Friends of the Earth: FAQs: How can I support local farmers?

How can I support local farmers?

Farmers can be faced with unreasonable supermarket demands, leading to:

Wastage of good fruit or fruit sold at a loss due to rejection for minor cosmetic reasons.
Increased use of pesticides to meet appearance standards.

The best way of supporting your local farmers is to buy local produce direct from the grower, e.g. farmers' markets and farm shops.

You can benefit too as greengrocers and market stalls often offer cheaper fruit and vegetables than supermarkets.

It is also important to support local independent shops who may struggle to compete with the supermarket giants.

For more information on what you can do, take a look at our Shop Local First campaign.

If you do shop at supermarkets, try to buy UK produce whenever it's in season.

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

FAQs - frequently asked questions

We've put together some of your most frequent questions, so if there's something you need to know, chances are someone has already asked it. Have a look through the full list to see if you can find what you're looking for.

Our website has over 6,000 pages of information, covering a wide range of topics from biodiversity to pollution so if you can’t find what your looking for try using:

You could also take a look at our forum - which covers green lifestyle issues, local activism and campaigning.

Last modified
Content: July 2006