PYO in France: Join us for a visit to the Chapeau de Paille farms around Paris from 10-12 September 2007. Independent travel to Paris, stay in a central hotel Sunday-Tuesday; there’ll be great food, lots of best-practice ideas and concepts to share. We’ll visit superb markets as well as producers. Put the dates in your diary now!
FARMA members only for this visit.

Click here to read more!

We make local foods...

With thousands of cards arriving at the FARMA office, and hundereds of emails, one year on the Friends Of Local Foods campaign has been a success in recruiting consumers passionate about local foods, in collecting information, and in raising awareness of FARMA and of the farm direct sales sector to both consumers and Parliament. For every card FARMA recieved, we asked the person filling it in to send the other half of the card to Lord Rooker, the Minister of State (Lords) for Sustainable Farming and Food.

The campaign continues!

An email has been sent to members advising how to handle the situation. To view the documents click here. Please also refer to the DEFRA foot & mouth page here for news & information

The biggest and best yet at the Riviera Conference Centre, Torquay, 12-15 November 2006

Our focus is on business building in an increasingly challenging environment, showing how farm retailers take the lead in demonstrating sound environmental practice, conservation and self-sufficiency. Respect for landscape, food and people inform our debates. Click here to view/download conference brochure.
Booking form can be found here (low-res PDF format)

For more information, see our conference 2006 page

UPDATE:

Conference at the Riviera Conference Centre, Torquay, 12-15 November 2006 ... a great success!
The FARMA 2006 conference had a truly international flavour, with over 300 delegates, speakers and exhibitors. 

A wide ranging programme covered retailing, marketing, entertainment on the farm and education with a strong thread looking to the future. Professor Henry Buller of Exeter University spoke about research establishing links between food quality and what livestock eat; and Dr Rosie Cox of Birkbeck College, London spoke about research which demonstrated how closer relationships with food - growing it yourself or buying direct from the producer - could foster a greater sense of wellbeing.

Naomi Tickle came to the confererence from California, her Face Reading Workshop becoming a great hit, the audience growing steadily as word spread among delegates.  

Keynote speaker, Satish Kumar brought an important - but not uncontroversial - message for farm retailers. He put forward the view that domination of nature, with profilgate use of fossil fuels to build a global economy is a false premise for living; we have to live with nature for we are part of it.  Farm retailing, local direct sales, is part of a means to produce a sustainable future.

Farmers' market delegates were treated to insights and information from the best in the USA: Gail and Doug Hayden from the California Farmers' Market Association brought their 20 years' experience to the event.  Gail Hayden was voted top market manager in the USA in 2005.  This was a true masterclass.

Awards winners this year:

Farm Retailer of the Year 2007:
sponsored by Tyrrell's Potato Chips
National Winner: Darts Farm Village, DevonCertified Farmers' Market of the Year 2007:
sponsored by Zapp Canopy Umbrellas and Chillerz
National Winner: Edinburgh Farmers' Market, ScotlandBest Farm Retail Newcomer of the Year 2007:
sponsored by Windsor Food Machinery
National Winner: Lobbs Farm ShopPick-Your-Own of the Year 2007:
sponsored by The GROWER magazine
National Winner: Garsons, SurreyMarketing Award 2007:
sponsored by Reddipak
National Winner: Garsons, SurreyCommunity Spirit Award 2007:
Charles NeweyLifetime Achievement Award:
Richard & Mary SimkinClick here to view/download conference brochure.
Booking form can be found here (low-res PDF format) For more information and pictures of the event, see our conference 2006 page

