TV chef leads fight against supermarkets

The Independent

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the television chef and champion of small producers, is fronting a new offensive against the supermarkets which he portrays as a "bullying" force destroying British food.
The Channel 4 presenter will denounce the supermarkets at a public meeting in Westminster tonight and demand new powers to limit their growth.
Four campaign groups are behind the event, Supersized Supermarkets: Friends of the Earth, War on Want, ActionAid and the anti-Tesco website Tescopoly. They are asking the public to write to their MPs and the Competition Commissioner to make five demands, ranging from a new consumer watchdog to stronger labour rights.
The Commissioner is investigating whether the supermarket groups, which take 72 per cent of grocery spending in the UK, are abusing their dominant position.
Campaigners argue that stores harm the environment, diminish local communities and bully suppliers over prices and councils over planning permission.

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A warm glow: entrepreneurs start up 'farmers markets without the draughts'

The Guardian

By Angela Balakrishnan

Situated on a bustling high street in south-west London, Farmers' City Market appears to be just another shop. The only clues to what may lie within are the two white statues of cows. A glimpse inside and it soon becomes clear that this is not your average store.
But nor is it your average farmers' market. This is a venture that aims to provide all the quality and reliably sourced food of other farmers' markets but without the draughty surroundings and temporary stalls. More ambitiously, the three founders, Jana Satchi, Stephen Wilkinson and George Beach, say they want to redefine food shopping.

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Buying organic food ‘can harm the planet'

The Times

By Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter

Buying organic food grown locally may sometimes be more damaging to the environment than nipping down to the supermarket for produce that has been driven hundreds of miles across the country, a new study suggests.
Research looking at the environmental impact of food from farm to the plate and beyond suggests that locally-grown food may not be as environmentally friendly as it’s said to be.
Similarly, long-distance transportation may not deserve the demonisation it has received for the emissions of carbon dioxide it generates. However, scientists questioned the growing use of aircraft to carry foods around the world.
The findings, from a study commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to guide policy on which types of food production and consumption to encourage, prompted a furious response from the Soil Association, which promotes and certifies organic food.
The report concludes that so little is known about the overall environmental impact of any food produce that it is impossible to say which are the most environmentally friendly.
But while the merits of some organic products were recognised by the study, researchers pointed out that others cause more damage than non-organic items.

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