Tesco introduces 'localchoice' milk to benefit local dairy farming families

FARMERS across West Somerset and Exmoor are set to benefit from a new milk product being sold by Tesco supermarkets.
The company has launched ‘localchoice’ milk in its stores in England and Wales, including its Minehead supermarket.
In partnership with Dairy Farmers of Britain, it is offering shoppers milk which is sourced from local farms.
Somerset is one of 14 country or regional variants of the milk which are available in what is a first for any national supermarket firm in Britain.
The ‘localchoice’ milk is available alongside standard milk, but at a slightly higher price - which means smaller, local producers can make returns more in line with the proportionately higher cost of running their business.
Tesco will also pay a premium to these farmers over and above the rate it pays to farmers who supply their standard milk, meaning ‘localchoice’ suppliers receive up to 23p per litre, one of the highest prices paid to producers anywhere in Britain.
Tesco chilled food director Kari Daniels said: “Many of our customers have told us they want us to make it easier for them to be able to buy food which is genuinely local to their area.
“Localchoice will not only reduce food miles but will also provide confidence to shoppers that if they buy a local product, they are helping their local economy and local suppliers, particularly small, independent family farmers.
“This milk does cost a bit more than our standard milk but shoppers will know that small and family farmers local to them are directly benefiting from this extra income.
“In this way, we are giving our customers the choice to be able to support, through their own buying decisions, the type of farming they want to sustain into the future.”
Dairy Farmers of Britain group commercial director David Potts said: “Consumers can support small and family owned farms from their region through purchasing ‘localchoice’ milk.
“The product will be sold at a relatively small premium to standard milk and will initially be available in the four-pint size carton priced at £1.23.
“This new initiative is right in line with what consumers tell us they want – which is to support quality local foods.”
Localchoice is part of a £25m annual investment by Tesco to support the British dairy industry.
As well as bringing a higher price to local producers, ‘localchoice’ also means Tesco can enjoy closer relations with its dairy farmers.
Localchoice farmers should be closer to the Tesco dairy team to share knowledge and understand consumer trends.
They will also be able to take part in Tesco local marketing initiatives, such as sampling in stores.
Photo submitted.

Every little helps West Somerset economy

THE latest television advertisement for supermarket giants Tesco has provided a financial fillip for the West Somerset economy.
The Crier can reveal the production was filmed on location in West Somerset in mid-March.
The advertisement, for a new range of low-cost clothing being sold by the firm, shows a woman riding on horseback through woods to attend a reception.
It was filmed on Crown Estates-owned land using secluded areas of Croydon Hill, between Dunster and Timberscombe.
A crew of more than 60 people was involved in the shoot, which took two days and also used two helicopters for aerial shots.
Most of the crew stayed in Minehead, many of them in the Gascony Hotel, in The Avenue.
However, there was no sign of actress Prunella Scales, who has become the face of Tesco’s television advertising.
Instead, the woman on horseback was thought to be a model named Amber Bird.

• Our photograph shows some of the film crew shooting the advertisement on Croydon Hill. Photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M030187. Order image reprints online at http://www.tcpbymtp.co.uk/.

West Somerset going bananas for Fairtrade Fortnight

RECORD Fairtrade sales figures have been announced, just as Fairtrade Fortnight in the UK starts.
The sales of Fairtrade products reached £300 million in the past year with 2,500 retails and catering products now so-branded.
The news came as The Co-operative also celebrated the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight with news that for the first time all 3,000 of its food stores will stock Fairtrade bananas.
As part of the celebrations,, Co-op staff in Minehead, Alcombe, Watchet, and Williton took part in the largest-ever simultaneous banana-eating bonanza in the UK.
As well as taking part in the record-breaking event, local Co-op staff were also ‘monkeying around’ with giant inflatable bananas and monkey masks and costumes, to highlight the good news to shoppers.
The Co-op, which introduced the UK’s first Fairtrade banana back in 2000, currently sells around 22 million Fairtrade bananas, and this is expected to jump to more than 43 million within a year as Fairtrade bananas go on sale in its stores nationwide.
At the same time, Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King announced a 100 per cent switch to Fairtrade bananas.
Tesco is also extending its range of Fairtrade nuts to five items ranging from brazil nuts to a peanut, cashew, and mango mix, while Threshers is launching a range of Fairtrade wines, and Waitrose is switching its banana range to 100 per cent Fairtrade and introducing a range of Fairtrade roses.
Expanded ranges of fresh produce will be the focus of in-store promotions in Morrisons and Asda.
The Fairtrade Foundation’s message for Fairtrade Fortnight 2007 is that, while sales of Fairtrade products continue to soar, change was still not happening quickly enough for millions of the world’s poorest farmers, who remained trapped in ‘trade poverty’.
The Foundation believes 2007 will be the year when people define themselves by their attitude to fairness in society.
It expects a surge of support for real values, such as those enshrined in Fairtrade, which will create a momentum allowing significant change to become possible.
Fairtrade Foundation executive director Harriet Lamb said: “The road signs for tomorrow’s Fairtrade world are out there.
“Up and down the country, the public are knocking on doors from the town hall to the local supermarket asking for more engagement with Fairtrade, and this is driving companies, large and small, to respond.
“And all of this means more farmers are able to sell more of their produce under Fairtrade terms, strengthening their organisations, building long-term relationships, and increasing benefits to their communities.
“But the road to our destination is still long and hard.
“Fairtrade is beginning to move from being an ‘optional extra’ to a ‘must-do’.
“Way too many companies have yet to wake up to the public’s changing expectations.
“We need people to shout even louder, and we need companies to respond with genuine engagement.
“Otherwise, millions of farmers will remain consigned to poverty.
“Fairtrade must become an everyday part of the way this nation thinks and shops.
“Fairtrade has achieved a paradigm shift that has popularised the link with the farmers who grow the food on our tables that puts people - the producers and consumers - at the centre of trade, and is redefining what is acceptable behaviour for all of us, from consumers to business to governments.
“Fairtrade is a powerful idea, showing that you can and should manage markets for social and development goals.
“It is a powerful idea and it is rapidly triggering changes.
“The challenge now is to capitalise on the current momentum and take Fairtrade to the next level.”

• Pictured going bananas in the Williton Co-op store during their lunch break are (top) West Somerset Free Press advertising sales executive Michelle Kemp, photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M010012; and (middle) Ben Bryant, from Lloyds Pharmacy, photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M010003. Order image reprints online at www.tcpbymtp.co.uk.