We make local foods... FARMA launches a new campaign this month encouraging shoppers at farm-direct sales outlets - farm shops, farmers' markets, PYO's and box schemes - to actively get involved with supporting the local foods agenda and the outlets you enjoy shopping at. Thousands of leaflets have been printed to be distributed to FARMA members and will be given away to shoppers all across the country in an effort to get a real push from the (up to) 30% of the population who shop at direct-sales outlets* The leaflets contain postcards made out to both FARMA (for further correspondence) and to Lord Rooker at DEFRA, urging him and his department to take note of farmers’ markets and farm shops, pick-your-own farms and box schemes. These outlets are where you buy local food now. We made local foods available first, and we make the local foods, not the supermarkets. Now the supermarkets want a slice of the action – and if their past behaviour is anything to learn from, they really want the whole cake. It is especially important that we take action now and ask for your support. There is a strong and sustainable local foods network existing already, providing thousands of jobs and keeping cash in the rural and local sector. Yet it is fragile. Since the Curry Report of 2002, the music getting to the government’s ears has been from the supermarkets – and how they must get local foods on the shelves. Overlooking our important sector – without which there would be no ‘local foods’ – puts thousands of livelihoods across the country on the line, would badly impact the local economy (supermarkets do not benefit the local economy as well as local reinvestment**), reduces the shopper’s choice and, importantly, food experience. If you want to have continuing choice about where you do your food shopping; if you value your farmers’ market and the stallholders who come from local communities; if you want there to be a growing artisan and local food culture based on small craft businesses – then support our FRIENDS OF LOCAL FOODS CAMPAIGN. We need you! If we lose local foods direct from the producer, everyone will be the poorer. Click here to complete your details. You will get a regular e-newsletter, a guide to direct sales outlets – and the satisfaction that you, like us, are standing up for local food retailing in the community.

If you are a member of the association and would like to get involved, please contact us on 0845 4588420

* FARMA YouGov survey results 2004, 2005, 2006, approximate value
** New Economics Foundation LM3 reports (example: link1, link2)

It’s good to see that pick-your-own farms are in a positive mood. Sales in recent years have been climbing steadily as growing numbers of customers have sought out PYO as a leisure and weekend activity for the family.  PYO is the bedrock for direct sales. It came from the USA as ‘u-pick’ in the 1970’s and through the next fifteen years or so home-made ‘PYO strawberries’ signs became a familiar sight in the countryside around towns and villages.  Social changes, such as more women going out to work, reduced the market in the 1990’s and many opportunist PYO fields closed. But for many farmers, the PYO boom was a wake-up call to the possibilities of direct sales and many of the largest, longest established farm shops owe their being to the half an acre of soft fruit that first brought the customers.What PYO farms now know, though, is that it’s not enough to open a field with a shed for taking the money and hope for the best. The Ludlam family’s PYO farm and farm shop at Cattows Farm in Leicestershire illustrates very well the level of service that today’s customers demand.  The pick-your-own started with two acres of strawberries in 1983, as an add-on to the family’s dairy and arable business. It quickly became the main earner whose season grew with the range of crops. Last year, the weigh and pay area was extended to provide a farm shop and café - simple, warm and charming and nicely decorated - which started trading in October. It is very much an all-family, hands-on business involving everyone from fiancée Caroline, who will wed into the family in August, to 76 years old grandmother Margaret Ludlam, ‘the oldest check-out chick’ in the business. The farm is selling its own asparagus now and opens for the soft fruit season at the end of June with around nine varieties of strawberries and hundreds of customers a day.  Diversification continues; there’s now a full range of veg grown on the farm – including salsify and cardoons at the request of customers – for the farm shop. And it goes without saying that the farm’s roadside signs are not hand-painted but very professional. 
This Little Farmer …This winter has been colder, for longer, than many have been in recent years and farmers’ markets stallholders deserve medals all round for sticking with it and staying cheerful. We’re now nine years into farmers’ markets in the UK and if anyone doubts that they have proved to be a success just look at the turnover figures. Remember that most are held monthly with four or five hours of trading. In that time, markets at around 550 locations (making approximately 9,000 market-days) have grown to produce a combined turnover of some £220million a year.  In US dollars terms that’s almost half a billion. In more than twenty years of trading, some 3,000 farmers’ markets in the USA produce a combined annual turnover of around $1billion. It’s food for thought.There’s more at the third national FARMA Farmers’ Market conference to be held in Ashton- under-Lyne on 26 June 2006. Speakers include Simon Rimmer, presenter of ‘This Little Farmer Went To Market’ on BBC1. FARMA briefed the independent production company, Tiger Aspect, and took part in pilots for the programme but not in the final films. Sometimes good tele prevails over good practice and the final output lacked some essential information about stallholding. However, did it do good for farmers’ markets?  

