What you can do
Buying fresh produce from a farmers' market. Photo: T Fawcett
Buy local foods
Read the labels – on fruits, vegetables, cheese, meat and drink in your supermarket – and buy produce and products that come from local farms.
Buy local products direct from farmers' markets and other markets. Most farmers' markets require stall holders to have grown, bred, caught, pickled, brewed or baked the goods themselves and to have come from a defined radius close to the market. The National Association of Farmers' Markets has lists of markets on its website.
Use the Big Barn website to search for your nearest farmers market, farm shop, home delivery scheme or Pick Your Own Farm.
Join our debate
We would like to hear you views on the future of food and farming.
> The future of food and farming – your views
Encourage others to buy local foods
Hold a party! Celebrate local foods with a festival or a local food dinner, or a talk on local food. Organise a food fair, with stalls run by local producers and retailers, like the fair organised by the Saffron Walden Inititative.
> Case study – Essex Food fair
Contact local retailers, restaurateurs, office cafeterias, schools and supermarkets to encourage them to source and market locally produced goods. Any that do should be encouraged to advertise the fact.
Examine the food/catering purchasing policy of your local council and other major employers and encourage them to support local food distribution and marketing networks.
Make it easier for people to buy local foods
Work with others to create a local food directory if there isn't one in your area. CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire prepared a directory which is now free in local libraries and food shops.
> Case study – Peak District and South Yorkshire local food directory
Help set up a farmers market in your area – more and more people are doing it across this country. While it may seem a daunting task, the National Association of Farmers' Markets can give you guidance on how to do this.
Carry out a CRPE food webs survey, to find out how much locally supplied food the shops near you stock, and how this contributes to the health of other local services. Mapping the local food web in East Suffolk helped bring about a planning decision to reject the building of a new superstore...and local foods are now thriving in the area. Find out how to conduct the survey in our campaign briefing, Mapping Local Food Webs.
Find out what steps your region's Regional Development Agency is taking to produce a regional food strategy that highlights the role of local foods. Encourage it to prioritise this issue.
Visit a LEAF farm 
LEAF is all about 'linking environment and farming', and for 12 years has been helping farmers move towards more sustainable farming practices that benefit the countryside and the farmer.
There are 45 LEAF demonstration farms. To find one closest to you visit the LEAF website.
Look for food
labelled with
the LEAF Marque
Join us or make a donation
Join CPRE and become a member of a dynamic network of 60,000 other people helping to protect our countryside.
> Join us or make a donation
Get involved with a local CPRE branch or regional group
CPRE has 200 district groups, 43 branches and 9 regional groups across England – many of whom are working on this campaign.
> Local and regional groups
Sign up to Campaigns Update – e-newsletter
Each month, you'll receive our Campaigns Update telling you about our successes and struggles in campaigning for England's beautiful countryside. Get the inside story on what CPRE is up to and how you might be able to help us.
> More about Campaigns Update
