Ethical tomato dilemna

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:05:38 +0100, Peter Gillett

In our country town, the only greengrocer (like most, I believe) buys the stuff he sells from the wholesale market. Local producers are small fry who do not get much of a look in at wholesale level against the big boys, British or foreign. What most food buyers in Britain seem to want is stuff that a) is cheap as possible, b) looks OK. The greengrocers have to offer what sells to the majority market.

One of the stalls at the boot sale nearby does have produce from a local market garden, which is necessarily limited to seasonal produce, the other one works just like the shop in town for supplies. The farm shop has a lot of local produce, but has to try to compete on range, so has some imported stuff, but it is all unpackaged. Unfortunately, because turnover is not as fast as the shops for some items, plus their running costs are higher, some items are not good value.

As a result, it is not as simple as you imply - 'most places' do not have local produce readily available.

-- Regards, VivienB

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