‘Nine Years and Counting’ Conference, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, 26 June 2006 – more information from 0845 4588 420 or www.farma.org.uk

The second series of the highly rated 'Seductive Selling' tour, with Jurek Leon, has been announced, and will be visiting a venue near you with 10 venues around the UK!Click here for more details (brochure PDF)

Click here for high-quality (printable) version

Resolve that 2006 will be the year that you start to buy local foods from local producers at farmers’ markets, from farm shop – or by starting to order a local fruit and vegetable box delivered to your door.

Why? We’ve listed 21 Reasons (click here), summarised as:

• better for you – fresher, fully traceable produce, more variety better for local farms and small businesses
• which supports your community

Local produce sold direct to the public through farmers’ markets, farm shops and box schemes tends to be produced on smaller, family-run farms. Whether the produce is organic (see below) or not, it will be grown differently from produce grown on a supermarket-supply scale. Growing on a local scale for local markets: Farmers growing for local markets don’t need fields full of single crops or even single varieties; they can mix their crops, sow different varieties and ring the changes which bring more choice to you, needs less intervention to prevent disease and other problems and are better for plant and wildlife diversity. Livestock farmers can produce livestock non-intensively and introduce an extraordinary variety of breeds – rare breed pigs, cattle and sheep, waterbuffalo, buffalo, ostrich, wild boar, bison. What will you find at a farmers’ market? They are temporary retail sites, often in town centres in pedestrianised areas, on car parks or on roads closed specially for the event; or on village greens or in village halls. Most run for around four or five hours in the day, mostly once a month although a growing number are becoming more frequent. Farmers arrive to set up their stalls about two hours before the market starts; as farmers’ markets are often at weekends, this means very few Sunday lie-in’s for them! If outside, the farmers show their produce on a table or in a chilled cabinet, with a canopy over the top. If you would like to see some pictures, click here to look at our image bank (these are just some of thousands of images from our library). Indoor farmers’ markets may not have the canopies. At all of them the staples are fruit and vegetables and meats; in addition there are usually breads, pies and cakes; jams, pickles and chutneys; juices and drinks; cheeses and butter are available in dairying areas, fish from fish farms, coasts and rivers; smoked foods; sometimes confectionery, timber or woodland products, craft goods. What’s so different about a farmers’ market? At FARMA Certified farmers’ markets you will find farmers and producers present behind the stalls to sell what they have produced, grown, reared, caught, baked, brewed, pickled or in some way been directly responsible for, directly to you, their customer. They’ll be able to tell you about it: what the variety is, why they choose to produce it, how to prepare it, what it tastes like. Sometimes there are samples of cheeses, chutneys, jams, juices … try before you buy. One amazing feature of farmers’ markets is the amount of smiling going on! This real person-to-person contact can be a little daunting if you are used to faceless supermarket shelves but don’t be shy. What links you is an interest in food. There are no trolleys provided. Many farmers’ market veterans bring their own bag or basket on wheels but when you buy this way you buy less, and waste less food: there are few ‘two for the price of one’ offers, few giant ‘extra value packs’ that encourage you to buy more than you need. (Remember that supermarkets are not being generous when they provide these offers, it’s most often the producer or manufacturer who pays for them.) What will I find at a farm shop It’s difficult to generalise but a good farm shop will:

• Be based on a farm or connected with a farm. There are some farm shops in town centres these days but do check that there are farming credentials behind the venture.
• Sell its own produce and that of other local farms, sometimes as a formal co-operative but most often in an informal arrangement. Prices for own produce and local foods should be very competitive with what you would find in a supermarket – often cheaper - and it will be fresher too. If you are lucky you’ll see the tractors coming in from the fields, laden with produce for the shop … taste the dew still on the leaves.

