Great British Food Revival; Pears

It was great to see the Great British Food Revival this morning talking about British pears and seeing consumers show a real preference for the British pear. As usual though, they missed the main point. British pears are better and should be cheaper, especially if local.

The trouble with the UK Food Industry is that if customers all go to the supermarket demanding British pears, the supermarket will mark them up more than foreign. Just as they do with Fair Trade and Organic. As a profit focussed business, they see rising consumer demand as a reason to mark up prices.

At the same time the UK pear grower, supplying the supermarket, will get a measly 10% of the retail price and soon go out of business.

In a local food industry, where consumers are buying from local producers and retailers, pears will be local, fresher, and cheaper. With the grower getting at least 50%+ of the retail price. With these margins the grower plants more trees and varieties of pear that have great flavour rather than shelf life.

To find your local pears type your post code in to our local food map. or if you have a pear tree, and can’t eat them all, look for icons with a Rosette flag, where you can take your pears to be sold as part of our Crop for the Shop initiative.

If you don’t have local pears or a Crop for the Shop ‘Community Champion’ selling local people’s produce, you will soon. The LOCAL food industry is bound to grow when so many people want local food, coupled with the fact that it is now cheaper. If you would like to help it grow quicker, we would like you to join us by investing in our BigBarn Social Enterprise for profit and Social gain.

So come on BBC do the right thing and tell the local story as well. Or get me to help. 01480 890 970