Celebrity endorsements

Several leading food and farming commentators and celebrities are supporting CPRE's local foods campaign:

Richard Benson, author of The Farm
This is an urgently important document that will confirm a factual basis for many people's suspicions and fears about large scale food retailing. Supermarkets trade on myths about free markets and increased choice, but in fact they benefit from state subsidies, and often in the long term lead to a reduction of local food outlets. This report shows that their dominance can be effectively and sensibly challenged in order to benefit whole communities, and make them more sustainable.

Raymond Blanc, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
I completely support this initiative and always have. Our growers have been undermined by the large retailers who dictate so much our food chain. In my role as a chef, I try to actively promote and work with farmers within our close community, I find that we both feel enriched as a result of this. I feel we should put pressure on the supermarkets to welcome and allocate space on their shelves for our local producers – if it is possible in Italy then why not in England?

Jimmy Doherty, TV's Jimmy's Farm
Local food economies are of the utmost importance to the sustainability of rural communities. They bring great benefits to the countryside both in terms of safeguarding rural jobs, sustaining local retailers, providing outlets for local produce and conserving the British countryside. The growth in supermarkets threatens the existence of independent retailers thus killing the heart of the local towns and villages, eliminating enterprise and reducing consumer choice. If we are to ensure the survival of our rural communities and regional food heritage, there is an urgent need to build positive relationships between our local food networks and the global food chain. Lady Caroline Cranbrook has shown, through this report, some of the ways that this may be achieved thus offering a beacon of hope for the future of farming, for rural businesses, local jobs and for the conservation of the countryside as a whole.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage
You can't beat the quality of fresh, seasonal, local produce. In a perfect world, it would be at the heart of every household's shopping and cooking habit. This report is encouraging news for all those who would like to see the network of dedicated small producers in this country grow and prosper. It should serve as an excellent and encouraging model for local food communities all over Britain.

Prue Leith, restaurateur
This report is a further boost for the good food movement, which I approve of because I think shopping, buying, cooking and eating should be pleasurable. And somehow doing all that while supporting local producers is very pleasurable indeed.

Gordon Ramsay, chef
Local food matters because it's fresh, it's seasonal, it's distinctive and it tastes great. The producers care about the quality of their food, and it matters to them if we don't. The people in CPRE's report are producing and selling great local food and are surviving against the odds. We need more like them and they need our support to succeed.