Around half the 4,000 or so farm shops in the UK have a butchery counter – these are very successful shops selling their own meat or meat from other local farms, fully traceable and trustable. Dairy farms have also started to diversify to offer their own cheeses, ice creams or yogurts in the shop. Farm shops make a very big contribution to local economies, providing an outlet for many small and start-up food businesses and the produce of other farms, plus flexible, local employment. What is a box scheme? They started on very small organic farms who had to find a market for their produce. Excluded from supermarket supply they began to cultivate local customers who paid in advance for a box of seasonal produce delivered regularly to the door. Some of these have now grown to become substantial businesses and some schemes link many local/regional producers together to provide a really full range of grocery. Although most are still organic, not all are. Northern Harvest in Leigh, Lancashire (www.northernharvest.co.uk) is a good example of one that links around 80 local producers in rounds that are efficient for everyone. Some home delivery schemes now operate via the internet and many are based on meat boxes, not just fruit and veg. Organic & Local foods If your new year’s resolution is to buy Certified Organic produce in preference to conventionally produced you need to buy carefully. Unfortunately the UK has to import a large proportion of the organic produce found in supermarkets – we don’t grow enough in the UK and many of the UK ’s organic farms are too small to be able to – or want to – supply supermarkets. It’s easier to find local, organically produced foods at farmers’ market or subscribe to a box scheme. Farmers’ markets: As a rough guide, some 10% of the stallholders farmers’ markets are Organic. There is one Organic only farmers’ market at Stoke Newington, London . Box schemes: it pays to seek out a farm-based scheme (e.g. Graig Farm Organics or Sunnyfields Organic) so that you can be sure that much of the produce you buy will be own or local – not all, as we cannot grow a huge range of crops during the winter months but from May-November there should be a dominance of home-grown organic produce. If a producer or supplier says that they are organic, check for an up-to-date Organic Certification (e.g Soil Association or Organic Farmers & Growers (OF&G)) – to claim organic status without Certification from a recognised body is illegal. Kitchen talk The majority of the produce you buy from farmers’ markets and farm shop is fresh and unprocessed and you’ll need to cook it. So it’s not just a change in how you shop, it’s a change in the kitchen and the kinds of meals you eat too. It is satisfying to prepare meals from scratch, using the best of fresh, seasonal produce and it doesn’t need to take hours: a really fresh egg, simply boiled or poached served with fresh, wholegrain bread and a delicious locally produced butter is tasty and nutritious. Fresh local veg served with a quality roast or grilled meat is also quickly prepared … If you are a newcomer to cooking anything, have a look at www.deliaonline.com as it’s packed with good advice. There are also recipes using seasonal ingredients on www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk There are also seasonal recipe cards and food ideas available at farmers’ markets and farm shops from time to time and most box scheme operators include recipe ideas with their produce.

Use our ‘find a farm’ button to find farm shops, box/home delivery schemes, pick-your-own farms and farmers’ markets.

Around eight out of ten of us will be eating turkey at Christmas. Mass-produced turkeys can produce bland-tasting meat as the birds will have been spending time getting fat, not fit, and mostly indoors. Turkeys are game-birds that thrive in woodland – foraging under trees is what they love to do – which builds up their muscle (lean meat). Turkeys also benefit from being hung after slaughter for up to a fortnight which really improves the flavour. The extra time and care in preparation is reflected in the price.

