Local food really does matter. It helps to create jobs and protect economies, builds connections with people and thriving communities, and can even be healthier. By saving on transporting produce long distances, it helps the environment. And – most important of all – fresher food tastes better.

There are plenty of other reasons, too, why it makes sense to buy food locally. It’s becoming ever more important in helping to sustain communities and it need not be more expensive than using a giant supermarket.

Cumbria is at the heart of this new ‘field to plate’ revolution and local investment management company, Rathbones, wants to help shine a spotlight on the fantastic producers and suppliers in the county.

The company has built a tradition of investing and acting responsibly and aims to be a leader in this area. It looks beyond the short term to identify the most sustainable outcomes and build enduring value for its clients. At the same time, it works to make a wider contribution to society and build a lasting legacy.

The firm has just hosted an important and informative panel discussion looking at food sustainability in Cumbria. The event was chaired by the distinguished journalist, former newspaper editor and food campaigner Baroness Rosie Boycott. Rathbones has also produced a fascinating series of reports called The Planet Papers.

The Westmorland Gazette: Baroness Rosie BoycottBaroness Rosie Boycott

“Rathbones is a provider who know that they have to invest today for all our tomorrows,” Rosie said in the introduction to the online discussion. “They take a really responsible attitude to finance.

“Wealth managers and banks are really leading the way on climate change while governments too often drag their feet.”

She said she believed that local food was one of the most important issues of our day. “But Cumbria, like many British counties, is riven with inequalities.

“There are high end restaurants, but there are also quite a large number of food banks. One of the challenges that is often levelled at local food is its expense, but look at what ill health caused by poor and cheap food is costing the NHS. There’s a really big argument to say that we should be investing in a much better and more sustainable food system.”

The Westmorland Gazette:

Rosie also points out that when it comes to climate change, food is responsible for about 30 per cent of CO2 emissions, with much of this output coming from its importation or production in ways that compromise animals, the soil or the planet.

Another member of the panel was Mike Berners-Lee, author and professor of sustainability at Lancaster University. Mike is an expert on the carbon footprint of food and believes that Cumbria is a great place for teaching the rest of the world about food systems.

“At a global level, we simply have to reduce the amount of meat – especially beef and lamb – and dairy we consume,” he said. “We also need to cut waste in the food system.”

Mike stressed, however, that this reduction in meat and dairy need not be to zero, and Cumbria could be a place suitable for still producing these foodstuffs. The land in the country isn’t necessarily good for growing crops for human consumption, he added, but it would work for these products.

The Westmorland Gazette:

“We have to ask whether it is appropriate to use every piece of land in Cumbria to grow crops for human consumption. Should we let it rewild or use it for animal production and if so, how should we do that?”

Any animal production should be carried out in the most sustainable way, he added in the discussion, ensuring that it leads to a premium product for which people would pay an appropriately high price.

“There’s such an opportunity here in Cumbria to set up an exemplary practice. We need to see farmers given the kind of subsidies and incentives that allow them to earn really good livelihoods.

“It should be an opportunity, as doing the right thing on our land actually requires more people than the practices we use at the moment.”

 

HOW TEBAY PROVIDES A VITAL COMMUNITY SERVICE

Tebay Services on the M6 is far more than just a motorway halt and filling station. It is a restaurant, farm shop and a hotel, winning awards for its excellence.

The family-owned business is also committed to the idea of local food – much of which it sells on the premises – and it is a supporter of local communities. Sarah Dunning, chief executive of Westmorland Limited, was a member of the discussion panel and said it considered itself a food business that just happened to be on the motorway. It also runs similar motorway operations in Gloucestershire and Scotland.

The Westmorland Gazette:

Tebay grew out of the family farm, she explained. Her family were hill farmers and when the M6 was built through their land in the 1960s, they saw it as an opportunity.

“We still run the farm, rearing cattle and sheep, and it remains absolutely intrinsically linked to the business. That’s an important and central part of what we do.

“We have a very simple model. We don’t have any franchises, just a farm shop and a kitchen. We understand the craft of making handmade food and the importance of good ingredients.

“In our farm shops, we work with as many small craft suppliers such as food producers and farmers as we can find. We always start locally, though we’re very happy to also stock produce from further afield.”

Tebay works with 400 local farmers and producers – it classes local as a distance of 30 miles – across its businesses.

“We aim to be a champion of our place in everything we do, we want to keep the craft of making food alive and we try to run a business in a way that brings positive impacts beyond just profit. These are the things that really matter to us.

“We love food. It is one of life’s joys and it is at the centre of our most important human interactions. But it also has a huge impact on human welfare. So there are consequences in the foods we choose. As a business, we believe it’s really important to think about that choice.”

 

Click here to watch the full webinar.