Categories
About us
Our background
Contact us
Our Markets
Search by county
Alphabetical list of Markets
Country Market Hampers
Become a producer
Recipe Feature
Previously-featured Recipes
Chestnut and Aduki Bean Pie
Creamy Leek Bake
Lamb and Apricot Pasties
Cranberry and White Chocolate Flapjacks
Moist Carrot and Ginger Cake
Simnel Cake
Order Recipe Book
Making Local Food Work
Links

Making Local Food Work

The Making Local Food Work Project is a multi million pound portfolio programme funded by the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) as part of its Changing Spaces programme. The programme will see £10 million invested in local food initiatives throughout England over five years. It aims to reconnect consumers to the land by increasing access to fresh, healthy local food.

Country Markets Ltd has £508,000 of funding over four years to explore and develop Indirect Selling; the sale of Country Markets home produced food through retail outlets such as community shops.

The Making Local Food Work project provides a fantastic opportunity to further the objectives of Country Markets Ltd:-

        • Growth and development of Country Markets

        • Widening of our customer base

        • Widening of our producer base

        • Making local food accessible to even more people

The project partners include:-

The Plunkett Foundation/ViRSA (Village Retail Services Association), Country Markets Ltd, National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA), Alliance for Better Food and Farming (Sustain), Campaign to Protect Rural England (CRPE), Soil Association and Co-operatives UK.

After some initial hiccups, the Country Markets Ltd Project Team is now complete and raring to go! The members of the team are already busy talking to producers and advisers who are interested in increasing their involvement in making local food work and are beginning to build a toolkit to enable our producers to start selling their products into retail outlets.

The next few months will see us designing a labelling system, writing guidance for the producers on every aspect of the new business, including getting to grips with food labelling legislation, and designing packaging and promotional material for use in the shops.

We are developing a training package to roll out to the advisers we are recruiting, who will be ensuring that the new process runs as smoothly as possible.

We will be working closely with our project partners, especially ViRSA, FARMA and Sustain, to ensure that our high-quality, home-produced food will reach even more of our discerning customers.

There is a lot to prepare and many questions to answer but the team is looking forward to reporting back on a successful entry into an exciting new market.

Follow the link below to enter the project website and learn more about the project and our partners;

www.makinglocalfoodswork.co.uk

We are currently developing the Making Local Food Work website with our project partners and will be building our own page on the site. Watch this space for news of website developments.

Find a Market