It is worth seeking out a free-range turkey that has been grown specially for the season from farmers’ markets, local butchers and farm shops. If they are not producers themselves many of these retailers buy from local farms, or from people like Copas Traditional Turkeys who rear eleven white and fourteen bronze breeds that reach different weights at maturity, from 4kg through to 10kg. After humane on-farm slaughter in early December, traditional turkeys are hung for up to two weeks and they will be delivered to retailers in the week before Christmas. It’s not too late to buy but you may have to take pot-luck with the size of bird: as a rough guide you will need around 0.5kg per person, prices from £8 per kg. Check with your local butcher or farm shop or go to www.golden-promise.co.uk, www.copasturkeys.co.uk or www.kelly-turkeys.com to find stockists of fresh, free-range turkeys.


Goose Goose is a more traditional Christmas bird possibly slipping out of favour a little because people think it is more difficult to cook. Smaller and with more fat than a turkey, the meat comes out moist, dense and succulent but you do need to drain off the fat that comes from the bird – it’s wonderful for cooking roast potatoes (keep some in a sealed jar in the ‘fridge for a month or more after Christmas for extra portions of delicious roasties). Geese do not lend themselves to intensive farming as they really do need space and natural conditions. They are definitely not docile! Not for nothing did country people keep geese in their gardens in the ‘old’ days – they were excellent property guards making visitors and intruders feel equally unwelcome. What they produced in addition to meat was also useful, their feathers filled many a pillow and counterpane and goose fat had many uses in addition to its role in cooking.

Find a Christmas goose at your local farm shop and butcher – and if you are too late to buy one remember to order in November or early December next year.

The FARMA annual National Conference is to be held in North Yorkshire, at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, on the 8th and 9th of November. This conference is for you if you are a FARMA member, Farm Retailer - or prospective Farm Retailer - a Farmers' Market Organiser or Stallholder, or involved in local food and Policy issues.Please use the links below or click here for more information. Click here for more details in the National Conference Brochure 2005! (plus booking details) (PDF format) Click here for more details regarding the trade show (prices and layout) (PDF format)
JUST ONE STALL REMAINING - BOOK NOW!

Take a look at our brand-new FARMA Market - floorplan here Click here to go to our conference information page

‘Ban the bland’ and get full-on flavour from local foods available at farmers’ markets and farm shops during the Month of Taste, organised by the National Farmers’ Retail & Markets Association (FARMA), from 17 September to 23 October 2005.

The Month of Taste focuses on food that tastes great because it is produced with care and respect to be sold as locally as possible to the source of production by people who know about its history. Cooking and eating this food is a rewarding experience.

At farm shops and farmers’ markets, for example, customers will find well-hung beef produced from cattle that have grazed on grass, which is not the raw-red of the newly butchered but a much richer colour that reflects its deeper flavour. They will find chicken that is raised naturally and given time to grow, which produces a different quality from the birds rushed through the mass-production process. There is real dry-cured bacon, new-laid eggs, meaty sausages, matured cheddar and fresh soft cheeses, plus fruits and vegetables freshly harvested in their season when ripe and not before.

The Month of Taste also celebrates the flavour of old-fashioned varieties of potatoes, tomatoes and apples, including the delicious home-grown Cox’s Orange Pippin. Cox is one of dozens of apple varieties grown on small family farms which have kept traditional tastes alive. Some of these farms provide the opportunity to pick-your-own too.

‘Farmers’ markets, farm shops, pick-your-own and box schemes delivered from the farm provide an insight into the vast range of produce that can be grown, reared and made in this country’, says FARMA manager, Gareth Jones. ‘FARMA urges people to ‘ban the bland’ and get out to discover foods with real flavour during the Month of Taste. We are also encouraging chefs to make local produce from farmers’ markets the key ingredients in their menus during the Month of Taste.’

Throughout the Month of Taste, customers at farmers’ markets and farm shops will be treated to a variety of tastings. There will also be cookery demonstrations, with recipes and information about seasonality and varieties of produce. ‘In this, its first year, the Month of Taste will begin to show what British farmers are capable of producing,’ says Gareth Jones. ‘There is strong consumer interest in local foods and more farmers are selling direct these days. We want customers to appreciate really good food when they eat it.’

