds are enough for most families. They should be planted now in pots ready to plant out in a few weeks when the frost has gone. A cold green house, cold frame or a sheltered spot will do for this.

These are mine; they are about 10 days old. When you plant them out, space them at least 12 in apart. Do not let them produce side shoots or flowers until they are 3 ft tall.

Beetroot.
Sow mid March to July every 4 weeks A 4-ft row each month is ok for me. Sow very thinly, each �seed� is in fact a cluster so they need to be 3 in apart. Thin out to one or two plants per station when they are big enough to handle.

Broccoli.
Summer and autumn verities can be sown now. All my brassicas and lettuce are sown in mini pots.If you sow this way you avoid tedious thinning out and a packet of seeds will last several years!

Sprouts.
These are mine in the above photograph. They can be sown now. They will be big plants, give at least 3ft between plants.

Summer cabbage.
Sow now in mini pots.

Carrots.
There is nothing like home-grown carrots! Sow in 4ft rows ever 4 weeks. Must be covered with barrier net to protect against carrot fly.

Summer Cauliflowers.
Sow now. Max 10 every 4 weeks or they will all be ready on the same day!

Courgettes.
Sow now as for runner beans but two plants only.

Outdoor cucumber.
As above.

Lettuce.
Sow in mini pots as above every two weeks. A packet of seeds will last for years!

Peas.
The best thing in the garden! I use Root-trainers.I sow one of these every 4 weeks from Jan to May. It saves all the problems with mice or birds and you get a continuous supply of peas and again a packet of seeds will last years.

The pots open up to make planting easy. I put two seeds to a cell. Plant 3in apart.

Outdoor Tomato.
Again start in mini pots.These are now ready for potting on, to be put out in about 4 weeks time.

Potatoes
I start sowing my potatoes mid March, but only 6 tubers every other week. This way I have �new� potatoes over a long season. New potatoes are only at there best for about 10 days, after which they loose their flavour. Sowing this way you always eat then at there best. If the 1st batch get frosted it is worth the risk just to get those 1st wonderful new potatoes as soon as possible. I do the same with my early main crop (Nadine) even saving some to plant late July so that I can dig �new� potatoes in November.

If the tubers are set up like this they will keep in good condition until July.

That will be all for this week. We will give further tips as the year progresses. Such as when to pot up strawberries to get them like this! They should soon be ready to eat.

P.S. I trust you noticed last weeks deliberate mistake! Rows should run north and south as near as possible. Thanks to George for spotting my deliberate mistake and those handy tips.

Next time we shall have another guest masterclass see you then.

The price of English onions in nearly all the supermarkets is 64p a kilo which works out at £640 per tonne, yet my cousin has similar onions on his farm and can only get £60 per tonne for them. Is this common in the food industry and what’s the full story?

This statistics gives the impression that consumers are paying too much for onions and that farmers are not getting a fair percentage of the retail price for their produce. The full story is very interesting and looking at this market raises many questions about what is right and wrong, who are the winners and whether these market forces are present throughout the UK food market.

The Facts

1. The retail price of onions has been set by the supermarkets at (currently) 64p per kilo, £640 per tonne
2. Farmers who have contracts with the supermarkets, or their ‘middle men’, receive about £190 per tonne, my cousin who has no contract can only get about £60 per tonne
3. There is a world surplus of onions currently. Processing onions can be purchased from Holland, whose crop is 60-70% larger than last year, for £30 per tonne delivered to the UK as delivery costs about £25 per tonne they are effectively giving them away as they are not allowed to dump them.
4. English onions are ‘old crop’ meaning they are coming out of storage sheds 9 months after harvest. As such they are not as firm as onions from Chile, only 2 months old.

Questions

1. Do the supermarkets fix the price to make sure their farmer suppliers make a profit.
2. What percentage of UK farmers benefit from a price fixing policy.
3. If prices followed world commodity prices who would benefit.
4. Are consumers paying 10 times more than the wholesale price for every food product
5. Do we really want a fresher onion from chile

Answers

1. I wonder whether supermarkets fix the price to help farmers or to make a reasonable profit themselves. The higher the price the higher their percentage return.
2. A very small percentage of the total number of UK farmers supply supermarkets and therefor benefit from price fixing. It does however give those that do have a contract a guaranteed profit meaning they can plan for future years production and grow their business. Many supermarkets are actually cutting back on the number of suppliers preferring to deal with those that have proved they can their fulfil their contracts.
3. In the short term the consumer would benefit as years like this year mean onions are cheap next year however they may be expensive. In the long term some farmers will go out of business and those with the lowest cost of production (eastern europeans) and those with deep pockets (the really big farmers who can survive 2 profitable years in five) will survive.
4. Consumers are paying more than they should for food, we can go to farm shops, farm gates, grow our own or join a local food co-op but prefer the convenience of the open all hours one stop shop and trust we are getting a good deal.
5. More and more people are realising that the true cost of Chilean onions in terms of carbon emissions from food miles and lower returns to local farmers is greater than the 84p per kilo they pay.

The result

Supermarkets have a responsibility to their shareholders to maximise profits and the power to fix prices for long term stability. They are using this power to provide us with the service they say we want; convenience, reasonable price year on year, high quality, standard size, good shelf life and a wide range of fresh English produce. To a certain extent we do want these things but realise we are paying a great deal more than farmers receive and what about taste? We are not stupid, we see the huge profits, farmers giving up farming and in true British tradition distrust those with power.

The solution

Rebuild the local food supply chain by giving farmers a decent return and the critical mass of business to make it worth their while teaming up. In Norfolk we are doing this by working with Roy’s of Wroxham who will give local farmers space in their supermarket and 75% of the retail price. Let the consumer meet the farmer, raise awareness to fresh in season fruit and veg. The popularity of farmers markets proves this is popular.

At this high return farmers will be encouraged to team up, grow a wider range of crops and supply other local users such as schools and hospitals. At 64p a kilo for onions our Norfolk farmers will receive £480 per tonne, 8 times more than my cousin is currently hoping to receive. Just imagine how many farmers would benefit if every supermarket had a local food section.

More produce, more money to the farmer, more jobs on farms, better school food, healthier kids and parents. Win, win, win, win.

Our Roy’s of Wroxham initiative will act as pilot scheme and hopefully prove that consumers will react positively to the local food offer and provide the critical mass of business to encourage farmers to rebuild the local supply chain. We will keep you up to date on progress and would like you to register with us here and email this article to a friend so we can persuade your local ‘customer led’ supermarket to follow our lead.