COMMENT: Hadley Freeman's piece on 'local' eating in The Guardian 7th January 2004

What a wasted opportunity. Hadley Freeman's piece on 'local' eating only serves to reinforce rural readers' opinions of who the Guardian caters for. Would any other paper bash UK farmers in this meaningless way? Why restrict oneself to food produced within the M25? Surely the point is that for the largest city in Western Europe, we seem to be unable to support an adjacent farming economy. As organizers of twelve farmers' markets in London, LFM is helping to support it very nicely. In 2003, £3m was generated for the rural economy. 130 farmers sell at our markets. There's a waiting list of producers, and a constant call for more markets from local authorities.

London has c. 7.4 million people but only c. 250 farmers. That's 29,600 citizens to feed per farm of, on average, under 48 hectares per farm. No one has ever said that LFM farmers were Londoners. Hadley Freeman might have behaved less like a martyr by eating regional food from our markets, all of which comes from within 100 miles of London, much within 50 miles and some much closer (Barnet & Denham for example).

The London Food Strategy is likely to call for an expansion of London farmers markets to meet demand, with LFM as a partner in its implementation. According to Sir Don Curry, farmers markets' are already beyond niche levels in the South East. In their current consultation document on planning policy for town centres, the ODPM mentions farmers markets. Local food strategies, notably in Ealing, are supportive of FMs. There are opportunities within CAP reform to get more farming done in London and see sustainable farming as a method of green belt protection.

We gave Hadley a list of farms close to the M25, including the dairy farm she claims to have discovered. At no time did we say that they all sold their produce at the Finchley Road farmers' market. She chose to ignore all the positive points made about the kind of foods she'd have access to, and she was also advised that winter isn't exactly a clever time of year to be attempting such a restricted diet. Part of the problem is that food production in London has been hugely eroded and so much work has to go into rebuilding it. Organic Lea, a cooperative which grows and sells organic vegetables close to the River Lea is a great example of this.

If Hadley Freeman really yearns to be in a Thomas Hardy novel, she'd be up at 5 churning milk into butter instead of moaning about a bit of rain. She'd have spent the late summer months preserving fruits for winter use and she wouldn't be going on about knobbly apples. Her starting point was loss of taste in supermarket food. She should ignore knobbles and learn to cook. Of course it's possible to survive on local produce. Rowley Leigh buys his from the Notting Hill farmer's market, and doesn't waste time trying to focus on produce from within the M25. She might also like to know that all of our markets are certified by the National Association of Farmer's Markets which guarantees integrity and quality.

In the end Hadley does finally wake up and recognise that her definition of local needs expanding upon. As board members of London Food Links we'd like to invite Hadley to come and speak at the London Food Link farmers' conference at City Hall in April and hear what farmers have to say about her ideas, but we'd advise doing a little more research first and rethink her 'rural idyll'.