For a guide to farm shops, farmers’ markets and pick-your-own farms, write to Month of Taste, FARMA, P O Box 575 , Southampton SO15 7BZ enclosing two first class stamps for return postage.

The latest national tracking survey about Local Direct Sales (LDS) from the National Farmers’ Retail & Markets Association commissioned through YouGov, shows that 90 per cent of households are keen to buy direct from the producer. At present, 30 per cent are taking the opportunity to do so at farmers’ markets and a further 30 per cent buy from farm shops. Speaking at FARMA’s ‘Hungry for More’ farmers’ market conference held in London on 13 June, Gareth Jones, FARMA’s manager, said that the farmers’ market scene could grow threefold from its present turnover of around £200million a year to some £600million a year. ‘These results confirm the figures of the 2004 FARMA/LDS Tracking Survey, carried out with over 2,000 different food shoppers throughout GB and benchmarks the position of the direct sales sector reasonably accurately,’ said Mr Jones. ‘It is clear that there needs to be a greater number of opportunities for consumers to access farmers’ markets and other direct sales outlets, but the principles and standards of these outlets must be properly governed. This is not just more locations for farmers’ markets but more frequent markets and at times that are convenient for customers. This conference, which included among its delegates and speakers some of the leading lights of the movement in the UK and USA, will help FARMA to develop strategies for growth.’ Writer, broadcaster and FARMA patron, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, opened the conference. Jenny Jones, chair of London Food, spoke about the work in progress to help improve Londoner’s access to local foods and a report, due to be completed shortly, regarding the economic impact of farmers’ markets in the capital. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has been conducting the research for this and Dr John Taylor, Programme Director for Local and Regional Economies at NEF revealed that it would be ‘positive news’ for farmers’ markets.

Click here for information regarding the conference (PDF)

The 2nd FARMA Farmers' Markets National Conference takes place on the 13th June 2005 at the Royal Horticultural Halls, Westminster, London.

This conference takes its cue from its London location and looks at metropolitan farmers’ markets. There’s a lot to learn from them for everyone running farmers’ markets: the definition of ‘local’; the logistical problems of getting farmers and
producers into the city; managing farmers’ markets on a weekly basis; bridging urban perceptions of rural realities... Speakers include Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, FARMA Patron, writer, broadcaster, farmer and chef, and advocate of local foods; Jenny Jones, Chair of London Food; Lys McLaughlin, Executive Director of the New York Council on the Environment. With discussion about the development and future of Farmers' Markets in the UK, plus the opportunity to take part in a Farmers' Market Retail HealthCheck on Sunday 12 June.Click here for brochure & booking information (PDF)

Inspiration & techniques for creating hard-working, selling displays. You don’t need a lot of capital or to be an artist to create great displays that sell.
What you need is techniques - and confidence...In these hands-on workshops, international retail expert, John Stanley, will show you how to: Maximise stock-turn of produce and products;
Increase your sales in key locations by at least 20%;
Develop a merchandising strategy;
Be bold and think ‘outside the box’ Dates & venues:

11 April 2005: 10am - 5pm Essington fruit farm, nr Wolverhampton 12 April 2005: 10am - 5pm Broadditch farm shop, Southfleet, Kent Click here for more information (PDF)

Simon Holland of Washingpool Farm Shop, Bridport and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, FARMA patron. Hugh and Lesley Waters, TV chef, were at the farm on Friday to help celebrate Farmhouse Breakfast Week.

Below, the Farmers' Market at Winchester, Hampshire on Sunday 30 January where a special stall was set up to serve bacon, sausage, egg and/or mushrooms in wholemeal rolls - all sourced from stallholders at the market - to shoppers as part of Farmhouse Breakfast Week.